Северо-западная Флорида: Панаханда и регион Большого Изгиба

Northwest region of Florida

The Florida panhandle (also known as West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U. S. state of Florida. It is a salient roughly 200 mile (322 km) long, bordered by Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is arbitrarily defined. It is defined by its southern culture and rural geography relative to the rest of Florida, as well as closer cultural links to French influenced Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Its major communities include Pensacola, Navarre, Destin, Panama City Beach, and Tallahassee. As is the case with the other eight U. S. states that have panhandles, the geographic meaning of the term is inexact and elastic. References to the Florida panhandle always include the ten counties west of the Apalachicola River, a natural geographic boundary, which was the historic dividing line between the British colonies of West Florida and East Florida. These western counties also lie in the Central Time Zone (with the exception of Gulf County, which is divided between the Eastern and Central Time zones), while the rest of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone. References to the panhandle may also include some or all of eleven counties immediately east of the Apalachicola known as the Big Bend region, along the curve of Apalachee Bay. Like the rest of North Florida, including North Central Florida, the panhandle is more similar in culture and climate to the Deep South than the rest of the state, particularly than Central Florida and South Florida in the lower peninsula. The Florida panhandle is known for its conservative politics, religious adherence, and "piney woods". The largest city in the panhandle is Tallahassee, the state capital, population 196,169 (2020). However, the largest city west of the Appalachicola river is Pensacola, which has a population of 54,312 (2020) and also has the largest Metropolitan area in the entire panhandle with a population of 511,502 (2020). This metro area includes the second and third largest communities in the region, Pensacola and Navarre. The total population of the panhandle, as of the 2010 Census, was 1,407,925, just under 7.5% of Florida's total population as recorded in the same census. At roughly 70 persons per square mile, its population density is less than one fifth of Florida's as a whole.

Throughout the 19th century the panhandle was sparsely populated, dotted in places with small farming communities, none of which had as many as a thousand residents. Many panhandle residents had, in fact, migrated to the area from Alabama and had relatives there; it was also easier to trade with and travel to southern Alabama than to reach East Florida by slow, arduous journey across the thick cypress swamps and dense pine forests of the panhandle. It was natural for West Floridians to feel that they had more in common with their nearby neighbors in Alabama than with the residents of the peninsula, hundreds of miles away. In 1821, Pensacola was the only city (in 19th century terms) in West Florida, with a population estimated to be about 3,000. In the 1850 census, the enumerated population of Pensacola was 2,164 (including 741 slaves and 350 "free Negroes").

In the last quarter of the century, hurricanes that directly struck the area and caused significant damage included Hurricane Eloise in 1975, Hurricane Kate in 1985, and Hurricane Erin and Hurricane Opal, both in 1995. The area was a prime target of the March 1993 Storm of the Century.

The panhandle suffered direct hits from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Dennis in 2005. Ivan was the most disastrous, making landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama, with 120 mile per hour (193 km/h) winds and a 14 feet (4 m) storm surge that devastated Perdido Key and Santa Rosa Island, wrecked the Interstate 10 bridge across Escambia Bay, and destroyed thousands of homes in the region, some as far away as 20 mile (32 km) inland. On June 23, 2010, oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill landed on Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach, damaging the fishing and tourism industries, and prompting a massive clean up effort. On October 10, 2018, the panhandle suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Michael, with winds as high as 160 mph. Michael was one of only four category 5 hurricanes to ever hit the US mainland. Thousands of homes were destroyed, and apartment rents in Panama City increased, with a $500 apartment renting for $1000 in 2019. Recovery from Hurricane Michael was not complete in June 2019, and disaster relief for the panhandle remained stalled in Congress.

Historically, the economy of the panhandle depended mainly on farming, forestry and lumbering, paper mills, import/export shipping at Pensacola and to a lesser extent at Panama City, shipbuilding, and commercial fishing. After World War II, the economy was boosted by the numerous military bases established in the region, as well as the growth of tourism and the hospitality industry. In addition to military bases, state and local governments, hospitals, schools, and colleges, major private employers in the second half of the twentieth century included Monsanto and Westinghouse plants at Pensacola, the St. Joe Paper Company in Port St. Joe, and Gulf Power, a major electric utility company. Unlike central and southern Florida, the panhandle has never been a producer of citrus crops because the area is subject to regular frosts and freezes during winter, which destroy citrus fruits.

Interstate 10 is the only interstate highway in the panhandle, connecting the extreme west with North Florida and Jacksonville. Other older east–west routes include U. S. Highway 90 and U. S. Highway 98. Important north–south routes west of the Apalachicola River include U. S. Highway 29, U. S. Highway 331, and U. S. Highway 231, all linking to Alabama and Interstate 65. State Road 20 stretches from Niceville to Tallahassee.

Freight service is provided by the Class III Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, which acquired most of the CSX main line from Pensacola to Jacksonville on June 1, 2019. (For the history of this line, see Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad.) Passenger service ended with the creation of Amtrak in 1971, but was revived with the extension of the Sunset Limited to Orlando beginning in 1993; however, passenger service was discontinued after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. Other regional short line railroads serving the panhandle are the Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway (formerly BNSF Railway, ex Frisco Railway), the Bay Line Railroad, and the AN Railway.

The politics of the Florida panhandle vary considerably depending on location. The western panhandle, particularly the Emerald Coast, was one of the earliest areas to shake off its Yellow Dog Democrat roots, and since the 1990s has become the most Republican part of Florida. Fort Walton Beach, Destin and Panama City regularly give Republicans close to or over 70% margins in state and national elections. However, Tallahassee and Gadsden County tend to be strongly Democratic. In the 2008 presidential election, John McCain received 421,287 votes (60.1%) in the panhandle, while Barack Obama received 279,206 votes (39.9%). Under the 2023 2033 decennial reapportionment, the Florida panhandle is split between the Florida's 1st congressional district, represented by Matt Gaetz (R–Niceville) and Florida's 2nd congressional district represented by Neal Dunn (R–Panama City).

Major military bases include the Pensacola Naval Air Station (the home of Naval Aviation in the United States), Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field near Ft. Walton Beach, Naval Support Activity Panama City in Panama City Beach, and Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City. Smaller military bases in the Florida panhandle include the Center for Information Warfare Training in Pensacola, Naval Air Station Whiting Field near Milton and Duke Field near Crestview. The 1983 84 television show Emerald Point N. A. S. was set in a naval air station somewhere in the American South, similar to Pensacola NAS. The 1997 2000 action/adventure series Pensacola: Wings of Gold was explicitly set there.