| Did You Know? |
| .........That approximately one hundred thousand people were living in Florida when European explorers arrived in the 1500's and that they had been here for over 10,000 years? |
| .........That when the first explorers arrived in what we now call Florida there was no bay or river near Tampa and that the coastline was 60 to 100 miles farther west, placing Tampa near the center of the state? |
| .........The first major exploration of interior North America by Europeans began from the west coast of Florida, either Tampa Bay or CHarlotte Harbor, when Spanish explorer Panfilo de Narvaez brought over 400 soldiers and others here in 1528? |
| .........The population of Florida idigenous people dropped 98% in just over 100 years during Florida's "Missionary Period" (1595 - 1700)? |
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| .........The county, river and bay of Hillsborough were names for Lord Willis Hills, Earl of Hillsborough and Secretary of State for the British Colonies during the time Florida was an English possession (1763 - 1783)? |
| .....That among the famous people in Tampa before the Spanish-American War were Winston Churchill and Clara Barton? |
| ........Hillsborough County and the Tampa Bay region have some of the oldest recorded history in the United States, dating back more than 450 years? |
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