Miami Hurricanes Football Announcers

Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the 2020 census, it is the second-most populous city in Florida and the eleventh-most populous city in the Southeastern United States. The Miami metropolitan area is the ninth largest in the U.S. with a population of 6.138 million in 2020. The city has the third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises, 58 of which exceed .

Miami is a major center and leader in finance, commerce, culture, arts, and international trade. Miami's metropolitan area is by far the largest urban economy in Florida and the 12th largest in the U.S., with a GDP of $344.9 billion as of 2017. According to a 2018 UBS study of 77 world cities, Miami is the second richest city in the U.S. and third richest globally in purchasing power. Miami is a majority-minority city with a Hispanic population of 310,472, or 70.2 percent of the city's population, as of 2020.

Downtown Miami has one of the largest concentrations of international banks in the U.S. and is home to many 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, and the Leonard M. 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. Miami is the second largest tourism hub for international visitors, after New York City. Miami has sometimes been called the Gateway to Latin America because of the magnitude of its commercial and cultural ties to the region.

In 2019, Miami ranked seventh in the U.S. in business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement.

Toponymy

Miami was named in 1896 after the Miami River, derived from Mayaimi, the historic name of Lake Okeechobee and the Native Americans who lived around it.

History

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.

Settlement

In 1566, admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Florida's first governor, claimed the area for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later. Spain and Britain successively ruled Florida until Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821. 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.

Founding

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 the city 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. African American labor played a crucial role in Miami's early development.

20th century

During the early 20th century, migrants from the Bahamas and African-Americans constituted 40 percent of the city's population. Despite their role in the city's growth, their community was limited to a small space. 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 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 Florida land boom of the 1920s, 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 wealthy Cubans sought refuge in Miami, further increasing the city's 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 the city 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.U.S. Census, 2010 (Ethnicity) and Census American Community Survey 2008 (language).

Geography

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 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 the city 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 off the coast, allowing the city's climate to stay warm and mild all year.

Geology

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 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 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, in fact, a large lagoon, and the 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 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 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 the city 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.

Cityscape

Neighborhoods

Miami is split roughly into north, south, west, and Downtown areas. The heart of the city is Downtown Miami, which is on the eastern side and includes the neighborhoods of Brickell, Virginia Key, Watson Island, as well as PortMiami. Downtown Miami is Florida's largest and most influential central 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 hospitals such as Jackson Memorial Hospital, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.

The southern side 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, established in 1825, 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 also home to many nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and bohemian shops, which makes it very 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 side 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, while 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 West Indians to Hispanics to European Americans. 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. The wealthier residents of Miami usually live 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.

Climate

Miami has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen climate classification ''Am'') with hot and wet summers and warm and dry winters.

The city'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 . January is the coolest month with an average daily temperature of . Low temperatures fall below 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.

There are two basic seasons in Miami, a hot and wet season from May through October, and a warm and dry season from November through April. During the hot and wet season, daily thundershowers occur in the humid unstable air masses. The wet season in Miami is defined as the period during which the average daily dew point temperature is above . The rainy season typically begins on the first day that occurs, or within a few days later. Similarly, daily rainfall in Miami decreases sharply when the average daily dew point falls to or below, although in some years, a stalled front to the south of the Florida peninsula may cause rains to continue for a few more days. During the years 1956 to 1997, the date summer began ranged from April 16 to June 3, with a median date of May 21. During those same years, the date summer ended ranged from September 24 to November 1, with a median date of October 17. During the summer, temperatures range from the mid-80s to low 90s °F (29–35 °C) and are accompanied by high humidity, though the heat is often relieved in the afternoon by thunderstorms or a sea breeze that develops off the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the year's of rainfall occurs during this period. Dew points in the warm months range from in June to in August.

Extremes range from on February 3, 1917, to on July 21, 1942. While Miami has never recorded snowfall at any official weather station since records have been kept, snow flurries fell in some parts of the city on January 19, 1977. The coldest daytime maximum temperature on record is in 1989, while the coldest maximum temperature average between 1991 and 2020 stood at . The warmest overnight low measured is on several occasions. The stability of summer overnight lows is underlined by the mean maximum annual overnight low is just one degree lower.

Hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through November 30, although hurricanes can develop beyond those dates. The most likely time for Miami to be hit is during the peak of the Cape Verde season, which is mid-August through the end of September. Although tornadoes are uncommon in the area, one struck in 1925 and another in 1997. Around 40% of homes in Miami are built upon floodplains and are considered as flood-risk zones.

Miami falls under the Department of Agriculture's 10b/11a plant hardiness zone.

Miami is one of the major coastal cities and major cities in the United States that will be most affected by climate change. Globally, it is one of the most at-risk cities as well, according to a 2020 report by Resources for the Future. Global sea level rise, which in Miami is projected to be to by 2070, will lead to an increase in storm damage, more intense flooding, and will threaten the city's water supply. Other potential impacts of climate change include higher hurricane wind speeds and severe thunderstorms, which can bring about hail or tornadoes. Some protective efforts are in place, including nourishing beaches and adding protective barriers, raising buildings and roads that are vulnerable, and restoring natural habitats such as wetlands. Miami Beach has invested $500 million to protect roads, buildings, and water systems. Real estate prices in Miami already reflect the increase in prices for real estate at a higher elevation within the city compared to real estate at a lower elevation.

Demographics

The city is home to less than one-thirteenth of the population of South Florida. Miami is the 44th most populous city in the United States. The Miami metropolitan area, which includes Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, has a population of 6.1 million people, ranking eighth in the United States.

In 1960, people of Hispanic origin made up about 5% of the population of Miami-Dade County. Between 1960 and 2000, Hispanics accounted for 90% of the population growth in the county, and their share of the county's population grew to more than 57% by 2000.

In 1970, the Census Bureau reported Miami's population as 45% Hispanic, 41.7% non-Hispanic white, and 22.7% black. Miami's explosive population growth has been driven by internal migration from other parts of the country, primarily up until the 1980s, as well as by immigration, primarily from the 1960s to the 1990s. Today, immigration to Miami has continued and Miami's growth today is attributed greatly to its fast urbanization and high-rise construction, which has increased its inner city neighborhood population densities, such as in Downtown, Brickell, and Edgewater, where one area in Downtown alone saw a 2,069% increase in population in the 2010 Census. Miami is regarded as more of a multicultural mosaic, than it is a melting pot, with residents still maintaining much of, or some of their cultural traits. The overall culture of Miami is heavily influenced by its large population from the Caribbean and South America.

Culture

Miami has a minority-majority population, as non-Hispanic whites comprised only 11.5% of the total. As of the 2020 census, the racial makeup of the population of Miami was 65.4% White American (including White Hispanic), 16.0% black or African American, 1.3% Asian American, and the remainder belonged to other groups or was of mixed ancestry. The 2020 US Census reported that Hispanic or Latino residents of any race made up 72.5% of Miami's population.

In 2010, 34.4% of city residents were of Cuban origin, 15.8% had a Central American background (7.2% Nicaraguan, 5.8% Honduran, 1.2% Salvadoran, and 1.0% Guatemalan), 8.7% were of South American descent (3.2% Colombian, 1.4% Venezuelan, 1.2% Peruvian, 1.2% Argentine, 1.0% Chilean and 0.7% Ecuadorian), 4.0% had other Hispanic or Latino origins (0.5% Spaniard), 3.2% descended from Puerto Ricans, 2.4% were Dominican, and 1.5% had Mexican ancestry.

, 5.6% of city residents were West Indian or Afro-Caribbean American origin (4.4% Haitian, 0.4% Jamaican, 0.4% Bahamian, 0.1% British West Indian, and 0.1% Trinidadian and Tobagonian, 0.1% Other or Unspecified West Indian), 3.0% were Black Hispanics, and 0.4% were Subsaharan African origin.

, those of (non-Hispanic white) European ancestry accounted for 11.9% of Miami's population. Of the city's total population, 1.7% were German, 1.6% Italian, 1.4% Irish, 1.0% English, 0.8% French, 0.6% Russian, and 0.5% were Polish. Since the 1960s, there has been massive white flight with many non-Hispanic whites moving outside Miami due to the influx of immigrants settling in most parts of Miami.

, those of Asian ancestry accounted for 1.0% of Miami's population. Of the city's total population, 0.3% were Indian/Indo-Caribbean (1,206 people), 0.3% Chinese/ Chinese Caribbean (1,804 people), 0.2% Filipino (647 people), 0.1% were other Asian (433 people), 0.1% Japanese (245 people), 0.1% Korean (213 people), and 0.0% were Vietnamese (125 people).

In 2010, 1.9% of the population considered themselves to be of only American ancestry (regardless of race or ethnicity), while 0.5% were of Arab ancestry, .

According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, Christianity is the most-practiced religion in Miami (68%), with 39% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant, and 27% professing Catholicism. Followed by Judaism (9%); Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and a variety of other religions have smaller followings; atheism or no self-identifying organized religious affiliation was practiced by 21%.

There has been a Norwegian Seamen's church in Miami since the early 1980s. In November 2011, Crown Princess of Norway Mette-Marit opened a new building for the church. The church was built as a center for the 10,000 Scandinavians that live in Florida. Around 4,000 of them are Norwegian. The church is also an important place for the 150 Norwegians that work at Walt Disney World in Central Florida.

, a total of 74.7% of Miami's population age five and over spoke a language other than English at home; 66.3% of Miami residents spoke Spanish at home, 7.1% other Indo-European languages, 0.9% Asian and Pacific Islander languages, and 0.7% other.

Other demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, 81.8% of people over age 25 were a high school graduate or higher, while 30.7% had a bachelor's degree or higher.

There were 1,074,685 housing units, of which 902,200 were households; 43.7% were married-couple families, 31.2% had a female householder with a family and no spouse, and 18.0% had a male householder with the same. The average family size was 3.3. 20.2% of people were under the age of 18, while 16.9% were over 65.

In 2020, 53.6% of the county's population was foreign-born, with 59% being naturalized American citizens.

About 14.9% of the population was below the poverty line at the census, including 21.1% of those under age 18 and 20.8% of those aged 65 or over.

Economy

Miami is a major center of commerce and finance and boasts a strong international business community. According to the 2020 ranking of world cities undertaken by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) based on the level of presence of global corporate service organizations, Miami is considered a Beta + level world city, along with Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston, however according to the US census between the years 2015–2019, Miami lacks in terms of owner-occupied housing, computer and internet usage, education regarding bachelor's degree or higher, median household income, per capita income, while achieving higher percentage of persons in poverty. Miami has a Gross Metropolitan Product of $257 billion, ranking 11th in the United States and 20th worldwide in GMP.

Several large companies are headquartered in Miami, including but not limited to Akerman LLP, Alienware, Arquitectonica, Brightstar Corporation, Celebrity Cruises, Carnival Corporation, Duany Plater-Zyberk, Greenberg Traurig, Inktel Direct, Lennar Corporation, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, OPKO Health, Parkjockey, RCTV International, Royal Caribbean International, Sitel, Southern Wine & Spirits, Telemundo, Vector Group, Watsco and World Fuel Services. Over 1,400 multinational firms are located in Miami, with many major global organisations headquartering their Latin American operations (or regional offices) in the city including Walmart. Additionally, companies based in nearby cities or unincorporated areas of Miami-Dade County include, Benihana, Burger King, Carnival Cruise Line, Navarro Discount Pharmacies, Perry Ellis International, Ryder, Sedano's, UniMás, and U.S. Century Bank.

Miami is a major television production center, and the most important city in the United States for Spanish language media. Telemundo and UniMás have their headquarters in the Miami area. Univisión Studios and Telemundo Studios produce much of the original programming for their respective parent networks, such as telenovelas, news, sports, and talk shows. In 2011, 85% of Telemundo's original programming was filmed in Miami. Miami is also a significant music recording center, with the Sony Music Latin headquarters in the city, along with many other smaller record labels. The city also attracts many artists for music video and film shoots.

During the mid-2000s, the city witnessed its largest real estate boom since the Florida land boom of the 1920s, and the city had well over a hundred approved high-rise construction projects. However, only 50 were actually built. Rapid high-rise construction led to fast population growth in the Miami's inner neighborhoods, with Downtown, Brickell and Edgewater becoming the fastest-growing areas of the city. The city currently has the seven tallest (as well as fifteen of top twenty) skyscrapers in the state of Florida, with the tallest being the Panorama Tower.

The housing market crash of 2007 caused a foreclosure crisis in the area. Like other metro areas in the United States, crime in Miami is localized to specific neighborhoods. In a 2016 study by the website ''24/7 Wall Street'', Miami was rated as the worst U.S. city in which to live, based on crime, poverty, income inequality, education, and housing costs that far exceed the national median.

Miami International Airport (MIA) and PortMiami are among the nation's busiest ports of entry, especially for cargo from South America and the Caribbean. PortMiami is the world's busiest cruise port, and MIA is the busiest airport in Florida and the largest gateway between the United States and Latin America. Due to its strength in international business, finance and trade, the city has among the largest concentration of international banks in the country, primarily along Brickell Avenue in Brickell, Miami's financial district. Miami was the host city of the 2003 Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations.

Miami is the home to the National Hurricane Center and the headquarters of the United States Southern Command, responsible for military operations in Central and South America. Miami is also an industrial center, especially for stone quarrying and warehousing. These industries are centered largely on the western fringes of the city near Doral and Hialeah.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2012, Miami had the fourth highest percentage of family incomes below the federal poverty line out of all large cities in the United States, behind Detroit, Michigan, Cleveland, Ohio, and Cincinnati, Ohio, respectively. Miami is also one of the very few cities in the U.S. where the local government has gone bankrupt, in 2001.

The Little Fire Ant ('' Wasmannia auropunctata'') is an invasive agricultural pest here.

PortMiami

Miami is home to one of the largest ports in the United States, the PortMiami. It is the largest cruise ship port in the world, and is often called the "Cruise Capital of the World" and the "Cargo Gateway of the Americas". It has retained its status as the number one cruise/passenger port in the world for well over a decade, accommodating the largest cruise ships and the major cruise lines. In 2017, the port served 5,340,559 cruise passengers. Additionally, the port is one of the nation's busiest cargo ports, importing 9,162,340 tons of cargo in 2017. Among North American ports, it ranks second to New Orleans