Amilia [1] ( Eng. Amelia Island ) - an island off the Atlantic coast of the United States . One of the southernmost in the chain of barrier islands , stretching from South Carolina to Florida . Territorial to the state of Florida, Nasso County. The island has the administrative center of Nasso County, the city of Fernandina Beach .
| Amilia | |
|---|---|
| English Amelia island | |
 Islands of the Atlantic coast of the USA. Amilia - the southernmost | |
| Specifications | |
| Square | 47.14 km² |
| Population | 20,000 people (2000) |
| Population density | 424.27 people / km² |
| Location | |
| Water area | Atlantic Ocean |
| A country |
|
| State | Florida |
| County | Nassau |
Content
Geography
The island is located in the far north-east of Florida, about 50 kilometers from Jacksonville . The length of the island is very long from north to south of the island is 21.7 kilometers, the width ranges from half a kilometer to three kilometers. The total area of the island is 47.1 km², of which approximately 18 square kilometers are in the city of Fernandina Beach. [2] In addition to Fernandina Beach, there is another settlement on the island, the village of Amilia.
Climate
| Climatogram of Amilia | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | F | M | BUT | M | AND | AND | BUT | WITH | ABOUT | N | D |
77 17.6 7.1 | 82 18.8 8.1 | 91 21.9 11.1 | 71 25.2 14.6 | 81 28.5 18.6 | 138 30.9 21.9 | 148 32.1 22.9 | 150 31.8 23.1 | 190 29.9 22.1 | 111 26.1 17.7 | 58 21.9 12.2 | 72 18.5 8.4 |
| Temperature in ° C • Sum of precipitation in mm Source: www.weatherbase.com | |||||||||||
The climate of Amilia is characterized by mild winters, cool summer nights and a minimum of rainfall (more in the summer and autumn months, less in the spring), which turns the island into a resort for any season. Water temperature ranges from 13 degrees Celsius in January and February to 29 degrees in August.
There are two world-class resorts on the island: Amilia Island Plantation ( English Amelia Island Plantation ) and a hotel of the Ritz-Carlton chain.
Fauna
Sea turtles lay eggs on the coast of the island. Along the coast of Amilia, you can meet dolphins , manatees , and sometimes endangered northern smooth whales .
Among the feathered inhabitants of Amilia, one can note a large blue heron , a white American heron , a Virginian eagle owl , a bald eagle , an osprey and a hummingbird .
History
Around the year 1000, Indian tribes belonging to the Timukua tribe group settled on the island. In that era, the island was called Napoika. In 1562, the first European appeared on the island. They became the French explorer Jean Ribot . Ribot gives the island the name Ile de Mar. Three years later, the Spaniards ousted the French from Florida; Ribot and about 350 other French colonists died in this struggle. In 1575, the Spanish Franciscans established the Catholic Mission of Santa Maria on the island. The island itself is also renamed Santa Maria. The mission stopped and resumed its activities several times, the last time in 1702 , when the island was captured from the Spaniards by joint British- Indian forces. Georgia Governor James Oglethorpe renamed the island in honor of Princess Amelia , daughter of George II , although formally the island still remained Spanish property.
Oglethorpe later concludes an agreement with the Spanish colonial authorities to transfer the island to the British crown, but the king of Spain cancels this agreement. In 1763 , after the victory of Great Britain in the Seven Years War , the island, along with Florida, came under British control. In 1783 , under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles , Florida was returned to Spain, and all British colonists who did not take the oath to the Spanish king pledged to leave its territory in an 18-month period. In 1811, the city of Fernandin was founded, named after the King of Spain Ferdinand VII .
During the war of 1812-14, control of the island was captured by rebels, enlisted by the support of US President Madison and Governor Georgia Matthews. The patriot amilia island flag was hoisted above the island, soon replaced by the us flag. In 1813, Spanish forces forced the Americans to leave the island again.
On June 29, 1816, a Scottish mercenary and adventurer Gregor McGregor with 55 musketeers captures the Spanish fort of San Carlos and raises a flag with a green cross over his island, his ancestral flag. The Spaniards force McGregor to leave the island, but American irregular units, organized by former Pennsylvania congressman James Irwin, enter the struggle for control of Amelia. In 1817, the French filibuster Louis Ori declared the island the property of the Mexican Republic , but after three months, American troops seized control of the island, which the United States ruled for several years on behalf of Spain. In 1821, Florida officially became part of the United States, in 1845 it received the status of the twenty-seventh state.
During the Civil War in 1861 - 62, the Confederates dispose of Amelia. Twice during the audit of coastal fortifications, General Lee visits the island. Federal control of the island was restored in March 1862.
Since Amelia was successively owned by eight different state and quasi-state entities, including the Patriots Amilia Island, MacGregor and Louis Ori, she is called the Island of Eight Flags; Under this name, she often appears in tourist guides.
Notes
- ↑ Southeast USA // Atlas of the World / comp. and preparation. to the ed. PKO "Cartography" in 1999; open Ed .: T.G. Novikova , T.M. Vorobyova . - 3rd ed., Eras., Fr. in 2002 with diaposes. 1999 - M .: Roskartografiya, 2002. - S. 230—231. - ISBN 5-85120-055-3 .
- ↑ Amilia on Galen Freisinger's website