In 1743, the Spanish gave up on Miami. Twenty years later, they also gave up on Florida. At the 1763 Treaty of Paris which ended the Seven Years' War (Americans called it the French and Indian War), Spain used Florida to ransom back Havana which the English had captured. After more than two centuries of Spanish rule, Florida became an English colony.

In 1783, the British decided to exchange Florida for the Bahamas which Spain had captured during the war. The second Spanish period lasted from 1784 to 1821.

The U.S. government experienced several ongoing difficulties with the native Indians. In December 1835, Major Francis Langhorne Dade and 109 of his men were killed by the Seminole Indians while on a routine march from Tampa to Ocala. The attack, known as the Dade Massacre, was prompted by a change in attitude toward the Indians. Indian troubles ended with the Third Indian War that last from 1855 to 1857. Although, by 1860, the name Miami no longer appeared in public records.

The infant city of Miami was the remarkable progeny of remarkable parents. It did not develop slowly like other cities; it arrived in a railroad car, howling and kicking its way into life.

In 1891, Julia Tuttle decided to forge a new life for herself in Miami. Instead of settling on her father's homestead, she set out to buy the most impressive piece of real estate she had seen in Miami -- the north bank of the Miami River.

Julia Tuttle turned to Florida's railroad builder, Henry M. Flagler, who had just begun to extend his railroad south of Saint Augustine, with the hopes that he would build a railroad to Miami. But he was not interested.

For the next several years, Julia Tuttle besieged Flagler. She went to Saint Augustine to talk to him, but he ignored her offer. She wrote him regularly, pointing out the advantages of bringing his railroad to Miami. Still, he was not interested. In the end, her persistence -- and a stroke of luck -- turned his head.

During the winter of 1894-95, a terrible freeze hit Florida and destroyed the north and central Florida citrus groves. Julia Tuttle saw the freeze not as a disaster but as an opportunity. She wrote Flagler, reminding him that Miami was untouched by the cold weather. For the first time, Flagler listened.

When Flagler saw the orange blossoms and photographs of the region, he decided to check out Miami himself. Before the day was over, Flagler had been convinced the time was ripe to bring his railroad to Miami.

On July 28, 1896, 344 voters met to incorporate the city of Miami.

In the 1920s, the American people witnessed profound changes in their lives, morals and manners. But nothing that happened to the nation could begin to compare to the mania that struck Miami. As the tempo increased, Miami's boundaries exploded.

By 1923, even the most high blown predictions for Miami's future seemed to be coming true. Population had doubled in only three years. As soon as one record-breaking building was completed, ground was broken on another. Flagler Street took on a new appearance after the demand for downtown property sent prices sky-high. As pioneer buildings were demolished, new "modern" structures rose in their place.

World War II changed Miami as much as any other event in its history. Even before it was over, people sensed the beginning of a new era. In 1942, a Miami Herald writer predicted, "political, economic and geographical factors slowly are swinging Miami into a position that will make the Indian wars, coming of the railroad, the land boom and even the present military cauldron look like a quiet Sunday afternoon on a Swiss Alp."

By the mid-50s, Miami's "unincorporated area" was growing dramatically. Most of the suburbanites were newcomers pouring into South Florida in record-breaking numbers. In response to the sprawling population, developers built new shopping centers and, for the first time, challenged downtown for the shoppers' dollar.

In Miami, true progress had always been measured by growth. Whatever developed the city was good; whatever hindered development was bad. Suddenly, in the 1960s, developers became suspect. They were challenged by a new breed of environmentalist. Ecology became a watchword. For the first time, mangroves and estuaries had equal billing with man-made canals, fill, and waterfront lots.

The early '70s were closer to a "Golden Age" for all of Miami's varied population than any other period in history. The city was booming again. The decline of downtown seemed to be over.

When the last "Freedom Flight" ended in April 1973, most Miamians believed that it marked the end of the turmoil created by the constant arrival of new Cuban refugees. Miami's "Trail" (S.W. Eighth Street) became Calle Ocho, a lively, vibrant, thoroughly Latinized "Little Havana." Citizens were proud of the way Dade County schools had educated refugee children. In a spirit of optimism and brotherhood, the Dade County Commission declared Dade County a bilingual, bicultural community.

Everyone could see that Miami completely changed the way it looked in the 1980s. But the change was more than-new-skyscraper-and-pastel-colors-deep. For better or worse, the 1980s changed the whole style and character of the Magic City.

In some ways, the '80s had been like no other decade in Miami's history. Never before, not even during the Boom of the 1920s, had Miami changed its whole being politically, economically and socially -- along with its skyline. In other ways, however, the 1980s were just one more typical chapter in the Miami's history of change, change, change.

T.D. Allman, author of Miami: City of the Future, said it best: "...practically everything everyone says about it [Miami], both good and bad, is true!"

Miami entered the 90s as a great international city. Loss, however, always accompanies growth and change. On Monday, August 24, 1992, the ultimate loss of control occurred when Andrew, a fierce category 4 hurricane, roared into South Florida and left a trail of ruin in its wake. Out of the rubble, however, a new spirit and sense of community emerged. The aftermath of Andrew proved that Greater Miami's diverse people could work together and help each other.

On July 28, 1996, Miami celebrated it's centennial at Bayfront Park. With voices mingling in the summer breeze, a great fireworks display filling the sky and reflecting in the bay and against the glass of downtown skyscrapers, the happy crowd joined together to sing Happy Birthday to the "Magic City."

Miami is a remarkable city. An accident of geography, once a hindrance to development, is now one of the city's greatest advantages. Geography coupled with an accident of history, the Castro revolution, created the modern Miami and brought time, people and places together. Like Miami's founders, who carved the city out of the wilderness 100 years ago, today's Miamians are seizing a moment in time, ripe with opportunity. They are creating something new and unique in American history.