The first people to live in what is now Florida arrived more than 12,000 years ago. They hunted small animals and gathered wild plants for food. Over the centuries, Native American tribes including the Timucua, Apalachee, Calusa, and Creek lived in the area. Florida officially became the 27th state in 1845. Today Native Americans called Seminoles still live in Florida. The people come from a combination of tribes who migrated to the area in the 1700s to avoid conflict with the Europeans and with other tribes. Florida’s original Spanish name is La Florida, which means “place of flowers.” Some historians think Ponce de León chose the name to honor the blooming flowers he saw there, or in tribute to Spain’s Easter celebration called Pascua Florida, or “Feast of Flowers.” Florida is a peninsula, that means it’s almost completely surrounded by water. Its northernmost edge is connected to Alabama in the northwest and Georgia in the northeast. Take a swim off Florida’s west coast, and you’ll be in the Gulf of Mexico. Dive in off the east coast, and you’ll be splashing in the Atlantic Ocean. Off the south coast, you’ll be swimming in the Straits of Florida. Florida’s wildlife includes mammals like armadillos, black bears, and the Florida panther; reptiles such as alligators, crocodiles, and snakes; sea life like manatees, sea turtles, dolphins, and whales; and birds such as raptors, owls, cranes, and Florida’s state bird, the mockingbird. Today the state provides oranges for most of the orange juice sold in the country. Sugarcane, fish, petroleum, and phosphate (used for fertilizer) are also top natural resources from Florida.