Hernando de Soto.

Various indigenous peoples had occupied the area for millennia BC.

The word "Tampa" originated in Calusa, an Indian tribe that occupied the region during the pre-Columbian period. This name first appeared in the Memoirs of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda (1575), a Spanish conquistador who had spent 17 years as a prisoner of the Calusa'. According to archeologist Jerald Milanich, the Native American village was located on the Charlotte Harbor estuary. When the Spaniards explored the region, they found villages tocobagas and calusas around Tampa Bay (today's counties of Pinellas and Manatee). They lived from marine resources (fish and shellfish).

The conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez was the first European to discover the Tampa region in April 1528. The following year, another Spanish man, Hernando de Soto, rescued the members of the Narvaez expedition. A peace treaty was concluded with the natives and a brief Spanish post was established: the Spaniards quickly abandoned him because of the resistance of the Amerindians and because there was no gold. The diseases brought about by Europeans caused a rapid decline in the indigenous population. In the 18th century, the Tampa region saw the establishment of Cuban fishermen in the present district of Hyde Park.

When Britain acquired Florida in 1763, the bay was named Hillsborough Bay. After a second period of Spanish domination, the Florida Territory joined the United States in 1821. An American armed expedition was launched on Angola, a village made up of fugitive slaves on the eastern coast of Tampa Bay. By the Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823), an Indian reserve was established within the Florida Peninsula. Forts and trading posts were set up to strengthen the control of the marshy regions of the South: Fort Brooke was built by Colonels George Mercer Brooke and James Gadsden at the mouth of the Hillsborough River on the site of the current Tampa Convention Center. But it was not until the end of the Seminary Wars and the departure of the Amerindians that the white settlement really developed. Four years after Florida’s entry as 27th U.S. state, the Village of Tampa was founded: At that time, there were 185 residents, including the men of Fort Brooke. According to the first American census, the town had 974 residents in 1850. On December 15, 1855, Tampa officially became a city (town) and Judge Joseph B. Lancaster became his first mayor in 1856.

Tampa at the end of the ^19th century.

During the Civil War, Florida joined the Confederates. The Northerners set up a maritime blockade of the coast. Martial law was proclaimed in Tampa in January 1862 and the municipality ceased its activities during the conflict. During the Battle of Tampa (30 June-1 July 1862), the northern warships bombed Fort Brooke with no decisive result. On the other hand, during the Battle of Fort Brooke (17-18 October 1863), northern troops were able to land. The southerners were defeated in April 1865 and the following month the federal army occupied Fort Brooke where it remained for the period of Reconstruction until 1869.

The city's development was made difficult by its relative isolation and the presence of mosquitoes carrying yellow fever. The years 1860-1870 were marked by several epidemics that prompted the inhabitants to flee. In 1869, citizens voted to abolish the municipal government of Tampa, whose population did not exceed 800 according to the 1870 census. Fort Brooke was abandoned in 1883 and completely destroyed.

By 1920, Tampa had nearly 38,000 inhabitants. The city's growth stems from the discovery of phosphates in 1883 in Bone Valley. From that date, the port of Tampa expanded its exports. The city was disentangled by the railway (1885) and at that time also became a major cigar production center, when Vicente Martinez Ybor relocated its tobacco factories from Key West to Tampa (1886). Tobacco was imported from Cuba and processed by Cuban and Spanish workers. At its peak, Ybor City had nearly 12,000 tabaqueros (cigar workers) in 200 factories. Ybor City produced up to about 700 million cigars per year. Cigars were then transported to the rest of the country by train or boat. The city grew in population and attracted Sicilian and Jewish traders. It was at that time that bolita developed, a lottery game particularly popular among the modest classes. In the Prohibition years, organized crime grew in Tampa under the direction of Charlie Wall and then the Italian Santo Trafficking in the 1950s. His son succeeded him (Santo Trafficking Junior) and extended his activities to New York and Cuba. A series of trials brought an end to the corruption of municipal elites in the 1950's.

In 1891, Henry B. Plant had the Tampa Bay Hotel built in the Moorish style then in vogue. It is 400 meters long and has more than 500 rooms and was equipped with electric lighting and the first lift in the city. The building is a testament to Florida’s tourism boom in the late 19th century. Three years after its closure in 1930, its premises were taken over by the University of Tampa. During the Spanish-American War in 1898, Tampa served as a military training camp and boarding center for troops, including Theodore Roosevelt’s. In 1921, a terrible hurricane hit the city, submerting the famous Bayshore Boulevard under more than six meters of water. Tampa rose from the rubble and reached an unprecedented level of growth. In 1935, another hurricane struck Tampa, this time claiming hundreds of lives in southern Florida. In the early decades of the 20th century, the tobacco industry was the city's main activity, with nearly 500 million cigars produced in 1929. During the Second World War, MacDill (MacDill Air Force Base) and other auxiliary bases were built. They employed thousands of soldiers and were an important source of income for the city. Tampa International Airport is now^[When] two of the auxiliary bases. In 1956, the University of South Florida was founded. In 1967 and 1989, East Tampa was the scene of racial riots. On January 5, 2002, four months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, a 15-year-old amateur pilot crashed with his Cessna on the Bank of America Tower in downtown New York. Today, Tampa, like the rest of Florida, attracts pensioners from the north of the country.

Tampa's urban area.

Topography

According to the US Census Bureau, the municipality of Tampa covers 441.9 km² of which 34.3% are underwater (58.5 km²)^[unclear]. The city's highest point is just 15 meters above the average sea level. Tampa is bordered by two bays open on the Gulf of Mexico: Old Tampa Bay and Hillsborough Bay. The Hillsborough River flows into Hillsborough Bay and is the city’s main source of fresh water. Another stream, the Palm River, flows east of Tampa and flows into McKay Bay.

Geology

In Tampa is the site of Ballast Point, a chalk formation dating from the Oligocene and rich in fossils such as molluscs (bivalves, gastropods), bryozoans or ichnofossils.

Climate

Tampa has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa in the Köppen classification), like the rest of southern Florida. The average annual total precipitation is 1,137 mm. Summer is hot (about 33°C in the day, 23°C in the night) and humid: this is the rainy season that runs from may to october. Thunderstorms are frequent and sometimes deadly. Tampa receives an average of 524 mm of rain between July and September, 157 mm between November and January. August is the driest month of the year (193 mm), while November is the driest (41 mm).

Winter can be marked by a few days of freezing when the region is invaded by a cold wave. In 1899, Tampa was affected by a cold wave and blizzard. The last significant snow episode dates back to January 19, 1977 (0.5 cm) and paralyzed the city.

Maximum temperatures generally vary between 18 and 35°C. The record of heat (37°C) was recorded on 5 June 1985; the cold record is -7.8°C on December 13, 1962.

Surrounding communes

Architecture

Sulfur Springs Water Tower.

Bayshore Boulevard.

Tampa's business district is home to 18 skyscrapers, 76 meters high. 100 North Tampa is the highest with 42 floors and 176 meters. Completed in 1992, it is the tallest building in Florida outside Miami and Jacksonville. Other major towers are the SunTrust Building, Sykes Building, SkyPoint Condominium, Towers of Channelside, and Bank of America Building. The Rivergate building, is a cylindrical building nicknamed Beer Can building by the inhabitants of Tampa. It was used as the setting for the film The Punisher (2004).

Tampa is also home to several historic buildings: the Sulfur Springs Water Tower, built in the 1920s, the Babe Zaharias Golf Course bought in 1949 by Babe Zaharias, and opened to the public in 1974 and especially the Tampa Bay Hotel.

Ybor City is listed on the National Register Historic District. It has many historic buildings including two former cigar factories, the El Pasaje Hotel, the Ritz Theater and the Ferlita Bakery, now home to the Ybor City State Museum.

In the Tampa Municipal Office Building, visitors can admire a mural by Lynn Ash, The Story of Tampa (122 cm × 244 cm) performed in 2003. A pedestrian walkway is being built along the Hillsborough River and is expected to extend from the Channel District to Tampa Heights. The municipality has several projects for the city: the development of the center, the Tampa Riverwalk, the relocation of several museums (Tampa Bay History Center, Tampa Children's Museum, Tampa Museum of Art).

Quarters

The main official districts of Tampa are: Downtown Tampa, New Tampa, West Tampa, East Tampa, North Tampa, and South Tampa.

The other districts are: Ybor City, Forest Hills, Sulphur Springs, Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, Beach Park, Palma Ceia, Hyde Park, Tampa Palms, College Hill and non-residential areas of Gary and Westshore Business District.

Tampa is Florida's third most populous municipality after Jacksonville and Miami. It is the 57th most populous city in the United States. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area (MSA), which spans four counties, has a population of approximately 2.7 million and is the second largest in the state and 20^th position at the national level.

Population composition per cent (2010)

Group	Tampa	Florida	United States
White	62.9	75.0	72.4
African-Americans	26.2	16.0	12.6
Others	3.9	3.6	6.4
Asian	3.4	2.4	4.8
Métis	3.2	2.5	2.9
Amerindians	0.4	0.4	0.9
Total	100	100	100
Latin Americans	23.1	22.5	17.37

Between 2012 and 2016, per capita income averaged $31,605 per year, above the Florida average ($27,598) and the United States average ($29,829).However, 21.2% of Tampa's population lived below the poverty line (compared to 14) 1.7% in the state and 12.7% in the country).

Only 48.4 per cent of the inhabitants own their homes, compared to 64.8 per cent at the State level and 63.6 per cent at the national level.

Finally, 16.0 per cent of the population does not have health insurance, compared to 15.3 per cent at the state level and 10.1 per cent at the national level.

According to the American Community Survey, for the period 2011-2015, 74.70% of the population over 5 years of age reported speaking English at home, 18.15% reported speaking Spanish, 0.90% reported speaking Haitian Creole, 0.76% reported speaking Arabic, 0.58% reported speaking Spanish Vietnamese and 4.91% another language.

According to a 2006 UCLA study, Tampa has one of the largest proportions of gays and lesbians (6.1% of the population). The town of Tampa Bay is the fifth largest in the country with 5.9% LGBT.

Tampa’s main economic sectors are services, retail, finance, insurance and real estate. Approximately 740,000 people work in Hillsborough County, a figure expected to increase to 922,000 by 2015. In 2004, the unemployment rate was 3.4%.

The Hillsborough County School District, MacDill Air Base, Verizon Communications Company and the University of South Florida are the city’s main employers with over 12,000 employees each.

The secondary sector is diversified: the city still makes cigars. Heavy industries were hit by the crisis in the 1970s. The agri-food industries, breweries (Anheuser-Busch and Pabst), fertilizer, pesticide and paper plants are still important.

Many banks and telecommunication companies maintain regional offices in the business district. Companies based in the greater Tampa area include:

• OSI Restaurant Partners in the catering sector: it has some 1,200 restaurants in the United States and 20 foreign countries. It employs about 70,000 people.
• WellCare Health in Health
• TECO in the field of energy, employs approximately 5 700 people
• Walter Industries, a conglomerate with diversified activities (construction, finance, industrial products, coal, natural gas)
• Raymond James Financial
• Rooms to Go: the largest furniture chain in the United States; it has a hundred shops in the southeast states.
• Ferman Automotive Group: vehicle dealer organization, established in 1895
• Global Imaging Systems: office and services
• Brown & Brown: insurance
• Skyes Enterprises: business services
• Checkers Drive-In Restaurants: restoration
• Maritrans: oil
• SRI/Surgical Express: surgical equipment
• Syniverse Technologies Inc.

The town of Tampa has several high-tech companies that work in scientific instruments (more than 10,600 employees), medical techniques (4,600 people) and pharmaceutical research (2,300 people).

• Bausch & Lomb
• Health Spirit

• Finance: Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and MetLife are in Tampa.

Tampa is also an important convention center: the city's facilities are numerous. The Tampa Convention Center near Harbor Island has meeting rooms, 600 hotel rooms, reception rooms and concert halls. The Sun Dome at the University of South Florida can accommodate up to 11,500 people for concerts, conferences and shows.

The port of Tampa is the seventh in the United States and the first in Florida by the total tonnage (about 50 million tons of goods). It is the gateway to Latin America in the United States. The bulk of its traffic consists of bulk and phosphates It is the second cruise port behind Miami and a major shrimp fishing port. There are also shipyard repair sites in the port area.

With 40,000 jobs and $1.7 billion in revenues each year, the tourism sector alone is the region's third largest employer.

Tampa is the seat of the Second District Court of Appeal, one of five appeal courts in the state of Florida.

View of Tampa International Airport.

Tampa has an international airport (Tampa International Airport, AITA code: TPA). The airport has 8,000 people working in the city.

In 2009, nearly 17 million passengers passed through the airport, placing it in 26^th place among North American airports.

The other airports:

• Peter O. Knight Airport, Davis Islands

Roads: Interstate (North-South): Interstate 275), Interstate 4, State Road 60, U.S. Highway 41. Public transportation is managed by the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HARTline). The TECO Line connects the center to Ybor City, with stops at the Tampa Convention Center, St. Pete Times Forum, Channelside, the harbor cruise terminal and Florida Aquarium.

Tampa also has a historic tram line, as well as a train station with links to Miami and New York.

Public sector primary and secondary education institutions are administered by the Hillsborough County School District, the third largest in the state by the number of students.

In 2003-2004, there were 175,454 pupils in 130 elementary schools, 42 colleges and 26 high schools.

List of universities and colleges in the city:

• University of South Florida: 12,500 employees, 46,174 students in 2008; It is the ninth public university in the United States by the number of students; it is recognized for research on renewable energies (Clean Energy Research Center) and medical research; annual budget: $1.8 billion
• University of Tampa: 5,800 students
• Hillsborough Community College
• Everest University
• Stetson University College of Law
• Strayer University
• Tampa College
• Florida College
• Hillsborough Community College
• Education America-Tampa Technical Institute Campus
• ITT Technical Institute

John F. Germany Library is the municipal library located in the city center. The network of secondary libraries in the neighborhoods has 21 branches. The municipal library has more than four million books. There are also many university libraries.

There are many health facilities in Tampa: a cancer research center (H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute), more than 12 hospitals (James A. Haley VA Medical Center, Tampa General Hospital, Tampa Shriners Hospital, etc.) and two medical schools. Among the medical research institutions, the USF College of Medicine is one of the city’s most renowned. The Byrd Alzheimer's Research Center, founded in 2002 by the State of Florida on the USF campus, is one of the world's largest centers dedicated to Alzheimer's research.

Museums

• Tampa Bay History Center
• Tampa Children's Museum
• Tampa Museum of Art: collection of ancient art (Greece, Rome)
• Henry B. Plant Museum: decorative arts and furniture from the Victorian era
• Contemporary Art Museum (on the USF campus)
• Graphicstudio
• Ybor City State Museum: history of cigar and the latin american community

Galleries:

• Florida Center for Contemporary Art
• Lee Scarfone Gallery
• Gallery HOP

Performing Arts

• Tampa Theater
• Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center

Troops:

• American Stage
• Stageworks
• Alley Cat Players
• Carollwood Players
• Ballet Folklorico of Ybor: Hispano-American dances
• Kuumba Dancers and Drummers

Music:

• Florida Orchestra
• Master Choir
• Tampa Bay Chamber Orchestra
• Tampa Oratorio

In Tampa's suburb called Temple Terrace is the Morrisound Recording studio, where many death metal albums, including some of the most famous ones, have been recorded.

Cultural festivals and events

Founded in 1967, the Arts Council of Hillsborough County is the cultural organization in Tampa. Gasparilla Pirate Festival every year since 1904 on the last Saturday of January. His name comes from the legendary pirate John Gaspar. It attracts about 400,000 visitors. A costume parade takes place along Bayshore Boulevard. The festivities end with Fiesta Day in Ybor City. The Florida State Fair is a 12-day fair in February. The Outback Bowl takes place on 1 January at Raymond James Stadium.

• Winter Equestrian Festival
• Florida Dance Festival
• Guavaween Halloween Festival: October 31, a street party that takes place in Ybor City.
• Greater Hillsborough County Fair
• Tampa-Hillsborough County Storytelling Festival
• First Night: arts festival on december 31
• Hot Rod and Street Machine Nationals.

The liveliest areas at night are Channel District, Ybor City, Soho, International Plaza and Bay Street, Old Hyde Park Village and Seminole Hard Rock.

Tourism and leisure

The downtown of Tampa during the Gasparilla festival.

There are 165 parks and beaches within the boundaries of the municipality, representing a total area of 925 hectares. The city's two main beaches are Picnic Island and Ben T. Davis Municipal Beach. An additional 42 are located in Hillsborough County for a total area of 28,000 hectares. The Hillsborough River State Park is just northeast of Tampa, where you can enjoy many sports activities.

The city has many theme and amusement parks: Busch Gardens Africa, Adventure Island, Lowry Park Zoo, Florida Aquarium, Fairyland Village and Museum of Science & Industry.

The Florida Aquarium is home to some 4,300 plant and animal species, 550 of which are native to Florida.

The main shopping centers are: International Plaza and Bay Street, WestShore Plaza, University Mall, Westfield Brandon and Westfield Citrus Park. Hyde Park Village is known for its market.

Media

The city's main newspapers are The Tampa Tribune and the Tampa Bay Times. La Gaceta is the only newspaper in three languages (English, Spanish and Italian). Weekly newspapers, local newspapers and magazines include the Florida Sentinel Bulletin (which targets Tampa's African-American community), Creative Loafing, Reax Music Magazine, Tampa Bay Times, The Oracle, Tampa Bay Business Journal or MacDill Thunderbolt. Centro Mi Diario is a free Spanish-language newspaper published by The Tampa Tribune. The main television channels are WFTS 28 (ABC), WTSP 10 (CBS), WFLA 8 (NBC), WTVT 13 (FOX), WTOG 44 (The CW) and WTTA 38 (My Network TV).

Churches

Tampa First Baptist Church.

The oldest church in Tampa was founded by J.C. Lay in 1846; it is a Methodist church. But the most famous building is the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which opened in 1905. St. Paul A.M.E. Church was founded by Reverend Thomas W. Long in 1870 and is the oldest African-American congregation in the city. Other churches are the First Presbyterian Church (First Presbyterian Church), the St. Patrick and Christ the King Catholic Church, the St. Andrews and St. John Episcopal Church.

Raymond James Stadium.

Tampa is the city where the superstars of the WWE Big Show Primo Colón, Jillian Hall, Kelly, Tyson Kidd and Natalya, John Cena and Nikki Bella live.

Tampa has several sports teams that play in national professional leagues: Tampa's American football team, Tampa Bay's Buccaneers, played NFL, won the Super Bowl on January 26, 2003 against the Oakland Raiders.

The hockey team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, won the Stanley Cup at the end of the 2003-2004 season against the Calgary Flames.

The Tampa Bay Storm plays in the Arena Football League. They were in Pittsburgh, before coming to Tampa in 1991. They won their first ArenaBowl in the same year, and then repeated their feat in 1993, 1995, 1996, and 2003. Since 1997 they have played in the St. Pete Times Forum.

Tampa applied to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, but it was ultimately New York who was chosen to represent the US.

University sport also has many teams: the University of South Florida opened an American football program in 1998. Since 2001, the South Florida Bulls have evolved into Division I-A. They then joined Conference USA in 2003 and then Big East in 2005. The Spartans of Tampa University are the oldest sports association in the city and began playing in 1933. They belong to NCAA Division II in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC). They won several titles in men's football (1981, 1994, 2001), women's football (2007), baseball (1992, 1993, 1998, 2006, 2007), golf (198) 7, 1988) and volleyball (2006).

The other sports teams in Tampa are:

• Tampa Bay Rays in Baseball (MLB)
• Tampa Bay Football Rowdies (USL)
• The Bay Area Pelicans Rugby Football Club
• The Bay Area Krewe (rugby) playing Skyview Park
• Tampa Bay Terminators, in female football

• Dog and horse races: Tampa Bay Downs and Turf Club, Tampa Greyhound Track (1933)
• Golf: Senior Professional Golfer's Association Tour's GTE Suncoast Classic
• Sea-related sports: swimming, sailing, fishing, windsurfing

•  Agrigento (Italy)
•  Barranquilla, Colombia
•  Córdoba (Argentina)
•  Granada, Nicaragua
•  Izmir (Turkey)
•  Le Havre (France)
•  Oviedo, Spain
•  Comrades Sur (Philippines)
•  Ashdod (Israel)