| Miami is a city in the southern part of the state of Florida. With a population of 430,000 it is the forty-second largest city in the United States. The MSA area of Miami has nearly five million residents. The city was established in 1896 and lies within Miami-Dade County Florida at an elevation of less than ten feet. It is within the Eastern Standard Time Zone and the Miami area codes are 786 and 305. Many large companies and corporations have a presence in the Miami area including Carnival Cruise Lines, Burger King, Perry Ellis International, TeleFutura, Oracle, Yahoo, Ryder Systems, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Bacardi, CompUSA, Telemundo, Lennar, Benihana, Cisco, and Disney. Miami International Airport serves the area. The Port of Miami is one of the busiest shipping destinations in the world. Miami area shopping favorite is in South Beach's Art Deco district. The climate is warm with winter lows averaging about 59 degrees and summer highs in the 80s. Precipitation averages about 5.5 inches of rain per month. The National Hurricane Center is located in Miami. Miami events and festivals include Art Basel Miami Beach, Fashion Week Miami and the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami. Miami things to do include Miami Art Museum, Miami Children's Museum, Bass Museum, Mercedes-Benz Biscayne Bay, and Bayfront Park. The main newspaper is the Miami Herald. Area sports teams include NFL football's Miami Dolphins, baseball's Florida Marlins, NBA basketball's Miami Heat, NHL hockey's Florida Panthers and the University of Miami's Hurricanes. Higher education institutions include Johnson and Wales University, Miami Dade College, University of Miami, Florida International University, and Barry University. Miami-Dade Transit provides public transportation. Amtrak serves the area. Main area highways include Interstate I-75, I-395, I-95, and I-195 in addition to SR 826, SR 112, SR 924 and SR 874. |