Miami
Miami's explosive population growth in recent years has been driven by internal migration from other parts of the country as well as by immigration. Greater Miami is regarded as a cultural melting pot, heavily influenced both by its very large population of ethnic Latin Americans and Caribbean islanders.
Locations in this area
Sea Coast TowersSunset Harbour
Miami is a major city located in the southeast corner of the U.S. state of Florida. Miami and the surrounding metropolitan area sits between the Miami River, Biscayne Bay, the Everglades and the Atlantic Ocean. It is the second largest city in Florida and the county seat (and largest city) of Miami-Dade County. It is also the largest city in the South Florida metropolitan area, which is comprised of Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County making up the largest metropolitan area in the Southeastern United States.
Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896 with a population of just over 300. In 1940, 172,172 people lived in Miami, Florida. According to the 2000 census the city of Miami had a population of 362,470 while the larger metropolitan area had a population over 5 million. The U.S. Census Bureau estimate of the population of Miami in 2004 was 379,724.
Miami’s explosive population growth in recent years has been driven by internal migration from other parts of the country as well as by immigration. Greater Miami is regarded as a cultural melting pot, heavily influenced both by its very large population of ethnic Latin Americans and Caribbean islanders (many of them Spanish- or Haitian Creole-speaking).
As of 2005, the Miami area is witnessing its largest real estate boom since the 1920s.
For years city officials and urban planners have been pushing for- and predicting – a rebirth of Miami’s central business district. After numerous fitful starts, the transformation of downtown Miami and Brickell Avenue into a 24- hour urban core has begun in earnest, with nearly $3 billion in projects planned and underway.
All at one, it seems, the city of Miami’s long –ignored downtown has become the hottest ticket in South Florida. About the only place hotter than downtown is Brickell neighborhood just across the Miami River, where a quilt-work of construction cranes signal an explosion of offices, residences and retail centers. The highest profile building there- literally – is the Miami Four Seasons Hotel and Tower, rising 70 stories above Brickell Avenue. Already, topped off, it is the tallest structure east of the Mississippi river and south of New York City, and will house condominiums, offices and a Four Seasons Hotel.
Taken as a whole, it is an immensely rich area, full of razor sharp contrast. Within its boundaries are Miami’s most modern high-rises as well as its largest stock of historic buildings. It contains pockets of intense wealth, just blocks from the city’s poorest neighborhoods. There are streets jammed with club-goers on weekend nights, but many more that turn into ghost towns as soon as the sun goes down. It is where Miami began, and, after years of neglect, it is now the crucible where the city is reinventing its future. All at once, plans are being launched to build thousands of residential units, hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail space, and a series of major cultural institutions. The collective magnitude of the projects is astonishing.
The region’s importance as an international financial and cultural center has elevated Miami to the status of world city; because of its cultural and linguistic ties to North, South, Central America, and the Caribbean it is sometimes called “The Gateway of the Americas.” Miami, along with Atlanta, ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States.
The main portion of the city lies on the shores of Biscayne Bay which contains several hundred natural and artificially created barrier islands, the largest of which contains the city of Miami Beach and its famous South Beach district. The Gulf Stream, a warm ocean current, runs northward just 15 miles (24.1km) off the coast, allowing the city’s climate to stay warm and mild all year.
Miami Demographics
Today there are sizable legal and illegal populations of Argentinians, Bahamians, Barbadians, Brazilians, Colombians, Cubans, Dominicans, Dutch, Ecuadorians, French, Haitians, Jamaicans, Israelis, Italians, Nicaraguans, Peruvians, Russians, South Africans, Turks, and Venezuelans throughout the metropolitan area. While commonly thought of as mainly a city of Hispanic and Caribbean immigrants, the Miami area is home to the largest Finnish, French, and South African immigrant communities in the United States; as well as one of the largest Israeli, Russian, and Turkish communities.
Because of its proximity to Latin America, Miami serves as the headquarters of Latin American operations for many multinational corporations, including American Airlines, Cisco, Disney, Exxon, FedEx, Microsoft, Oracle, SBC Communications and Sony. Several large companies are headquartered in or around Miami, including Alienware, Autonation Burger King, Citrix Systems, DHL, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Ryder System. Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami are among the nation’s busiest ports of entry, especially for cargo from South America and the Caribbean. Additionally, downtown Miami has the largest concentration of international banks in the country. Miami was also the host city of the 2003 Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations, and is one of the leading candidates to become the trading bloc’s headquarters.
Tourism is also an important industry: the beaches of Greater Miami draw visitors from across the country and around the world, and the Art Deco nightclub district in South Beach (located in Miami Beach) is widely regarded as one of the most glamourous in the world. However, it is important to note that Miami Beach is not a part of the city of Miami. Even major TV networks sometimes forget this, as when Good Morning America visited Miami Beach and Charles Gibson thanked the mayor of Miami (but he was standing next to the mayor of Miami Beach).
In addition to these roles, Miami is also an industrial center, especially for stone quarrying and warehousing.