.Areas under control by the National Park Service include:

CLIMATE!!!!!   The climate of Florida is tempered somewhat by its proximity to water. Most of the state has a humid subtropical climate with the extreme tip of Florida and the Florida Keys bordering on a true tropical climate. Cold fronts can occasionally bring high winds and cool to cold temperatures to the entire state during late fall and winter. One such front swept through the peninsula on November 25, 1996 bringing cold temperatures and winds up to 95 miles per hour (150 km/h), knocking out power to thousands and damaging mobile homes. However, Florida averages 300 days of full sunshine a year. The seasons in Florida are actually determined more by precipitation than by temperature with warm, relatively dry winters and autumns (the dry season) and hot, wet springs and summers (the wet season). The Gulf Stream has a moderating effect on Florida climate, and although it is common for much of Florida to see a high summer temperature over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32°C), it is not common for the mercury to go above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (39°C) in Florida. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the state was 109°F (43°C) set on June 29, 1931 in Monticello. The coldest was -2°F (−19°C), on February 13, 1899 just 25 miles (40 km) away, in Tallahassee. Mean high temperatures for late July are primarily in the low 90's Fahrenheit (32-35°C). Mean low temperatures for late January range from the low 40's Fahrenheit (4-7°C) in northern Florida to the mid-50's (≈13°C)in southern Florida.

The Florida Keys, being surrounded by water, generally have a more tropical climate, with lesser variability in temperatures. At Key West, temperatures rarely go above 90°F in the summer or below 60°F in the winter.

.Snow is a rare occurrence in Florida. During the Great Blizzard of 1899, Florida experienced blizzard conditions for possibly the first time since explorers had arrived. During that time, the Tampa Bay Area had "Gulf effect" snow, similar to lake effect snow. The Great Blizzard of 1899 was also the only time the temperature has fallen below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (−18°C). The most widespread snowfall in Florida history happened in February 1978, with snow falling over much of the state in different times of the month, extending as far south as Homestead. Snow flurries fell on Miami Beach for the only time in recorded history. 1982's Cold Sunday, which saw freezing conditions throughout much of the country, ruined that year's orange crops. In 1989, there was a severe hard freeze that created lots of ice and also caused minor flurries in sections of the state and resulted in rolling blackouts due to power failures caused by massive demands on the power grid for heating. Another hard freeze in 2003 brought "ocean effect" snow flurries to the Atlantic coast as far south as Cape Canaveral. [1].

Archaeological finds indicate that Florida had been inhabited for many thousands of years prior to any European settlements. Of the many indigenous people, the largest tribes were the Ais, Apalachee, Calusa, Timucua and Tocobago tribes. Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish conquistador, named this new land in honor of his "discovery" of the land on April 2, 1513, during Pascua Florida, which is a Spanish term for the Easter season. From that date forward, the land became known as "La Florida." (Juan Ponce de León may not have been the first European to reach Florida. At least one of the Indians that he encountered in Florida in 1513 could speak Spanish.^[1]. Alternatively, the Spanish speaking Indian, could have been in contact with other regions where there were already Spanish settlements, and Ponce de León was indeed the discoverer).

Over the following century, the Spanish and French both established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success. Spanish Pensacola was established by Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano as the first European settlement in the continental United States in 1559 but this settlement was aborted by 1561 and would not inhabited again until the 1690s. French Huguenots founded Fort Caroline in modern day Jacksonville in 1564, but it was conquered by forces from the new Spanish colony of St. Augustine the following year. When Huguenot leader Jean Ribault had learned of the new Spanish threat, he launched an expedition to sack their settlement. En route, however, severe storms at sea waylaid the expedition, which consisted of most of the colony's men, allowing St. Augustine founder Pedro Menéndez de Avilés time to march his men over land and conquer the poorly defended to Fort Caroline. Most of the Huguenots were slaughtered, and Menéndez de Avilés marched south and captured the survivors of the wrecked French fleet, ordering all but a few Catholics executed beside a river subsequently called Matanzas (Spanish for "killings"). St. Augustine came to serve as the capitals of the British and Spanish colonies of East and West Florida, respectively. The Spanish never had a firm hold on Florida and maintained a tenuous control of the region by converting the local tribes, briefly with Jesuits and later with Franciscan friars. The local leaders, or caciques, demonstrated their loyalty to the Spanish by converting to Catholicism and welcoming the Franciscan priests into their villages.

As of 2005, Florida has an estimated population of 17,789,864, which is an increase of 404,434, or 2.3%, from the prior year and an increase of 1,807,040, or 11.3%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 246,058 people (that is 1,115,565 births minus 869,507 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 1,585,704 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 528,085 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 1,057,619 people. ^{[citation needed]}

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Florida is mostly Protestant, with a growing Roman Catholic community due to immigration. There is also a sizable Jewish community in some parts of Florida which makes Florida unique among Southern states because no other Southern state has a large Jewish community. Florida's current religious affiliations are shown in the table below:

The gross state product of Florida in 2003 was $599 billion[4]. The per capita personal income was $30,098, ranking 26^th in the nation.

Florida's economy is heavily based on tourism. About 60 million visitors come to Florida every year. Warm weather most of the year and hundreds of miles of beach provide a thriving vacation spot for travelers from around the world. The large Walt Disney World Resort—with four theme parks and over twenty hotels plus countless water parks, shopping centers and other facilities—located in Lake Buena Vista drives the economy of that area, along with more recent entries into the theme park arena such as the Universal Orlando Resort. The great amount of sales and tourist tax revenue is what allows the state to be one of the few to not levy a personal income tax. Other major industries include citrus fruit and juice production, banking, and phosphate mining within the Bone Valley region. With the arrival of the space program at Kennedy Space Center in the 1960s, Florida has attracted a large number of aerospace and military industries to the state. Florida did not have any state minimum wage laws until November 2, 2004, when voters passed a Constitutional Amendment requiring inflationary increases to the minimum wage every six months..

Florida is one of the nine states which do not impose a personal income tax (list of others). However, there is a tax on "intangible personal property" (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, money market funds, etc.). As of April, 2006 the state legislative is considering a repeal of the tax. [5] The state sales tax rate is 6% [6]. Local governments may levy an additional local option sales tax of up to 1.5%. A locale's use tax rate is the same as its sales tax rate, including local options if any. Use taxes are payable for purchases made out-of-state and brought into Florida within 6 months of the purchase date. Other taxes are mostly levied on businesses. They include the following taxes: Corporate Income, Communication Services, Intangibles, Unemployment, Solid Waste, Documentary Stamps, Insurance Premium, Pollutants, and various fuel taxes. For more information visit the Florida "