Miami, Florida:The Magic City—

Miami, Florida: The Magic City— by Phyllis McIntosh— With its subtropical climate and intimate ties to Latin Amer- ica, Miami is like no other city in the United States. More than 65 percent of its population is Hispanic, and Spanish is the most com- monly heard language. Situated at the southern tip of the 500-mile-long Florida peninsula, Miami is the largest urban area in the southeastern United States and one of the youngest cities in the country. Carved from a swampland just over 100 years ago, it has been dubbed the Magic City for its seemingly overnight growth into an international tourist mecca. But the Miami of today offers far more than sun and fun. Truly the “Gateway of the Americas,” the city is at once a metropolis of remarkable cultural diversity, a bustling hub of international commerce and finance, and a port of entry for peoples from the Caribbean and Latin America seeking a better life in the United States. E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM | N UMBER 3 2008 35 Mayaimi through the rests with a persistent widow named Julia Centuries— Tuttle and a wealthy developer, Henry Flagler. A major property owner in what The area that is now Miami was is now Miami, Tuttle tried unsuccessfully occupied as long as 10,000 years ago by in the late 1800s to persuade Flagler, who the Tequesta Indians. When the Span- was building resorts in the northern part ish arrived in the 1500s, they heard the of the state, to extend his railroad farther Tequesta refer to local rivers and lakes as south. In 1895, when a record freeze Mayaimi, which historians think meant wiped out citrus crops in most of Florida “fresh water, “clear water,” or “big water.” and sent tourists scurrying, Tuttle is said Although the Tequesta soon succumbed to have sent Flagler a box of fresh orange to disease and violence at the hands of the blossoms as proof of South Florida’s supe- Spanish, their legacy survives in the name rior climate. Convinced at last, Flagler of the city of Miami and in the ancient built the long-sought railroad, and in July artifacts still being uncovered during the 1896, the city of Miami was officially construction of modern skyscrapers. incorporated. Some residents wanted to call their new city Flagler, but the railroad magnate himself insisted on Miami, a modern version of the name that had been associated with the area for perhaps thousands of years. Boom Times— Flagler immediately set about laying out streets, providing city services, and building lavish hotels that turned Miami almost overnight into a winter resort for the rich and famous. The real estate boom continued into the early part of the 20th century, thanks to marketing campaigns in the North and completion of the Dixie Highway between Miami and Chicago, which made the new vacation destination accessible by car and drew middle class vacationers to Miami. Except for a brief period of British Devastated by a hurricane in 1926, Located between two warm rule following the American Revolution, the young city soon bounced back, even bodies of water, the south in the midst of the Great Depression of Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Florida was controlled by the Spanish Mexico, Miami has a pleasing, until 1821, when Spain ceded the ter- the 1930s. It was then that Pan American tropical climate. ritory to the United States. For several Airways began its Flying Clipper air service decades thereafter, south Florida was pop- from Miami, advertising the city as the ulated mainly by pirates, runaway slaves, “Gateway to the Americas.” At the same and displaced Indians who sought refuge time, development in nearby Miami Beach in the region and came to be known col- lured rich tourists to the area once again. lectively as the Seminole Tribe. Today When a German submarine sank a several thousand Seminoles live on six U.S. ship just off the coast early in World reservations throughout South Florida. War II, South Florida was quickly trans- Credit for the birth of a city from this formed into a massive military base. After alligator- and mosquito-infested swamp the war, many of the soldiers who had been 36 2008 N UMBER 3 | E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM stationed there settled in the area, creating another real estate boom. Retirees from the cold Northeast also flocked by the thousands to Miami’s sunny climes. Over the years, Miami has been beset by the usual urban ills—street crime, drug trafficking, political corruption, and civil unrest—but again and again it has tri- umphed to resume its role as America’s tropical playground. And in recent years, it has gained a new reputation as a hub of international commerce. Tropical Paradise— This modern city rests on limestone bedrock beneath a layer of soil not more lars’ worth of damage but sparing most of than 50 feet thick. Covered thousands of downtown Miami and Miami Beach. years ago by a shallow sea, Miami is still Miami, just 90 miles from only about 12 feet above sea level. The Cuba, is home to a large number of Cuban immigrants. massive Biscayne Aquifer, which lies just A Haven for Immigrants— below the surface, supplies ample drinking The threat of storms does little to water to most of South Florida but also deter the thousands of people who settle hampers underground construction and in Miami every year. Comprising just makes a subway system impossible. 35 square miles of land, it is one of the Miami has the distinction of being most densely populated cities in the coun- the only major U.S. city bordered by try, with more than 404,000 people. Some two national parks—Everglades National 2.5 million live in Miami-Dade County, Park, a vast expanse of subtropical marsh- which encompasses the city of Miami and land, to the west and Biscayne National 31 other municipalities. County residents Park, a 181,000-acre underwater refuge come from more than 120 countries and to the east. speak 68 languages. The majority Hispan- Thanks to the warm Gulf Stream ic population of Miami is made up mostly ocean current just 15 miles offshore, Miami of refugees from poverty and political enjoys a pleasing tropical climate. Tem- unrest in the Caribbean and Central and peratures average 76 degrees Fahrenheit South America. In their adopted city, they year-round, with winters typically drier have created distinctive neighborhoods, and cooler and summers hot and humid. such as Little Havana and Little Haiti, Summer temperatures have never topped whose marketplaces and celebrations echo 100 degrees, and there has been only one those of their homelands. recorded snowfall—in January 1977. Calle Ocho, Little Havana’s main Located between two large, warm street, hosts the country’s largest Latino bodies of water—the south Atlantic and festival, attended by more than a million the Gulf of Mexico—Miami is especially people. Other sights in Little Havana vulnerable to hurricanes, which typically include monuments to Cuban heroes occur between June and November. The and a Cubano version of the Hollywood worst in recent memory occurred in 1992, “Walk of Stars” that features Latino actors, when Hurricane Andrew struck the region playwrights, and musicians, such as singer with sustained winds of 165 miles per Gloria Estefan. Considering that Miami hour, causing more than 25 billion dol- is just 90 miles from Cuba—much closer E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM | N UMBER 3 2008 37 than it is to Tallahassee, the state capital Creole, a pidgin language based mostly The Miami skyline, lit up of Florida—it’s not surprising that Cuban on French. For years, the heart of the against the night sky and immigrants are one of the most influential neighborhood was the Caribbean Market- reflected in the surrounding ethnic groups in the area. A half million place, a replica of a market in the Haitian water, projects an image of a vibrant international city. or so Cubans fled their island nation capital, Port-au-Prince, which sold every- after Fidel Castro’s Communist takeover thing from fruits and spices to voodoo in 1959. Two decades later, when Cas- candles and brightly-colored paintings. tro announced that anyone who wished Now Haitian activists and preservationists to leave Cuba by boat could freely do are opposing the city’s plan to demolish so from the docks at Mariel, the result the old building to make way for a new was a mass exodus known as the Mariel theater and community center. Boatlift. During four months in 1980, The influx of Haitians into Miami some 125,000 people, including 25,000 was followed by Nicaraguan refugees flee- prisoners and mental patients Castro had ing the Sandanista government in that released, arrived on Florida’s shores, over- country and more recently by immigrants whelming Miami’s economy and escalat- from South American countries, such as ing existing racial tensions in the city. Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela. Adding During the 1980s, thousands of Hai- to the cultural mix are significant num- tians also landed in Miami, having risked bers of Jewish Americans, Asians, and their lives on leaky boats to escape the even a burgeoning Russian community grinding poverty and political oppression known as Little Moscow. in their homeland. Miami’s Little Haiti While ethnic clashes and disputes over now is home to more than 30,000 Hai- immigrant issues have been inevitable in tian immigrants, most of whom speak this melting pot, the cultural diversity and 38 2008 N UMBER 3 | E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM rich ethnic traditions have helped make Miami as their base in the Americas.

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