Florida Facts

The first semi-permanent settlements appeared in Florida around 5000 B.C.

Saint Augustine, Florida, founded in 1565, is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in what is now the United States.

The state of Florida is bigger than England.

In 2008, a 13-year-old boy in Florida was arrested for excessive farting in school.

In November 2013, a woman in Florida named Linda Ducharme married a Ferris wheel named Bruce, becoming one of the few people to legally wed an inanimate object under objectum sexuality.

Jacksonville, Florida, has the largest total area of any city in the contiguous United States.

Florida has more tornados per square mile than any other state.

A man bet $50,000 that someone would streak at the Super Bowl — then did it himself. He claimed he cashed out $374,000 and walked away with a $1,000 fine.

Two boys were caught in a riptide off Panama City Beach, Florida. Nine family members swam out to help and got trapped too. A couple on the beach remembered how ants link their bodies to rescue their young. They started grabbing strangers' hands. 80 people formed a human chain into the Gulf of Mexico and held it for over an hour. Everyone survived.