Tampa (pronounced /ˈtæm.pə/ ) is a Gulf Coast city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2000 was 303,447. According to the 2008 estimates, the city's population had grown to 340,882, making it the 53rd largest city in the United States.
Tampa is a part of the metropolitan area most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area. For U.S. Census purposes, Tampa is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida MSA. The four-county area is composed of roughly 2.7 million residents, making it the second largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the state, and the fourth largest in the Southeastern United States, behind Miami, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. The Greater Tampa Bay area has just over 4 million residents and generally includes the Tampa and Sarasota metro areas. The Tampa Bay Partnership and U.S. Census data showed an average annual growth of 2.47 percent, or a gain of approximately 97,000 residents per year. Between 2000 and 2006, the Greater Tampa Bay Market has experienced a combined growth rate of 14.8 percent, growing from 3.4 million to 3.9 million and hitting the 4 million people mark on April 1, 2007. The Tampa Bay Designated Market Area (DMA) is the largest media market in the state of Florida and the fourteenth largest media market in the United States.
In 2008, Tampa was ranked as the 5th best outdoor city by Forbes. A 2004 survey by the NYU newspaper ranked Tampa as a top city for "twenty-somethings".
History
Main article: History of Tampa, FloridaThe word "Tampa" may mean "sticks of fire " in the language of the Calusa, a Native American tribe that once lived south of today’s Tampa Bay. This might be a reference to the many lightning strikes that the area receives during the summer months. Other historians claim the name means "the place to gather sticks".
Toponymist George R. Stewart writes that the name was the result of a miscommunication between the Spanish and the Indians, the Indian word being "itimpi", meaning simply "near it". The name first appears in the "Memoir" of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda (1575), who had spent 17 years as a Calusa captive. He calls it "Tanpa" and describes it as an important Calusa town. While "Tanpa" may be the basis for the modern name "Tampa", archaeologist Jerald Milanich places the Calusa village of Tanpa at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor, the original "Bay of Tanpa". A later Spanish expedition did not notice Charlotte Harbor while sailing north along the west coast of Florida and assumed that the current Tampa Bay was the bay they sought. The name was accidentally transferred north.
Map makers were using the term Bay or Bahia Tampa as early as 1695.
Early explorations
Not much is known about the cultures who called the Tampa Bay area home before European contact. When Spanish explorers arrived in the 1520s, they found a ring of Tocobaga villages around the northern half of Tampa Bay from modern-day Pinellas County to Tampa and Calusa villages along the southern portion of the bay in modern-day Manatee County.
Expeditions led by Pánfilo de Narváez and Hernando de Soto landed near Tampa to look for gold and possibly start a colony. Neither conquistador stayed in the region for long once it became clear that the local riches were only abundant fish and shellfish. The native inhabitants, who derived most of their resources from the sea, repulsed any Spanish attempt to establish a permanent settlement or convert them to Catholicism.
The newcomers brought a weapon against which the natives had no defense: infectious disease. Archeological evidence reveals a total collapse of the native cultures of Florida in the years after European contact. The Tampa area was depopulated and ignored for more than 200 years.
Seasonal residents and U.S control
In the mid-1700s, events in England’s American colonies drove the Seminole Indians into the wilds of north Florida. During this period, the Tampa area began receiving (seasonal) residents: Cuban fishermen. They stayed in temporary settlements on the shore of Tampa Bay along a small freshwater stream near today’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
In 1821, the United States purchased Florida from Spain (see Adams-Onís Treaty), partly to reduce Indian raids, and partly to reduce slave escapes from Georgia. One of the first U.S. actions in its new territory was a raid which destroyed Angola, a village built by escaped slaves on the eastern shore of Tampa Bay.
Frontier days
The Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823) created a large Indian reservation in the interior of the peninsula of Florida. As part of efforts to establish control over the vast swampy wilderness, the U.S. government built a series of forts and trading posts in the new territory. "Cantonment Brooke" was established in 1823 by Colonels George Mercer Brooke and James Gadsden at the mouth of the Hillsborough River on Tampa Bay, at the site of the Tampa Convention Center in Downtown Tampa. In 1824, the post was officially named Fort Brooke.
Tampa was very much an isolated frontier outpost during its first decades of existence. The sparse civilian population practically abandoned the area when the Second Seminole War flared up in late 1835. After almost seven years of vicious fighting, the Seminoles were forced away from the Tampa region and many settlers returned.
The Territory of Florida had grown enough by 1845 to become the 27th state.
Four years after statehood, on January 18, 1849, Tampa had also grown enough to officially incorporate as the "Village of Tampa". Tampa was home to 185 inhabitants, not including military personnel stationed at Fort Brooke. The city's first census count in 1850, however, listed Tampa-Fort Brooke as having 974 residents, inclusive of the military personnel.
Tampa was reincorporated as a town on December 15, 1855 and Judge Joseph B. Lancaster became the first Mayor in 1856.
Tampa during the Civil War
During the American Civil War, Florida seceded along with most of the southern states to form the Confederate States of America. Fort Brooke was manned by Confederate troops, and martial law was declared in Tampa in January 1862. Tampa's city government ceased to operate for the duration of the war.
In late 1861, the Union Navy set up a blockade around many southern ports to cut off the Confederacy from outside help, and several ships were stationed near the mouth of Tampa Bay. Blockade runners based in Tampa were able to repeatedly slip through the blockade to trade cattle and citrus for needed supplies, mainly with Spanish Cuba.
Union gunboats sailed up Tampa Bay to bombard Fort Brooke and the surrounding city of Tampa. The Battle of Tampa on June 30 to July 1, 1862 was inconclusive, as the shells fell ineffectually, and there were no casualties on either side.
More damaging to the Confederate cause was the Battle of Fort Brooke on October 17 to October 18, 1863. Two Union gunboats shelled the fort and surrounding town and landed troops, who found blockade runners hidden up the Hillsborough River, and destroyed them.
The local militia mustered to intercept the Union troops, but they were able to return to their ships after a short skirmish and headed back out to sea.
The war ended in Confederate defeat in April 1865. In May 1865, federal troops arrived in Tampa to occupy the fort and the town as part of Reconstruction. They remained until August 1869.
The Lean Years
The Reconstruction period was hard on Tampa. With little industry, and land transportation links limited to bumpy wagon roads from the east coast of Florida, Tampa was a fishing village with very few people, and poor prospects for development. Throughout its history, Tampa had been affected by yellow fever epidemics borne by mosquitoes from the surrounding swampland, but the sickness was particularly widespread during the late 1860s and 1870s. The disease was little understood at the time, and many residents simply packed up and left rather than face the mysterious and deadly peril.
In 1869, residents voted to abolish the City of Tampa government. The population of "Tampa Town" was below 800 in the official 1870 census count and had fallen further by 1880 (see demographics, below).
Fort Brooke, the seed from which Tampa had germinated, had served its purpose and was decommissioned in 1883. Except for two cannons displayed on the nearby University of Tampa campus, all traces of the fort are gone. A large downtown parking garage near the old fort site is called the Fort Brooke Parking Garage.
Phosphate, Railroads, and Cigars: Tampa Finally Prospers
See also: History of Ybor CityTampa's fortunes took several sudden turns for the better. First, phosphate was discovered in the Bone Valley region southeast of Tampa in 1883. The mineral, vital for the production of fertilizers and other products, was soon being shipped out from the Port of Tampa in great volume. T
Private golf courses around Tampa Bay - St. Petersburg Times
Here's a list of private golf courses in the greater Tampa Bay area. CITRUS. BLACK DIAMOND RANCH GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB: 2600 West Black Diamond Circle, Lecanto (352) 746-3446 ...
Golf & Country Club Membership Clearwater | Golf Membership Tampa Bay ...
Looking for a golf membership in Clearwater, FL? A Countryside Country Club membership includes a golf membership to a Tampa Bay area prestigious private club offering golf, tennis ...
Golf Tampa Bay: Tee times, golf packages for Tampa, Florida golf ...
Tampa Golf Packages, Tampa Bay Golf . Golf Tampa Bay provides golfers with access to ... The Perry Golf and Country Club is one of those rural Florida golf courses with cheap ...
Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club - Tampa Golf!
Offering Tampa Tee Times At Special Rates. Offering tee time specials to dedicated and loyal Tampa Bay area golfers!
Golf & Country Club Tampa Bay | Country Club Membership Tampa Bay ...
Become a member at a prestigious golf club in Tampa Bay. The East Lake Woodlands Country Club near Tampa Bay offers an exclusive country club membership for those who play golf ...
Brooksville Country Club in Brooksville, FL | TampaBay.com Golf Tour ...
Golf Tour is your guide to Tampa Bay golf courses. It features a searchable database of public golf courses, sorting them by county and green fees. It also features golf video ...
Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club Golf Course Weather Forecast - weather ...
Get the Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club golf course weather forecast, course conditions, and contact information from The Weather Channel.
Tampa Bay Area Golf and Country Club | Manatee County | Golf Course ...
Tara Golf & Country Club is a Tampa Bay area golf and country club located in Manatee County, Florida. This Manatee County golf course is a short drive from the Tampa Bay Area off ...
Clearwater Country Club in Clearwater, FL | TampaBay.com Golf Tour ...
Golf Tour is your guide to Tampa Bay golf courses. It features a searchable database of public golf courses, sorting them by county and green fees. It also features golf video ...
At Tampa Bay country clubs, golf hits a rough patch - St. Petersburg ...
Country club communities face a variety of problems in this recession, whether the homeowners are saddled with debt to support struggling golf courses, or inflated prices make it ...