enjoy tour

a brief historical summary Ten thousand years ago the Calusa indians inhabited the area from Key West to the center of what is now Miami. They died of disease and war against the Spaniards or were later absorbed by the Seminoles. The first Spanish explorers who reached Miami were Vicente Yanez Pinzon and Americo Vespucio in 1498. They obviously did not love the place for they never returned. Fifteen years later arrived Juan Ponce de Leon, who was Governor of Puerto Rico and had gone on a trip to find the fountain of youth, which he did not find either because it did not exist or because of the Indians, who killed him by an arrow shot. He called the area La Florida, in honor of the Pascua Florida, which meant a feast of flowers, Spain’s Easter celebration. The name Miami comes from the Calusa word “Mayami,” meaning “Big Water”, perhaps in allusion to the Miami River. The Spaniards continued sending adventurers and explores to see if they could conquer the Indians, with no success, until in 1565 came to the area an expedition led by Pedro Menendez de Aviles, who is said was looking for his son who had been lost in a shipwreck the year before. No one knows if he succeeded or not but it is known that he stayed and founded the first city in Florida, San Agustin, about an hour or so north of Orlando. For 150 years San Agustin had to defend itself first of the French, then of Francis Drake, the pirate, later of the British until 1763, when finally Britain gained control of Florida. Read more...http://itinerariesnow.com