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Home > Travel Florida > Florida Cities > Orlando
Orlando
The State of Florida is a state in the southeastern United States. Florida is situated mostly on a large peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. It extends to the northwest into a panhandle, extending along the northern Gulf of Mexico. Florida's nickname is the Sunshine State but severe weather is a common occurrence in the state. It is bordered on the north by the states of Georgia and Alabama, and on the west, at the end of the panhandle, by Alabama.
The city of Orlando is the county seat of Orange County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 185,951. A 2005 U.S. Census Estimates population count gave the city population was 213,233. It is the sixth-largest city in Florida, and its largest inland city. It is also at the head of the Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida, and Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Orlando-Kissimmee MSA is Florida's third-largest metropolitan area, behind Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Additionally, Orlando is home to the second largest university in Florida, the University of Central Florida. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 261.5 square kilometers.
Some historians date Orlando's name to around 1836 when a soldier named Orlando Reeves allegedly died in the area, during the war against the Seminole Indian tribe. It seems, however, that Orlando Reeves operated a sugar mill and plantation about 30 miles to the north at Spring Garden in Volusia County, and pioneer settlers simply found his name carved into a tree and assumed it was a marker for a grave site. They thus referred to the area as Orlando's grave and later simply Orlando.
A large part of the Orlando area economy is involved in the tourist industry. Over 48 million visitors came to the Orlando region in 2004. The convention industry is also critical to the region's economy. The Orange County Convention Center, expanded in 2004 to over two million square feet of exhibition space, is now the second-largest convention complex in terms of space in the United States, trailing only McCormick Place in Chicago. The city vies with Chicago and Las Vegas for hosting the most convention attendees in the United States.
Orlando is said the place of best geographical environment and can trace its origins back to prehistoric times. It enjoys a very positive reputation with worldwide travelers.
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