State by State Trivia- Florida

 
A chance to learn a little bit about each of the states in the nation.

The Florida state seal was adopted by the 1865 legislature, which mandated that the seal be the size of the American silver dollar and display a scene in the center "of the sun's rays over a high land in the distance, a cocoa tree, a steamboat on water, and an Indian female scattering flowers in the foreground, (all) encircled by the words, "Great Seal of the State of Florida: In God We Trust.'"

In 1970 Florida's official seal was updated. The cocoa tree was replaced by the sabal palmetto palm (the state tree of Florida), the headdress was removed from the Indian woman (headdresses were only worn by male indians), and the woman was depicted as a Florida Seminole Indian (originally she was an Indian of the western plains). The state seal is also displayed on Florida's state flag.

Source: State Symbols USA 

 Florida-"The Sunshine State"

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• Florida was the ^27th state in the USA; it became a state on March 3, 1845 and the last state east of the Mississippi River
• Constitution was first drafted on December 3, 1838
• Capital-Tallahassee
• State Song- "Swanee River"
• State Motto-"In God We Trust"
• State Flower- Orange Blossom
• State Gem- Moonstone
• State Mineral- Eupatagus, an extinct type of sand dollar.
• State Bird- Mockingbird
• State Tree- Palmetto Palm
• State Marine Mammal- Manatee
• State Mammal-Florida Panther
• State Reptile- Alligator
• Major Industries - Tourism, Agriculture (oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes) , Electronics

Origin of the Name Florida
Six days after Easter in 1513, the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed near what is now the city of Saint Augustine. In honor of the holiday and the area's plant life, he named the land Florida for the Spanish phrase for the Easter season, pascua florida (“feast of flowers”). The name is the oldest surviving European place-name in the U.S.

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/31100/how-all-50-states-got-their-names#ixzz2SiZSldC0
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Florida's official flag was adopted in 1900. Florida's flag has a red cross of St. Andrew on a white field; in the center is the state seal, which depicts a Native American (Seminole) woman scattering flowers, the sun with many rays, palm trees (the large one is a cabbage palm), a sailing steamboat, the land and the water.

All statistics compiled from the enchanted learning site

How did Florida get its shape?

"Aren't the reasons for Florida's borders pretty obvious?  Still, how come two different straight lines define Florida's northern border?  And why, at the eastern end of its northern border, does the boundary abandon its straight line and dip down, then jig up?."

"Florida was originally part of Spain's colonial territories in the New World, an empire that included all those South and Central American countries that speak Spanish today, along with what is now the western United States and up the Pacific coast as far as Vancouver."

Florida's Northern Border

"When England chartered the colony of Georgia in 1732, its border with Spanish Florida extended only to the Altamaha River, which empties into the ocean near the present-day town of Brunswick.  But Spain claimed possession of all land up to the Savannah River- the southern boundary of the Carolina Colony."

  
 

Battle of the Bloody Marsh

"The dispute eventually erupted into war.  Georgia's colonists defended the Spanish in the Battle of the Bloody Marsh on St. Simons Island in 1739, and in so doing ended Spanish claims north of the St. Marys River.  To this day, the St. Marys River serves as the eastern end of the norther border of Florida."
 

"While the St. Marys River provides a natural boundary between Georgia and Florida from the Atlantic Ocean to the Okefenokee Swamp, it is also a bit erratic.  About 30 miles inland, the river takes a 90-degree turn to the south, then after about another 30 miles executes a U-turn.  This accounts for the irregular jog in Florida's northeast corner."

"Since the residents of the Okefenokee Swamp were mostly alligators, birds, and bugs, the Georgians and Spaniards agreed that a straight-line border through the swamp would suffice.  That line proceeds from the headwaters of the St. Marys River in the eastern side of the swamp westward to the convergence of the Flint River and the Cattahoochee River.  Like the St. Marys River, this border, too, has remained in effect, a vestige of the uneasy relationship between 18th-century Spaniards and their colonial American counterparts."

"But upon reaching this juncture, the border suddenly jumps 29 miles up the Chattahoochee River, then heads due west.  What happened here?"

."This leap to the north is an artifact that is older than the boundary agreed upon between Spain and the British colonists at Georgia.  The line that resumes 20 miles north follows the 31st parallel, as specified in the first royal charter creating the Carolina Colony in 1663, nearly seventy years before the founding of Georgia.  These boundaries are today the northern border of Florida."

Florida's Western Border

"Originally, the western border of Spanish Florida was the Mississippi River.  Not long after the American Revolution, that changed.  In 1810, marking a further sign of Spain's weakening power, the young United States seized the westernmost portion of Spanish Florida, a chunk of land that extended from the Mississippi River to the Pearl River.  Having purchased the western side of the Mississippi in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the new nation felt it was vital that it possess both sides of the river to ensure unchallenged access to the Gulf of Mexico and the sea."

"A second seizure of land in western Florida took place in 1813, justified on the basis of Spain's support of the British in the ongoing "War of 1812.  This time the Americans took the adjacent chunk of land, eastward to the Perdido River.  This seizure included Mobile Bay, providing the United States a valuable port.  Today's western edge of Florida remains the Perdido River, just west of Pensacola."

"Over the next ten years, Spain would lose virtually all of its possessions in the Americas.  Recognizing the need to retreat, Spain released its remaining claims to Florida to the United States in the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819."

"How the States Got Their Shapes" by Mark Stein ©2008, pages 65-69


Florida and World War II 

"Despite Florida's growing tourism, it was still the least-populated southern state in 1940, and ranked only 27th nationally. World War II changed this statistic. Florida played an important role in the events leading up to and during World War II."

"Because Florida had a warm climate and a lot of vacant land available, it was ideal for the building of military bases and training soldiers. In the 1930s, there was a tremendous growth of military establishments throughout Florida. Florida soon had 172 military installations, ranging from both extremely large to relatively small camps. Two of the larger complexes were Camp Blanding, established near Starke, and the Jacksonville Naval Air Station."

B-17 Tail position maintenance – MacDill AAF Florida – 1944

"Camp Blanding became Florida's fourth largest city during World War II. It grew to 180,000 acres and housed 55,000 soldiers at a time. Additional naval stations were reactivated at Key West, Drew and MacDill Air Fields in Tampa, Elgin Field at Valparaiso, and the Pensacola Naval Air Base. Two of the smaller camps were Sopchoppy Bombing Range and Immokalee Army Air Field. By the mid 1940s, there were forty airfields actively training military personnel throughout the state. Florida's weather conditions and flat land made it the perfect place for training, especially pilots."

Don Cesar Hotel- St. Petersburg, Florida

"By 1942, America's training facilities in Florida were heavily overcrowded. This led to the military taking over many hotel facilities. Among the hotels used were the Don Cesar in St. Petersburg, the Hollywood Beach Hotel, The Breakers in Fort Lauderdale, the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, and several hundred other hotels and motels throughout Florida. Some of the places were used for barracks and others were taken over as makeshift hospitals for injured military personnel sent home from overseas."

Events in Florida

"World War II took place closer to the United States than many people ever realized. German U-Boats took advantage of mistakes made by the United States Intelligence Department. German U-Boats sank over twenty-four ships off of Florida's Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Many ships could be seen burning from areas along the coast by Floridians and tourists. In late February 1942, German submarines attacked four merchant ships right off the east coast of Florida near Cape Canaveral. German spies were able to come on shore at Ponte Vedra (near Jacksonville). They were captured before they could blow up Florida's railroad lines and stop the shipment of war supplies."

Mosquito Fleet

"The Civil Air Patrol was organized in March 1942, to protect the coasts of Florida. The "Mosquito Fleet" also helped to protect the coastlines of Florida. These convoys helped to eliminate the threat of submarines. Thousands of volunteers, called spotters, were trained to keep track of air activity up and down both shores."

Information above from Exploring Florida Website- click for more of the article