The Keys and Tortugas are a chain of small coral islands south and southwest of the point of the peninsula. The most important of these is Key West, where a naval station has been established, and where there is a good harbor. Florida is well watered and has a number of navigable rivers, the principal ones being the St. John's, Appalachicola, Perdido, Charlotte and Suwanee. The southern part of a recent coral formation, similar to that of the Keys, and the process of growth is still going on. The climate of this State is excellent.
Frosts are rare in the north, and unknown in the south, and snow never falls.
The atmosphere is generally dry and clear, and most of the rainfall, which is about fifty-four inches per annum, is in the summer months. Although Florida has belonged to the Union little more than fifty years, its settlement by white men dates back beyond that of New England, and the quaint old buildings and forts of St. Augustine are among the oldest structures on the continent. Ponce de Leon visited Florida in search of the fabled fountain of eternal youth in 1513, and in 1526 Charles V. of Spain granted to Pamfilo de Narvaez all the territory from Cape Florida to the Rio Panuco. In 1565 the Spaniards built a fort at St. Augustine, which they held until 1586, when it was captured by Sir Francis Drake. Many French Protestants settled in Florida in 1560-70, and conflicts between them and the Spaniards were frequent.