Augustine, founded in 1565, being the oldest continuously inhabited city. to be permanently settled by Europeans, with the Spanish colony of St. Florida subsequently became the first area in the continental U.S. In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León became the first known European to make landfall, calling the region La Florida ( for its lush greenery and the Easter season ( Pascua Florida in Spanish). Various Native American groups have inhabited Florida for at least 14,000 years. Florida's other major population centers include Tampa Bay, Orlando, Cape Coral, and the state capital of Tallahassee. The Miami metropolitan area, anchored by the cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, is the state's largest metropolitan area with a population of 6.138 million, and the state's most-populous city is Jacksonville with a population of 949,611. It spans 65,758 square miles (170,310 km 2), ranking 22nd in area among the 50 states. With a population exceeding 21 million, it is the third-most populous state in the nation and ranks eighth in population density as of 2020. It is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Florida is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico Alabama to the northwest Georgia to the north the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Straits of Florida and Cuba to the south.
