Postcard-Geography Album: Florida, “The Sunshine State”

Despite the fact that we are supposed to be on Christmas break, we did manage to complete another page for our geography album on Florida. Our postcards this week are from Donna and Kelly at  Homeschooling in Sunny Florida & My MidLife "Green" Crisis.
 Alex colored pictures of the state flag, flower and tree. We talked about the things that were on the postcards we had received and which were similar and which were different from where we live.
We also talked about Florida's history. The earliest colonies of north America were settled here, but died out due to wars. It was controlled by the Spanish, though the French and English both attempted to gain control of the area. 

Americans acquired it from the Spanish, and immediately began trying to clear the area of the Seminole Indians. To make matters even worse, the Seminoles also harbored free and run-away slaves. In the end, however, the Seminoles were mostly forcibly removed form their lands.
By the time of the Civil War, the population of Florida was very small, with just a few American cotton plantations worked by black slaves and few small struggling family homesteads. Florida's small population prevented their taking a very large role in the Civil War. In the 1920's Florida's economy became stable as tourism took off. Today Florida is the fourth most populous state in the union.

We talked about the Florida Keys and then we decided to make a Key Lime Pie.

What is Florida known for?
Beaches
Pirates
Vacationers
 Everglade
Juan Ponce de Leon... 

visited 6 states (12%)