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submitted: May 8th 2008 | by: Hispanic | Total views: 2 | Word Count: 331 | |

You might not imagine it now, but before Orlando became a thriving tourist hotspot, it was just a small settlement covering in fear against the Native American Indians roughly almost two centuries ago. With Orlando's dazzling and inviting sights and theme parks, as well as its wonderfully low cost of living, it is indeed hard to imagine that Orlando started small.

Historically, Orlando was the battleground of two opposing forces way back in the early 19th century. It was here that the Native American tribe of Indians known as the Seminoles often clash with the American soldiers.

A community formed around the Fort and the area was initially named Jernigan, after the Jernigan family who established the first permanent inhabitants of the area by building a post office. The earliest settlers earned their living by cattle ranching, but Orlando didn't truly become habited until after the Seminole wars. The city gets its name from a soldier and plantation owner named Orlando Reeves.

In 1875, Orlando finally became incorporated, with a residency of 85 people. Orlando began to branch out of cattle raising to include cottons and citrus fruits. When the Cubans demand for beef increased, so did cattle ranching all across Florida, including Orlando. Demand for cotton followed soon after and Orlando also thrived as it became a city of cotton plantations. Most of the cotton workers eventually moved south, and the remaining plantations were destroyed by a hurricane which hit in 1871.

Finally, the scorching heat of Florida made it the perfect weather for citrus crops including oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, lemons and limes. With the boom of the citrus fruit market, Orlando had much to profit from. Of course, eventually all these things declined to make way for the birth of a growing tourist city. The Disney Corporation decided to build their first Disney Park outside of California in Orlando because of its vast lands. Soon, several other theme parks were built to take advantage of the tourism coming in due to Disney World.

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