Florida, state in the southeastern United States, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Florida entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state.
Tourism has been Florida’s major source of income for many years. Although it initially attracted visitors from the Northeastern states during the winter months, it is now a year-round vacationland visited by tourists from every state, Latin America, and also from Canada and other foreign countries. While Jacksonville on the northern Atlantic shore is the state’s largest city in population, the state’s largest metropolitan area centers on Miami. Tallahassee, in the panhandle, is Florida’s capital. The Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León called the region La Florida, roughly translated as Land of the Flowers, when he visited it in 1513.The state’s official nickname is:
The Sunshine State.
