Miami

The Tequesta lived around the mouth of the Miami River for about 2,000 years before Europeans arrived; the name Miami comes from Mayaimi, the old name of Lake Okeechobee and its people. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés claimed the area for Spain in 1566, and Florida stayed Spanish, apart from twenty years of British rule, until it passed to the United States in 1821. In 1836 the army built Fort Dallas on the river during the Second Seminole War.

Miami is the only major American city founded by a woman. Julia Tuttle, a citrus grower from Cleveland, owned the land, and after the Great Freeze of 1894–95 spared the local crops she persuaded Henry Flagler to extend his Florida East Coast Railway south. The city was incorporated on 28 July 1896 with just over 300 people. Bahamian and African American workers made up about 40 per cent of the early population and built much of the city, under harsh Jim Crow segregation. The 1920s land boom ended with the hurricane of 1926 and the Depression, but growth was so fast that winter visitors called it the Magic City.

After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, large numbers of exiles arrived, many processed at the Freedom Tower, and they transformed the city's economy, politics and language. In 1972 the Miami area hosted both parties' national conventions and the Dolphins had their perfect season. The 1980s brought drug wars, new immigration from Haiti and Latin America, and racial tension, and Hurricane Andrew later devastated South Florida. A high-rise boom since the 2000s has made Miami's skyline one of the largest in the country, and in 2026 Hard Rock Stadium hosted World Cup matches.

Miami is often called the "Capital of Latin America". Seven in ten residents are Hispanic, it is the largest city with a Cuban American plurality, and Spanish is spoken in shops, offices and homes; even its English has its own "Miami accent", shaped by Spanish rhythm. Little Havana's Calle Ocho Festival is the country's largest Hispanic street festival, Little Haiti keeps Haitian Creole culture alive, and Colombians, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans and Puerto Ricans have all added their own communities and food.

The city is also a centre of Spanish-language television, with Telemundo based in the metropolitan area and Sony Music Latin in the city, and a magnet for music, fashion and film; Miami Vice, Scarface and countless other productions made its streets famous. The art world arrives each December for Art Basel Miami Beach, Wynwood's murals have turned old warehouses into an open-air gallery, and the Adrienne Arsht Center is the second-largest performing arts centre in the United States. Electronic music fills March with Ultra and Miami Music Week.

Sport is followed closely: the Heat play downtown, the Marlins in Little Havana, Inter Miami at Nu Stadium, and the Dolphins and the University of Miami Hurricanes in Miami Gardens. Life is lived outdoors — boating, fishing, diving on the reefs of Biscayne Bay, the beach — and jai alai, golf and the Miami Open tennis tournament have long followings.

About 442,000 people lived in the city of Miami at the 2020 census, and the metropolitan area has an estimated 6.39 million. The city is only a small part of Miami-Dade County; Miami Beach, Coral Gables and Hialeah are separate cities. After decades of slow growth, high-rise construction in Downtown, Brickell and Edgewater has brought fast population growth back to the urban core.

Miami's economy faces south. Brickell holds the largest concentration of international banks in the country, more than 1,400 multinational firms are based here, many running their Latin American operations from the city, and the hedge fund Citadel moved its headquarters from Chicago in 2022. PortMiami is the world's busiest cruise port and home to the head offices of several cruise lines, Jackson Memorial is the largest hospital in the country, and the National Hurricane Center and US Southern Command are based in the city. Yet the share of families below the poverty line is among the highest of large American cities.

Water shapes the future. Most of the city lies only a few feet above sea level, about 40 per cent of homes are in flood-risk zones, and sea-level rise makes Miami one of the world's cities most vulnerable to storms and coastal flooding. Rising costs and gentrification have pushed many Black residents out of Little Haiti and Liberty City.

Miami eats Cuban. Exiles in the 1960s brought the Cuban sandwich of roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard pressed in Cuban bread, the medianoche, bistec de palomilla (thin pan-fried steak), croquetas and, above all, Cuban espresso. The cafecito, a tiny, very sweet shot, is ordered at walk-up windows (ventanitas) at small cafés, often with pastelitos, flaky pastries filled with guava or meat. Versailles on Calle Ocho, opened in 1971, is a popular gathering place for Cuban exiles and visitors alike.

The city's mix of Latin American, Caribbean, soul and Jewish cooking has blended with mainstream American food into what is called Floribbean cuisine. Little Haiti adds Haitian cooking, such as griot, pork that is braised and then fried.

Seafood is the other pillar. Stone crab claws, in season from mid-October to May, are a Miami Beach institution, above all at Joe's Stone Crab, the biggest buyer of Florida stone crab claws. Key lime pie, made with the tart juice of small Key limes and condensed milk, is the state's official pie. Burger King has its headquarters in the area, and Wynwood and the Design District have added breweries and chef-led restaurants.