"New Years at Miami Beach" Miami Beach by Ewingjr98

Espinola Way at Miami Beach

Miami is the heart of the five million person strong South Florida metropolitan area and the seat of Miami-Dade County. Miami is home to a variety or corporations, including the largest number of international banks in the US, and it's port is the busiest cruise ship terminal in America.

Miami had long been home to Tequesta Indians before being explored by Juan Ponce de León in 1513. The area was conquered by Spain in 1566, and they built a mission here in 1567. The mission was abandoned just three years later and the area returned to the natives. The Spanish returned to build a fort and a permanent settlement here in 1743. The British began granting land in the Miami area to its citizen in the late 1700s, and the first permanent British settlers arrived in the early 1800s. the area saw little growth until the 1890s when northerners began buying citrus plantations, then Henry Flagler expanded his Florida East Coast Railroad down the coast from St. Augustine. The early 1900s saw huge expansion including the start of the draining and destruction of the Everglades. Miami Beach's art deco areas were developed in the 1930s, and Cuban immigrants began arriving in huge numbers in the 1950s and 1960s, giving the area its modern cultural flair.

Some key attractions in Miami include Little Havana, the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Spanish Monastery Cloisters, Venetian Pool, the Biltmore Hotel, and of course, the Everglades.