Florida historical timeline

Origins

The Calusa, Timucua and Apalachee peoples lived here for millennia. Juan Ponce de León claimed the peninsula for Spain in 1513, and St. Augustine, founded in 1565, is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States.

Turning points

Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1821. The Seminole Wars that followed were among the longest and costliest of the Indian wars, and the Seminole were never formally defeated — a point the tribe still makes.

Influential people

Henry Flagler's railway ran the length of the east coast and out across the water to the Keys by 1912, and effectively invented Florida tourism. A hurricane destroyed the Keys line in 1935 and the road was built on its bed.

Cultural evolution

Two things remade the state after 1950: air conditioning, which made year-round living practical, and the space programme on the Atlantic coast. The Cuban revolution in 1959 brought an exile community that transformed Miami into a Latin American capital.

Present-day significance

Florida is now the third most populous state. Tourism, agriculture, aerospace and trade with Latin America carry the economy, and sea-level rise is a live and expensive problem for its coastal cities.