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city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States
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Miami is a coastal city in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the second-most populous city proper in Florida, with a population of 442,241 at the 2020 census. The Miami metropolitan area in South Florida has an estimated 6.39 million residents, ranking as the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the Southeast and eighth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Miami has the third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises, 70 of which exceed 492 ft (150 m). It is the county seat of Miami-Dade County.
Miami is a major urban center and leader in finance, commerce, culture, arts, and international trade. Miami's metropolitan area is the largest urban economy in Florida, with a 2023 gross domestic product of $533.674 billion. In a 2018 UBS study of 77 world cities, Miami was the third-richest city in the U.S. and the third-richest globally in purchasing power. Miami is a majority-minority city, with 70.2 percent of the city's population identifying as Hispanic and Latino as of 2020.
Downtown Miami has one of the largest concentrations of international banks in the U.S. and is home to several large national and international companies. The Health District is home to several major University of Miami–affiliated hospital and health facilities, including Jackson Memorial Hospital, the nation's largest hospital with 1,547 beds, the Miller School of Medicine, the University of Miami's academic medical center and teaching hospital, and others engaged in health-related care and research. PortMiami, the city's seaport, is the busiest cruise port in the world in both passenger traffic and cruise lines.
The Miami metropolitan area is the second-most visited city or metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. after New York City, with over four million visitors in 2022. Due to its strong commercial and cultural ties to Latin America and majority-Hispanic population (at 70%), Miami has been called the "Gateway to Latin America" or even the "Capital of Latin America".
Miami was named after the Miami River, derived from Mayaimi, the historic name of Lake Okeechobee and the Native Americans who lived around it. Miami is sometimes colloquially referred to as The 305, Magic City, Gateway to the Americas, Gateway to Latin America, Capital of Latin America, and Vice City.
The Tequesta tribe occupied the Miami area for around 2,000 years before contact with Europeans. A village of hundreds of people, dating to 500–600 BCE, was located at the mouth of the Miami River. It is believed that the entire tribe migrated to Cuba by the mid-1700s. In 1566, admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Florida's first governor, claimed the area for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later. Florida was ruled by Spain for centuries—aside from a brief British interlude (1763–1783) that ended with Britain losing the territory back to Spain—until Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821, in exchange for U.S. recognition of Spanish sovereignty in Texas and the resolution of the border dispute along the Sabine River. In 1836, the U.S. built Fort Dallas on the banks of the Miami River as part of their development of the Florida Territory and their attempt to suppress and remove the Seminoles. As a result, the Miami area became a site of fighting in the Second Seminole War.
Miami is noted as the only major city in the United States founded by a woman. Julia Tuttle, a local citrus grower and a wealthy Cleveland native, was the original owner of the land upon which Miami was built. In the late 19th century, the area was known as "Biscayne Bay Country", and reports described it as a promising wilderness and "one of the finest building sites in Florida". The Great Freeze of 1894–1895 hastened Miami's growth, as the crops there were the only ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced railroad tycoon Henry Flagler to extend his Florida East Coast Railway to the region, for which she became known as "the mother of Miami". Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896, with a population of just over 300.
In the early twentieth century, Miami's development was deeply shaped by waves of migrant labor, particularly from the Caribbean. Scholars note that Bahamian immigrants formed a critical portion of Miami's construction and service workforce during the city's formative decades, contributing essential labor to roadbuilding, hotel construction, and other urban expansion projects (Shell-Weiss, 2005). Their role in Miami's labor force helped anchor the city's early economic growth and laid a foundation for its later multicultural identity. During the early 20th century, migrants from the Bahamas and African-Americans constituted 40 percent of the city's population. When landlords began to rent homes to African-Americans around Avenue J, what would later become NW Fifth Avenue, a gang of white men with torches marched through the neighborhood and warned the residents to move or be bombed. Miami's economy was heavily based on seasonal tourism and construction work, which created a volatile job market of low-wage, temporary employment and contributed to pronounced income inequality even as the city promoted itself as a booming leisure destination.
Despite the city's image of resort-style prosperity, workers and activists during the interwar period organized around unemployment and labor exclusion, helping to lay early foundations for labor mobilization in South Florida. Miami prospered during the 1920s with an increase in population and development in infrastructure as northerners moved to the city. The legacy of Jim Crow was embedded in these developments. Miami's chief of police at the time, H. Leslie Quigg, did not hide the fact that he, like many other white Miami police officers, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Unsurprisingly, these officers enforced social codes far beyond the written law. Quigg, for example, "personally and publicly beat a colored bellboy to death for speaking directly to a white woman". The collapse of the 1920s Florida land boom, the 1926 Miami hurricane, and the Great Depression in the 1930s slowed development. When World War II began, Miami became a base for U.S. defense against German submarines due to its prime location on the southern coast of Florida. This brought an increase in Miami's population; 172,172 people lived in the city by 1940. The city's nickname, The Magic City, came from its rapid growth, which was noticed by winter visitors who remarked that the city grew so much from one year to the next that it was like magic.
After Fidel Castro rose to power in Cuba following the Revolution in 1959, many Cubans sought refuge in Miami, further increasing the city's population. Miami's national profile expanded dramatically in the 1970s, particularly in 1972. The region hosted both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in the 1972 presidential election. The Miami Dolphins also made history with their undefeated "perfect" season. The area's educational and cultural institutions also developed significantly in this period, positioning the city to service a larger and increasingly international population.
Miami developed new businesses and cultural amenities as part of the New South in the 1980s and 1990s. At the same time, South Florida weathered social problems related to drug wars, immigration from Haiti and Latin America, and the widespread destruction of Hurricane Andrew. Racial and cultural tensions sometimes sparked, but Miami developed in the latter half of the 20th century as a major international, financial, and cultural center. It is the second-largest U.S. city with a Spanish-speaking majority (after El Paso, Texas), and the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality.
Miami and its suburbs are located on a broad plain between the Everglades to the west and Biscayne Bay to the east, which extends from Lake Okeechobee southward to Florida Bay. The elevation of the area averages at around 6 ft (1.8 m) above sea level in most neighborhoods, especially near the coast. The highest points are found along the Miami Rock Ridge, which lies under most of the eastern Miami metro. The main portion of Miami is on the shores of Biscayne Bay, which contains several hundred natural and artificial barrier islands, the largest of which contains Miami Beach and South Beach. The Gulf Stream, a warm ocean current, runs northward just 15 miles (24 km) off the coast, allowing Miami's climate to stay warm and mild all year.
The surface bedrock under the Miami area is called Miami oolite or Miami limestone. This bedrock is covered by a thin layer of soil, and is no more than 50 feet (15 m) thick. Miami limestone formed as the result of the drastic changes in sea level associated with recent glacial periods, or ice ages. Beginning some 130,000 years ago, the Sangamonian Stage raised sea levels to approximately 25 feet (8 m) above the current level. All of southern Florida was covered by a shallow sea. Several parallel lines of reef formed along the edge of the submerged Florida plateau, stretching from the present Miami area to what is now the Dry Tortugas.
The area behind this reef line was a large lagoon. Miami limestone formed throughout the area from the deposition of oolites and the shells of bryozoans. Starting about 100,000 years ago, the Wisconsin glaciation began lowering sea levels, exposing the floor of the lagoon. By 15,000 years ago, the sea level had dropped 300 to 350 feet (90 to 110 m) below the current level. The sea level rose quickly after that, stabilizing at the current level about 4,000 years ago, leaving the mainland of South Florida just above sea level.
Beneath the plain lies the Biscayne Aquifer, a natural underground source of fresh water that extends from southern Palm Beach County to Florida Bay. It comes closest to the surface around the cities of Miami Springs and Hialeah. Most of the Miami metropolitan area obtains its drinking water from the Biscayne Aquifer. As a result of the aquifer, it is not possible to dig more than 15 to 20 ft (5 to 6 m) beneath the city without hitting water, which impedes underground construction, though some underground parking garages exist. For this reason, the mass transit systems in and around Miami are elevated or at-grade.
Most of the western fringes of Miami border the Everglades, a tropical marshland covering most of the southern portion of Florida. Alligators that live in the marshes have ventured into Miami communities and onto major highways.
Miami is split roughly into north, south, west, and Downtown areas. Downtown Miami, which is on the eastern side includes the neighborhoods of Brickell, Virginia Key, Watson Island, and PortMiami. Downtown Miami is Florida's largest and most influential business district, with many major banks, courthouses, financial headquarters, cultural and tourist attractions, schools, parks, and a large residential population. Brickell Avenue has the largest concentration of international banks in the United States. Just northwest of Downtown is the Health District, which is Miami's center for hospitals, research institutes and biotechnology, with institutions such as Jackson Memorial Hospital, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine.
The southern area of Miami includes the neighborhoods of Coral Way, The Roads, and Coconut Grove. Coral Way is a historic residential neighborhood built in 1922 between Downtown and Coral Gables, and is home to many old homes and tree-lined streets. Coconut Grove, settled in 1825, and annexed into Miami in 1925, is a historic neighborhood with narrow, winding roads and a heavy tree canopy. It is the location of Miami's City Hall at Dinner Key, the former Coconut Grove Playhouse, CocoWalk, and the Coconut Grove Convention Center. It is home to many nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and bohemian shops, which are popular with local college students. Coconut Grove is known for its many parks and gardens, such as Vizcaya Museum, The Kampong, The Barnacle Historic State Park, and numerous other historic homes and estates.
The western area of Miami includes the neighborhoods of Little Havana, West Flagler, and Flagami. Although at one time a mostly Jewish neighborhood, today western Miami is home to immigrants from mostly Central America and Cuba. The west central neighborhood of Allapattah is a multicultural community of many ethnicities.
The northern side of Miami includes Midtown, a district with a great mix of diversity ranging from Caribbeans to Central Americans, South Americans and Europeans. The Edgewater neighborhood of Midtown is mostly composed of high-rise residential towers and is home to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Wynwood is an art district with ten galleries in former warehouses, as well as a large outdoor mural project. There are wealthy residents in the Design District and the Upper Eastside, which has many 1920s homes as well as examples of Miami Modern architecture in the MiMo Historic District. The northern side of Miami also has notable African-American and Caribbean immigrant communities, including Little Haiti, Overtown (home of the Lyric Theater), and Liberty City.
Miami has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen climate classification Am) with hot and wet summers and warm and dry winters.
Miami's sea-level elevation, coastal location, position just above the Tropic of Cancer, and proximity to the Gulf Stream shape its climate. Average winter high temperatures, from December to March, range from 76.4–80.3 °F (24.7–26.8 °C). January is the coolest month with an average daily temperature of 68.2 °F (20.1 °C). Low temperatures fall below 50 °F (10 °C) about 3 to 4 nights during the winter season, after the passage of cold fronts that produce what little rainfall that falls in the winter.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Miami”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.