last edited Aug 14, 2020
Florida: Culture, Society, and Customs
Location Map of Florida
Florida
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Major Historical Dates
- 1498: The Anglo-Venetian John Cabot is the first European to sail off the coast of Florida, then inhabited by around 100,000 Native Americans.
- 1513: "Official" discovery of Florida by the Spanish with the conquistador Juan Ponce de León.
- 1565: The Spanish found the first permanent colony in what is now the USA at St Augustine. It was destroyed by the English twenty years later.
- 17th - 18th century: Anglo-Spanish rivalries on the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. Florida becomes more or less English before being officially recognized as Spanish after the American Revolutionary War (1775-1781).
- 1814: Americans, who had designs on the territory, enter northern Florida under the pretext of waging war against the Seminole Indians.
- 1819: The United States purchases Florida from Spain.
- 1830: The U.S. Congress decides that all Native Americans on the East Coast must be relocated to Oklahoma in the Midwest. The Seminoles refuse (leading to the Second Seminole War) and are eventually isolated in the Everglades.
- 1845: Florida becomes the 27th U.S. state.
- 1861-1865: During the American Civil War, Florida sides with the Confederacy, serving as a commercial hub.
- Late 19th - early 20th century: Thanks to its climate, the state becomes a winter destination for wealthy Americans.
- 1941-1945: The region hosts numerous troops tasked with coastal surveillance.
- 1960s/70s: With the creation of Disney World, Florida becomes an even more sought-after tourist destination, both nationally and internationally. At the same time, the state sees a massive influx of Cuban and Latino immigrants, which creates tensions between groups.
- 2000: After more than a month of "legal-political" controversy in Florida, the Republican George W. Bush is elected President of the United States.
- 2015: Benefiting from significant population growth over several years, Florida, with nearly 20 million inhabitants, becomes the third most populous state in the Union, just ahead of New York.
Arts and Architecture
Society
Population
Economy
Customs and Traditions
Local Culture and Traditions
Languages
English has been the official language of Florida since 1988, when it was written into the state constitution to counter (though not officially stated) the growing influence of Spanish in the state. Florida is one of the U.S. regions where Spanish is most widely spoken, with more than one in five residents using it as their primary language in daily life. Many signs and information are bilingual, meaning you could, in theory, travel in Florida speaking only Spanish. Besides these two dominant languages, Haitian Creole (French) is also spoken by 2% of the population, primarily the large Haitian community living there.