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Article: Florida
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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FLORIDA
FLORIDA.
The state of Florida consists of a peninsula and a strip of mainland at the southeastern corner of the United States. It is bounded on the west by the Gulf of Mexico and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. The Gulf Stream runs only a few miles off the southeastern coast. Low-lying barrier islands and mangrove swamps fringe the long, flat coastline. Lake Okeechobee lies near the center of the peninsula. The Everglades, a grassy water-land, once extended over nearly all of southern Florida but is now restricted to the southwestern tip of the peninsula.
The first humans reached Florida at least twelve thousand years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age. Because sea level ...