 Official
Symbols of Florida The current
design of the official state flag was adopted in
1900. It consists of two diagonal red bars, in
the form of a St. Andrew's Cross, on a white
field, with the state seal in the center. |
 Fort Caroline
was established by the
French on the site of present-day Jacksonville in
1564, in an attempt to gain a share of the riches
offered by the New World. Unfortunately, the
Spanish, who then had a monopoly on trade in the
New World, did not like the competition and
destroyed the settlement barely a year after its
establishment. |
 Lake
Okeechobee is the
fourth largest lake completely within the United
States, and the largest in the Southern United
States. Covering about 730 square miles of
south-central Florida, it has an average depth of
only nine feet. |
 Gainesville is the seat of Alachua County. It is
home to the main campus of the University of
Florida, whose football team was responsible for
the invention of Gatorade. |
