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1513
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4.2.1513
Juan Ponce de Leon sets foot on Florida, becoming the first European known to do so. |
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4.8.1513
Explorer Juan Ponce de León declares Florida a territory of Spain. |
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1539
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5.30.1539
In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold. |
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6.3.1539
DeSoto claims Florida for Spain. |
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1715
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7.24.1715
A Spanish treasure fleet of 10 ships under Admiral Ubilla leaves Havana, Cuba for Spain. Seven days later, 9 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida. A few centuries later, treasure is salvaged from these wrecks. |
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1821
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7.10.1821
The United States takes possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain. |
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1835
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12.28.1835
Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army. |
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1842
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8.14.1842
Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida to Oklahoma.
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1845
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3.3.1845
Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state. |
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1861
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1864
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2.20.1864
American Civil War: Battle of Olustee occurs – the largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
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1928
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9.17.1928
The Okeechobee Hurricane strikes southeastern Florida, killing upwards of 2,500 people. It is the third deadliest natural disaster in United States history, behind the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. |
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1933
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1939
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6.4.1939
Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps. |
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1945
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9.15.1945
A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.
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1947
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12.6.1947
The Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated.
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1957
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1959
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1965
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12.15.1965
Gemini program: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7. |
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1968
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12.21.1968
Apollo program: '' Apollo 8'', the first manned mission to the moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At 2h:50m:37s Mission elapsed time (MES), the crew performs the first ever manned Trans Lunar Injection and become the first humans to leave Earth's gravity. |
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1969
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1972
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1980
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5.9.1980
In Florida, Liberian freighter ''MV Summit Venture'' collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, making a 1,400-ft. section of the southbound span collapse. 35 people in six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 150 ft. into the water and die. |
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10.29.1980
Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida leading to cancellation of Operation Credible Sport. |
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1986
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1.15.1986
The Living Seas opens at EPCOT Center in Walt Disney World, Florida.
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1989
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6.1.1989
Oba Chandler murders an Ohio family on their Florida vacation by drowning them in Tampa Bay. |
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1990
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6.6.1990
U.S. District court judge Jose Alejandro Gonzalez, Jr. rules that the rap album ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'' by 2 Live Crew violates Florida's obscenity law; he declares that the predominant subject matter of the record is "directed to the 'dirty' thoughts and the loins, not to the intellect and the mind."
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1996
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11.25.1996
An ice storm strikes the central U.S. killing 26 people. A powerful windstorm affects Florida and winds gust over 90 mph, toppling trees and flipping trailers.
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1999
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7.8.1999
Allen Lee Davis is executed by electric chair by the state of Florida, the last use of the electric chair for capital punishment in Florida. |
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