Florida Resources

Florida's first inhabitants entered the peninsula and panhandle about 10,000 years ago. The Spaniard Juan Ponce de León stumbled ashore near Melbourne Beach in 1513. He called the place La Florida, the first permanent geographic name of European origin to be etched upon the maps of the American continent. Over three centuries of Spanish and English colonial history followed before the United States acquired Florida in 1821. The first state flag was raised over a new capitol in Tallahassee on May 26, 1845. Written to observe the sesquicentennial of statehood, this work will document the rich history of the Sunshine State for general readers, students, and scholars well into the twenty-first century.

Originally published in 1945, this concise volume covering Spanish, French, British, American, and Confederate rule of Florida commemorated the state's centennial anniversary. Reissued numerous times, it is not only a seminal text but also one that has remained relevant and in demand over the years. Distilling five centures of history, Rembert Patrick chronicles Florida's changing identity from European discovery to emerging economic juggernaut. He reveals the political complexities underlying the early white settlements, as the peninsula became a pawn in the global chess game among European powers; he traces the slow growth of Florida as it evelved from frontier territory to antebellum state, then underwent the upheaval of the Civil War and Reconstruction; he shows how the steamboat and the railroad led to greater urbanization, particularly along the coast; and he pointed to the bright future in store for the state in the immediate post-WWII period, thanks to improved roads, air travel, agriculture, tourism, and the military. Patrick, the first of many giants among Florida historians, created a highly readable account of Florida's history whose appeal is as relevant today as when it was first published. This facsimile of that original edition is being released as part of the state-wide celebration of the five-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of "La Florida." --from the cover.

The financial boom of the 1920s gave Florida citizens a look at prosperity and promise. By 1926, natural disasters, financial misdeeds and failures to realize those promises created a sense of impending doom and forced entrepreneurs into bankruptcy. With the hurricane of 1928, the boom was over, and coupled with bank failures and numerous farming epidemics, Florida plunged into a depression--two years before the stock market crash of 1929. Journey with noted Florida historians Nick Wynne and Joseph Knetsch as they detail the hardships of the times and the defiance of a state determined to rise above them.

Billinger's book focuses on the experiences of German POWs held at work camps in Florida at the height of World War II.

Offers a county-by-county description of historic sites in the state of Florida.