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Fort Lauderdale, known as the "Venice of America" due to its expansive and intricate canal system, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city's population is described as metropolitan, where diverse culture is commonplace. According to 2006 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 185,804.^[1] It is the county seat of Broward County. Fort Lauderdale is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which is home to 5,463,857 people.^[2]

The city is a major tourist destination, with 10.35 million visitors in 2006.^[3] The city is a major yachting center, with 42,000 resident yachts and 100 marinas and boatyards.^[3] Fort Lauderdale and its suburbs host over 4100 restaurants and 120 nightclubs.^[3]

Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend, in what is now known as the Sailboat Bend neighborhood, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.^[4] The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale, who was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort.^[4]

1 History
2 Geography and climate
3 Demographics
4 Economy
5 Government
6 Education
7 Transportation
8 Healthcare
9 Lifestyle, media, and culture
10 Sports
11 Sites of interest
12 See also
13 References
14 External links

[edit] History

Main article: History of Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than a thousand years by the Tequesta Indians.^[5] Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases to which the native populations possessed no resistance, such as smallpox. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries.^[6] By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War.^[5] Although control of the area changed between Spain, England, the United States, and the Confederated States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.

The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830's there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.^[7] The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838,^[8] and subsequently was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. The fort was abandoned in 1842, after the end of the war, and the area remained virtually unpopulated until the 1890s. It was not until Frank Stranahan arrived in the area in 1893 to operate a ferry across the New River, and the Florida East Coast Railroad's completion of a route through the area in 1896, that any organized development began. The city was incorporated in 1911, and in 1915 was designated the county seat of newly formed Broward County.^[9]

Fort Lauderdale's first major development began in the 1920s, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s.^[10] The 1926 Miami Hurricane^[11] and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a great deal of economic dislocation. When World War II began, Fort Lauderdale became a major US Navy base, with a Naval Air Station to train pilots, radar and fire control operator training schools, and a Coast Guard base at Port Everglades.^[12]

After the war ended, service members returned to the area, spurring an enormous population explosion which dwarfed the 1920s boom.^[6] The 1960 Census counted 83,648 people in the city, about 230% of the 1950 figure.^[13] A 1967 report estimated that the city was approximately 85% developed,^[14] and the 1970 population figure was 139,590^[15] After 1970, as Fort Lauderdale became essentially built out, growth in the area shifted to suburbs to the west. As cities such as Coral Springs, Miramar, and Pembroke Pines experienced explosive growth, Fort Lauderdale's population stagnated, and the city actually shrank by almost 4,000 people between 1980, when the city had 153,279 people,^[16] and 1990, when the population was 149,377.^[17] A slight rebound brought the population back up to 152,397 at the 2000 census.^[18] Since 2000, Fort Lauderdale has gained slightly over 18,000 residents through annexation of seven neighborhoods in unincorporated Broward County.^[19] Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center,^[3] one of the nation's largest tourist destinations,^[3] and the center of a metropolitan division with 1.8 million people.^[2]

[edit] Geography and climate

[edit] Location

A1A, north of Sunrise Blvd

Fort Lauderdale is located at show location on an interactive map 26Â°08â€²09â€³N, 80Â°08â€²31â€³W (26.135763, -80.141810).^GR1

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 36.0 miÂ² (93.3 kmÂ²), 31.7 square miles (82 kmÂ²) of which is land and 4.3 square miles (11 kmÂ²) of which is water (11.91%). Fort Lauderdale is known for its extensive network of canals; there are 165 miles (266 km) of waterways within the city limits.^[20]

The city of Fort Lauderdale is adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, includes 7 miles (11 km) of beaches,^[21] and borders the following municipalities:

On its east:

On its south:

On its southwest:

Davie

On its west:

On its northwest:

On its north:

Fort Lauderdale Beach

The northwestern section of Fort Lauderdale is separate from the remainder of the city, connected only by the Cypress Creek Canal as it flows under I-95. This section of Fort Lauderdale borders the cities of Tamarac and Oakland Park on its south side. Oakland Park also borders Fort Lauderdale on the west side of its northeastern portion. The greater portion of Fort Lauderdale in the south is bordered, along its north side by Wilton Manors.

Off the coast of Fort Lauderdale is the Osborne Reef, an artificial reef made of discarded tires that has proven to be an ecological disaster.^[22] The dumping began in the 1960s, with the intent to provide habitat for fish while disposing of trash from the land. However, in the rugged and corrosive environment of the ocean, nylon straps used to secure the tires wore out, cables rusted, and tires broke free. The tires posed a particular threat after breaking free from their restraints. The tires then migrated shoreward and ran into a living reef tract, climbed up its slope and killed everything in their path. In recent years, thousands of tires have also washed up on nearby beaches, especially during hurricanes. Local authorities are now working to remove the 700,000 tires, in cooperation with the U.S. Army, Navy and Coast Guard.^[23]

[edit] Transportation

Interstate 95 as it goes through Fort Lauderdale

Local bus transportation is provided by Broward County Transit (BCT), the county bus system. BCT provides for connections with the bus systems in other parts of the metropolitan area: Metrobus in Miami-Dade County and Palm Tran in Palm Beach County. Tri-Rail, a commuter rail system, connects the major cities and airports of South Florida. In November 2006, Broward County voters rejected^[46] a one-cent-per-hundred sales tax increase intended to fund transportation projects such as light rail and expansion of the bus system.^[47]

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport's Terminal 1 Check-In

Four railroads serve Fort Lauderdale. Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC) and CSX Transportation are freight lines, Amtrak provides passenger service to other cities on the Atlantic coast, and Tri-Rail provides commuter service between Palm Beach County, Broward County (including two stations in Fort Lauderdale), and Miami-Dade County.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, in neighboring Dania Beach, Florida, is the city's main airport and is one of the fastest growing airports in the country. This is, in part, attributable to service by low-cost carriers such as Spirit Airlines, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines, resulting in lower airfares than nearby Miami International Airport.^[48] Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood is an emerging international gateway for the Caribbean and Latin America. Miami International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport also serve the city.

Fort Lauderdale is home to Port Everglades, the nation's third busiest cruise port.^[49] It is Florida's deepest port, and is an integral petroleum receiving point.^[50]

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Geography and climate

[edit] Location

[edit] Transportation