Florida

Florida is a state in the United States occupying all of the Florida peninsula and the adjoining panhandle. It is bordered by Georgia to the north, Alabama to the north and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Straits of Florida to the south. Florida is the 22nd most extensive, the 4th most populous, and the 8th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state capital is Tallahassee, its largest city is Jacksonville, and the Miami metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the southeastern United States.

The first Europeans in Florida was the Spanish led by Juan Ponce de León in 1513, who christened it La Florida, the "flowery land". Its climate and its flora and fauna made settlement in Florida a challenge throughout its history. The Spanish more or less held Florida until 1763, when it became a British possession. The British divided the area into East and West Florida. After the American Revolution, both Floridas were returned to Spain. Thanks to frequent raids from the Seminole of Florida into neighboring Georgia, the United States by military and diplomatic means, took possession of Florida in 1820. This did little to ease tensions with the Seminoles; fighting continued between the U.S. government and the Seminole until the 1850s, when the Seminole were removed from their land.

Florida became the 27th state on March 3, 1845. A slave-state, Florida joined the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. At the end of the war, it was occupied by the United States Army like the rest of the defunct CSA, and its slaves were freed in accordance with the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment. Florida was readmitted to the Union on June 25, 1868.

Traditionally, Florida has been seen as a swing state in American politics, but has recently experienced a disturbing lurch to the far right under Governor Ron DeSantis.

Florida in Days of Infamy

Pensacola, Florida was the home of the U.S. Navy's flight school during World War II. Joe Crosetti earned his wings there.

Florida in The Disunited States of America

The nation-state of Florida was partitioned in the 20th century after the Florida Intervention. The southern third was annexed to Cuba.

Florida in "Election Day"

Republican Party candidate Donald Trump won the swing-state of Florida in the 2016 United States Presidential Election, which initially set pundits to either gloat or worry that Trump had won the election. However, Democratic Party candidate John F. Kennedy Jr. won the election.

Florida in "The Garden Gnome Freedom Front"

Florida was a land filled with powerful Seminole magics. The state had a large population of enchanted lawn flamingos, who were bound to their gardens by their magical weakness. In 1996, the sentient garden gnome Professor Gottfried, accompanied by his assistants Karl and Gretchen, traveled from France to Florida. The Gottfried expedition sought to harness the Seminole powers and liberate the lawn flamingos, so that the plastic birds could join their flesh-and-blood cousins in the wetlands.

Florida in The Guns of the South

Florida was the third of eleven states to secede from the United States and join the Confederate States of America during the Second American Revolution. With the sudden and complete reversal of the Confederacy's declining fortunes in 1864, Florida's separation from the Union became permanent.

During the 1867 Confederate States presidential election, Florida's citizens were almost evenly divided in their support for the two candidates. Ultimately, Florida's four electoral votes were carried by Confederate Party candidate Robert E. Lee in a margin of 7,063 popular votes to Patriot Party candidate Nathan Bedford Forrest's 6,238. The state had four electoral votes during the election.

Florida in "News From the Front"

In early May 1942, German U-boats sank four oil tankers off the coast of Florida, releasing 92,000 barrels of oil into the ecosystem. The Miami Herald reported on the disaster, and called into question whether any of the U.S. Navy's claimed U-boat kills over the past five months had actually happened.

Florida in Southern Victory

Florida was a Confederate state, the third to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. It played no major role in the C.S.A.'s war for independence, beyond contributing several regiments and some logistical support.

Florida was the center of the Confederate film industry during the 1920s to 1940s.

The Confederacy launched an invasion of the U.S.-held Bahamas from Florida at the beginning of the Second Great War, eliminating a threat to Confederate Cuba. Eventually, U.S. forces retook the Bahamas.

Florida was one of the few states of the Confederacy that was not overrun and occupied by the U.S. until after the Second Great War ended. Consequently, the population of Florida was particularly restive, and the U.S. was frequently forced to implement harsh conditions. In particular, an attack on an American warship near Miami precipitated the execution of hundreds of random hostages taken in the city.

Vice President-elect Harry Truman visited Tallahassee, Florida in late 1944. He commended the U.S. troops on their duty, and reiterated the importance of their continued occupation until the former Confederate States could be integrated back into the U.S.

Michael Pound was assigned to occupation duty in Florida after the Second Great War.

Florida in The Two Georges

Florida was a province of the North American Union on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It bordered the provinces of Louisiana and Georgia, and was a short sail away from Cuba, a Nuevespañolan province.

A "Florida mansion" was a proverbial expression for affluent wealth.

Literary Note

Along with OTL Florida, the province also contains the southern portions of Alabama and Mississippi bordering the Gulf of Mexico along with the Florida Parishes of Louisiana. The Bahamas may also be part of Florida, as they are not labeled separately on the map.

Florida in Worldwar

Florida was invaded by the Race in 1942 and was a major battleground between the United States and the Conquest Fleet in which both sides used explosive-metal bombs. The Race tried to recruit disaffected blacks to fight against the U.S. Army on the Florida front but most of the soldiers mutinied and rejoined their American compatriots. Some even turned their guns on their lizard officers and attacked them.

The Americans destroyed the Race-occupied city of Miami with an atomic bomb in 1943. The Race used an atomic bomb against American lines outside Orlando the following year.

In accordance with the Peace of Cairo, the Race evacuated Florida, like the rest of the US territories which it had partly of fully occupied, and handed it back to the US government.