The History Of The Florida Keys
Ponce de Leon's found the Florida Keys while on an expedition in
1513. On this trip the Spanish did not find any gold, nor was
there any fresh water, but what they did find was a large amount
of bugs. They mapped and named the Keys primarily as an aid to
their ships. They used the Florida Straights to get from the New
World back the Old.
The first settlement was at Key West but it wasn't until 1882.
This was more than two decades before Florida became an official
state. All the other Keys stayed unsettled until around 1874. It
was during this year that the government surveyed them and then
plotted land for homes and businesses. Although at this time the
homes were still primal. The materials used to build these
houses were taken from the local beaches and most of the wood
was from shipwrecks that have washed up on shore.
The biggest settlers of the Florida Keys were the mosquitoes.
The mosquito has been called the king of the Keys. Over the
years the residents of the Keys tried many things to get rid of
the mosquitoes. The most common thing used to kill these pests
were bags filled with woodchips that had been soaked in engine
oil and then hung over the water holes during the night in an
attempt to kill the mosquito larvae.
In 1912 Henry Flagler built a railroad through the Florida Keys
to Key West. This helped to greatly increase the human
settlement of the Florida Keys. The railroad was destroyed
however in 1935 due to a hurricane. In 1938 the longest
over-water road in the world was built. This includes 42
bridges. This opened up the Florida Keys to the growing tourist
trade.
Today in the Florida Keys, there are roughly about 40,000
residents and thousands and thousands of visitors that come to
fish and swim and sail. Tourists love to come to the Keys to
dive in the crystal waters off the tropical reef. Other tourists
come to relax in the sun.