Please help us locate two items that were illegally removed from the historic Rodney, Mississippi Cemetery. Click Here for Details.

Florida was populated by Native American tribes at least as early as 10,000 years before Europeans arrived.

The first Europeans in this region were the Spaniards, who arrived in the early 1500s. During the years that followed, France and England would lay claim to parts of it. The conflicts between the three countries put undue hardship on the Native Americans occupying the territory.

In 1803, the United States, then a struggling young nation, doubled its size by purchasing Louisiana from the French. What is Florida today was occupied by Spain. The lands involved in the Louisiana Purchase stopped at the Perdido River, the border between Alabama and Florida. In 1821, Spain finally ceded it to the United States.

However, Florida would not become a state until March 3, 1845. It was the twenty-seventh state of the Union.

INTERESTING FACTS:

The world's largest strawberry shortcake, measuring 827 square feet and weighing 6,000 pounds, was baked in Plant City, Florida on February 19, 1999.

Gatorade was originally invented by the University of Florida for their football team, the Gators.

Disneyworld in Orlando attracts more visitors annually than any other amusement park.

Florida's St. Johns River flows north, instead of south.

In Niceville, Florida, the annual Boggy Bayou Mullet Festival is presented during the third weekend of October.

More lightning strikes occur in Clearwater, Florida than in any other city its size.

Ma Barker died with her youngest son, Freddie in a famous four-hour gun battle with the FBI at a rented cottage in Ocklawaha, Florida on Jan. 16, 1935.

Interested in visiting Florida ghost towns? Click here to learn more.

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