Here in Miami, we love our pets! Pets aren’t excluded from the main attraction in the city known for surf, sand, and sun. Some of the best beaches in Miami include areas where dogs are welcome to enjoy a dip in the ocean. With more than 20 miles of sandy beaches and 129 spots for public access, the amenities allow pet-lovers to share a major pastime.
Miami, a city of 470,914 on the Atlantic Ocean side of southern Florida, is often called the “capital of Latin America” because of its dominant yet diverse Hispanic culture. While more 72 percent of the city’s residents are Hispanic—half are foreign-born—their roots reach every part of the hemisphere. More than half the city’s Latino population is Cuban or Cuban-American, about a third is from the countries of Central and South America, and about 13 percent is from the Caribbean or Mexico.
The influence is economic as well as cultural. About 1,400 multinational companies have a presence in South Florida, and global companies with Miami-based Latin American headquarters include Apple, Cisco Systems, Johnson & Johnson, Marriott International, Medtronic, and Oracle. Trade between Florida and Latin America tops $80 billion a year.
It was refugees from Cuba who first came to Miami in large numbers following Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959. Haitians and Nicaraguans fleeing upheaval in the 1970s made their way to Miami, and the Mariel Boatlift—an announcement by Castro in April 1980 that Cubans were free to leave—resulted in another 125,000 people settling in Florida.
While Miami is the second-largest city in Florida, the metropolitan area that stretches north to Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach is the nation’s seventh-largest with nearly 6.2 million people.
While freedom and economic opportunity have lured many to South Florida, the climate has been an unmistakable draw as well. Although its location in the tropical monsoon zone means Miami gets twice as much rain as the average U.S. city—62 inches yearly vs. about 30—its temperatures remain warm year-round. Average lows in January are 60 degrees, while wintertime highs average in the 70s.
Julia Tuttle, a widow from Ohio who purchased a citrus plantation in what’s now Downtown Miami, is credited as the city’s founder. After an 1894 freeze wiped out citrus crops in other parts of Florida, Tuttle convinced a railroad owner to extend his line to the area. Miami was incorporated as a city in 1896 with 444 residents.