Broward County, FL
| Broward County, Florida | ||
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| County | ||
| Broward County | ||
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The Broward County Courthouse in November 2010.
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 Location in the U.S. state of Florida |
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 Florida's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | April 30, 1915 | |
| Named for | Napoleon Bonaparte Broward | |
| Seat | Fort Lauderdale | |
| Largest city | Fort Lauderdale | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 1,323 sq mi (3,427 km2) | |
| • Land | 1,210 sq mi (3,134 km2) | |
| • Water | 113 sq mi (293 km2), 8.5% | |
| Population (est.) | ||
| • (2016) | 1,909,632 | |
| • Density | 1,445/sq mi (558/km²) | |
| Congressional districts | 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th | |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | |
| Website | www |
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Broward County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2016, the population was 1,909,632, making it the second-most populous county in Florida and the 17th-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Fort Lauderdale.
Broward County is part of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.
Although the area has been settled since about 1400 B.C., Broward County was founded on October 1, 1915. It was named for Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, Governor of Florida from 1905 to 1909, remembered for his campaign to turn the Everglades into "useful land". It was originally intended to be named Everglades County, but then-Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Ion Farris amended the bill that established the county to be named after Broward. In 1915, Palm Beach County and Dade County contributed nearly equal portions of land to create Broward County.
Broward County began a huge development boom after its incorporation, with the first "tourist hotel", in Fort Lauderdale, opening in 1919. A year later, developers began dredging wetlands in the county in order to create island communities. By 1925, the boom was considered to have reached its peak, but a 1926 hurricane caused economic depression in the county. The structure of county government was signed into law in 1975 with the passage of the Broward County charter.
At its inception, Broward County was considered a leader in agricultural products and services within the State of Florida, but the massive post-World War II buildup of South Florida transformed the region. It was one of the counties at the center of the 2000 U.S. Presidential election recount controversy.
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