Florida State History

Florida, southernmost of the continental states, is a low-lying peninsula with a coastline second in length only to Alaska's, measuring 1,350 miles - 580 on the Atlantic coast and 770 on the gulf. The state has an average elevation of 100 feet. curving southwestward for about 200 miles off the southern coast are the Florida Keys, including Elliott Key and Key largo at the north and Key West at the south.

Indians are thought to have inhabited this region about 10,000 years ago. In 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish explorer said to be searching for the legendary Fountain Of Youth, landed on the east coast and mistakenly thought his find was an island. He named it and claimed it for Spain. That country, France, and England all tried to settle permanently in Florida, and all ultimately failed. Florida became a state in 1845, seceded from the Union in 1861, and was readmitted in 1868.

Florida's early development was severely hampered by two bloody and costly wars with Seminole Indians, who were not defeated until 1842. Many never succumbed, but fled instead to the Everglades wilderness, become the core of a new tribe, and,even-tually, were settled on reservations. In May 1970, the Seminoles were awarded $12,347,500 for land taken from them by U.S. military forces. The Indians estimate there are now 1,500 Seminoles in florida and 3,500 in Oklahoma.

In 1964, scuba divers found an undersea treasure of old coins and relics worth $2 million off Fort Pierce. Permission is granted by the state for explorers to seek the sunken goods, in return for a quarter of the value of all discoveries.