Tampa
The city of Tampa, situated on an inlet reaching far into the west coast of Florida, is the economic centre of western Florida. The city centre is an area of high-rise office blocks, but Tampa also has historic old quarters such as Ybor City and Old Hyde Park.
The
maps drawn by the Spanish conquistadors show a number of Indian settlements round Tampa Bay. In 1824 the Americans built a fort at the mouth of the Hillsborough River directed against the Seminole Indians. After the Second Seminole War a port and trading centre was established here, and this soon developed into a regional centre. The Civil War brought a period of stagnation, until a boost was given to the town by the construction of the South Florida Railroad.
Towards the end of the 19th century Tampa became a fashionable winter resort. In 1886 the Cuban cigar manufacturer Vincente Martinez Ybor moved his business to Tampa and a new quarter, Ybor City, was built for his Spanish-speaking employees. The mining of phosphates in the surrounding area also gave a stimulus to the city's development.
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