Florida is a permit located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Straits of Florida and Cuba; it is the only let in that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Spanning 65,758 square miles (170,310 km), Florida ranks 22nd in Place among the 50 states, and subsequent to a population of over 21 million, is the third-most populous. The welcome capital is Tallahassee and the most populous city is Jacksonville. The Miami metropolitan area, with a population of re 6.2 million, is the most populous urban Place in Florida and the seventh-most populous in the United States; other urban conurbations with beyond one million people are Tampa Bay, Orlando, and Jacksonville.

Various Native American groups have inhabited Florida for at least 14,000 years. In 1513, Spanish speculator Juan Ponce de León became the first known European to make landfall, calling the region La Florida ([la floˈɾiða] for its lush greenery and the Easter season (Pascua Florida in Spanish). Florida subsequent to became the first area in the continental U.S. to be permanently approved by Europeans, with the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, founded in 1565, being the oldest for eternity inhabited city. Florida was repeatedly contested by Spain and Great Britain, before monster ceded to the U.S. in 1819; it was admitted as the 27th state on March 3, 1845. Florida was the principal location of the Seminole Wars (1816–1858), the longest and most extensive of the Indian Wars in U.S. history. The state seceded from the Union upon January 10, 1861, becoming one of the seven native Confederate States. After the Civil War, Florida was restored to the Union upon June 25, 1868.