Ponce de León lands on the coast of Florida and claims it for Spain. Amazed by the beauty of the land he names it "Pasqua Florida," or Feast of Flowers. When the Spanish arrive, there are approximately 350,000 Native Americans from three major nations living in the Florida area: the Apalachee, the Timucua and the Calusa.

Spanish soldiers establish the first permanent Spanish settlement at St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. Destroyed and rebuilt many times, the city becomes the key to Spain's hold on the Florida coast as Spaniards fight the French and British for control of the New World.

Pedro Menendez de Aviles and Brother Francisco Villareal are the first Europeans to set foot in what is now Miami. They come to build a Jesuit mission in lands heavily populated by Tequestan Indians.

The Seminoles, the Native American group most commonly associated with Florida today, enter Florida from Alabama and Georgia. The Seminoles take over territories that were formerly inhabited by many of Florida's original Native American tribes before European-introduced diseases and exploitation destroyed their populations.

Spain cedes Florida to the United States as part of an agreement that recognizes Texas as part of New Spain. Florida's population is an eclectic mix of U.S. settlers, Spaniards, Seminoles, runaway slaves, and English traders.

Citizens of Florida elect Joseph Marion Hernandez to Congress as a territorial delegate. He is the first Latino in the history of the U.S. to serve in Congress.

Florida becomes an American state.

Regular air service is established between Miami and Havana. This service fortifies Miami's role as the United States main link to Cuba.

Fleeing Castro's revolution , 155,000 Cubans leave their homeland. A large number of these Cuban "exiles" settle in an area of Miami known as "Little Havana" because of its overwhelmingly Cuban population. Today, more than 60 percent of Miami's population is Latino, and more than 700,000 Cubans live in the Miami area.

Miami elects its first Cuban-American mayor, Xavier L. Suárez.