History of Florida, USA
Florida was discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513. Florida’s first permanent immigrant Spanish settlers arrived at Pensacola Harbour in 1540. Around 1763 Britain had gained control over Florida with Spain again regaining control in 1783. In 1819 Florida was ceded to the United States by Spain with the signing of the Florida Purchase Treaty.
Florida entered the Union on March 3rd 1845. During the late 19th century, Florida became a popular tourist destination as railroads expanded into the area. These new railroads opened up large areas to development, spurring the Florida land boom of the 1920s where investors of all kinds, mostly from outside Florida, raced to buy and sell rapidly appreciating land in newly platted communities such as Miami and Palm Beach.
Florida's first theme parks emerged in the 1930s and included Cypress Gardens (1936) near Winter Haven and Marineland (1938) near St. Augustine. In the 1960s Walt Disney chose Central Florida as the site of his planned Walt Disney World Resort and began purchasing land. The dramatic transformation of the Orlando area into an international resort destination with a wide variety of themed parks including Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld, and Wet 'n Wild.
