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Saint Augustine is the county seat of St. John’s County, Florida. The city covers an area of eleven square miles and has a population of over twelve thousand people. Saint Augustine was founded in 1565 by the Spanish under Pedro Menéndez de Aviles. He first landed on the feast day of Augustine of Hippo and therfore named the city San Augustin. Twenty-one years later, the city was attacked by Sir Francis Drake, an English privateer. In 1668, it was attacked once again by another English privateer, Robert Searle and most of the residents of the city were slaughtered. The city would be attacked by British forces again in 1702 and then in 1740. After the Treaty of Paris in 1763, Florida would become a possession of the British Empire. Saint Augustine would become a loyalist colony to the British Crown all throughout the American Revolution. In 1783, Saint Augustine and the state of Florida would once again become a possession of the Spanish Crown.

Between 1784 and 1821, Florida remained under Spanish rule. During this period time, Spain was invaded by Napoleon and struggled to maintain control of its many colonies. As a result, Florida was no longer important to the Spanish Crown and the state was turned over to the United States in 1821. For the next twenty-four years, Florida remained a territory of the United States. Finally in 1845, Florida was granted statehood. In 1861, the American Civil War started and Florida seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy. Union soldiers were able to seize the city the next year, and Florida remained in control of the Union for the duration of the war.

Several notable residents have resided in or was born in the city of Saint Augustine. These include poker player Jim Albrecht, historian David Nolan, football player Willie Galimore, Union General John M. Schofield, author Mary MacLane, soldier Richard Henry Pratt, scientist John C. Lilly, pianist Ray Charles, United States Congressman William H. Gray, musician Tom Petty, Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, hockey coach Murray Armstrong, pro wrestler Travis Tomko, baseball player Johnny Mize, U. S. senator & presidential candidate George McGovern, singer Tom Gabel, baseball player Cris Carpenter, artist Earl Cunningham, race car driver Scott Lagasse Jr., United States district judge Howell W. Melton and America’s first black general Jorge Biassou.

A popular attraction in the city is the Saint Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. This alligator park was opened in the spring of 1893 and is the oldest continuously running attraction in the state of Florida. The museum was started on Saint Augustine Beach as a way to get tourists to buy souvenirs and to visit the museum which was located there. Before long, the reptiles became the main attraction of the area and the park was moved to its current location during the 1920s. In September of 1992, the Saint Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park was listed as a United States Historic District. This park covers an area of twelve thousand square feet and has one building. Besides the twenty or so species of crocodiles that are contained here, the park also has a large variety of other animals. These include Long Tentacle Anemone, Black Percula Clownfish, Blue Leg Hermit Crab, Domino Damselfish, North American Wood Duck, Plush-Crested Jay, Moluccan Yellow Monitor, Amethystine Python, Centralian Carpet Python, Reticulated Python, New Guinea Blue-Tongued Skink, South American Red-Footed Tortoise, South American Yellow-Footed Tortoise, Yellow Spotted Amazon River Turtle and Bornean Crested Fireback Pheasants.

Another attraction in Saint Augustine that is quickly gaining popularity in the past few years is Lightner Museum. This museum is housed within historic Hotel Alcazar and contains a large collection of Victorian antiquities. This museum is spread out over three floors of the Hotel Alcazar and was built in the Spanish Renaissance style during 1887. Originally the hotel had sulfur baths, a steam room, the world’s largest indoor pool (at the time), a massage parlor and a gym. It was closed, however in 1932. Fourteen years later it was purchased by Otto C. Lightner as a way to display his extensive collection of artifacts. A couple of years later, he donated it to the city. The first floor of the museum contains a Victorian village and has shop fronts, rocks, minerals and shells. The museum also contains a small Egyptian mummy, paintings, sculptures, Neo-classical rocking chairs, stained glass windows, glass piston machine, Victorian glass blown objects, Art Nouveau Curio cabinet, shrunken heads and nineteenth century musical instruments.

The Spanish Military Hospital Museum is another prominent museum in the city of Saint Augustine. This museum is located at number three Aviles Street and contains a reconstructed military hospital that stands on the site of the Second Colonial Spanish Period. This museum gives an excellent representation of what a military hospital was like in the late eighteenth century and its many areas include Brain Surgery, Amputation, Dentistry and Bullet Removal.

Anastasia State Park is another famous attraction in the city. This park is located off of State Road A1A and is situated about a mile and a half from the downtown of the city. The park has many activities to offer visitors including swimming, picnicking, bird watching, surfing, kayaking, sun worship, sail boarding, fishing and camping. The park also has a number of campgrounds and splendid nature trails. It also has a ton of wildlife which includes birds, flora, fauna and wildlife spread out over different settings such as tidal marshes and beaches. Anastasia State Park was once a stone quarry and the stone that was removed from the area was used to build Castillo de San Marcos.

Other attractions in the city include Black Raven Pirate Ship, Castillo de San Marcos, Saint Augustine Lighthouse and Museum, Schooner Freedom, Mission of Nombre de Dios, Flagler College, The Ximenez-Fatio House, Memorial Presbyterian Church, Fort Mose, Fort Matanzas, Saint Augustine Beach, Gonzalez-Alvarez House, Spanish Quarter Museum, Fountain of Youth, San Sebastian Winery, World Golf Hall of Fame, Florida Heritage Museum at the Authentic Old Jail, Faver-Dykes State Park, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum, Government House Museum, Old Saint Augustine Village and Old Florida Museum.

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Sao Paulo is the capital of the state of Sao Paulo, located in Brazil. It is the largest Brazilian city and is the seventh largest metropolitan area in the world. It cover a land area of three thousand square miles and has a population of over nineteen million people, making it one of the most populous cities in the Southern Hemisphere. The city is named Sao Paulo as a tribute to St. Paul. Sao Paulo has been home to some of the tallest buildings in Brazil and also host the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange and the Cereal Market Stock Exchanges.

The village of Sao Paulo was founded in January of 1554 by Manuel da Nóbrega and José de Anchieta. They then erected a mission whose purpose was to convert Brazilians to the Catholic faith. The mission also served to provide a means for the Portuguese crown to rule the indigenous Tupi-Guarani. The mission of Sao Paulo was situated above the city of Santos on the far side of the Serra do Mar cliffs. The village became an official city during the early part of the eighteenth century. A hundred years after its official founding the city then went through a period of economic prosperity which was spurred by its exports of coffee.

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This prosperity was short lived as worldwide coffee prices dropped sharply during the early part of the twentieth century. This was further aggravated by the stock market crash of 1929. This caused many of the coffee barons to lose influence and social status. The decline in the profitability of coffee exports cause many entrepreneurs to look to sugar can to pad their bottom lines.

Before long, entrepreneurs in Sao Paulo started investing in the economic infrastructure of the city, and in the process attracted new immigrants to the region. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Sao Paulo would experience an economic boom that was unparalleled to any previous one in its history. This second economic revival was also short lived as the city found it hard to compete with other Brazilian cities such as Rio de Janeiro. This caused the city to once again shift gears and it began to focus its attention on the service industries. Sao Paulo is now home to a large collection of law firms, consumer service industries and international banking offices. It has also developed a large number of restaurants, cafes, hotels and tourist attractions.

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One of the most prominent tourist attractions in Sao Paulo is the Casa do Grito e Capela Imperial. This building is located in Independence Park, at the gardens of the Ipiranga Museum. It was originally composed of clay and wood, but was subsequantly renovated in the 1950′s to a stone facade. This building houses many furniture, paintings and metalware from the nineteenth century.

The Sao Paulo Cathedral, located in the Praca da Se, is another attraction not to be missed by any visitor to this city. Construction of this cathedral began around 1913 and finished in the 1950′s. It was built under Duarte Leopoldo e Silva, the first archbishop of Sao Paulo. This cathedral measure over three hundred feet long and is one hundred and thirty eight feed wide. Its features include two two hundred and seventy-six foot towers and a dome that is over ninety meters in diameter. This huge cathedral is capable of seating over eight thousand worshippers.

One of the most recognizable landmarks in Sao Paulo is the Theatro Municipal. This theater significant for both its architectural workmanship and its historical value was built in 1911.

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From its founding year to 1926, this theater offered over eighty-eight operas by forty-one composers in two hundred and seventy performances. During the course of its existence, this theater has attracted many celebrities to its stage. These include Paulo Szot, Mário de Andrade, Arturo Toscanini, Carla Fracci, Rudolph Nureyev, Titta Ruffo, Enrico Caruso, Bidu Sayao and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

An important museum in the city is the Museu Paulista. This museum is located at the University of Sao Paulo and contains a huge collection of artwork, documents and furniture. One of the pivotal pieces in the collection is the Independęncia ou Morte by Pedro Américo. Other important museums in Sao Paulo are the Pinacoteca do Estado de Sao Paulo, Museu do Ipiranga, Memorial da America Latina, Museu da Imigracao e Memorial do Imigrante, Museu de Zoologia da USP and the Museu de Arte Sacra.

Another prominent landmark in this city is the Altino Arantes Building. This building was erected in 1947 and it was intended to be the headquarters of the Bank of the State of Sao Paulo. When it was constructed it was the tallest building of the city, a distinction that would later go to the Edifício Italia.

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The Altino Arantes Building stands four hundred and eighty three feet high and has a total area of fifty three thousand square feet. The building has thirty-five floors, fourteen elevators, nine hundred steps and eleven hundred windows. Altino Arantes also contains a museum called the Banespa Museum. This museum chronicles the century long history of the bank since its inception as the Bank of Hipothecário Credit of the State of Săo Paulo. The collection of this museum contains nine hundred objects, ninety photographs, and sixty-six national carpets.

A major park in the city of Sao Paulo is Ibirapuera Park. This park was founded in 1954 and covers an area of over three hundred and forty acres. This park has several features located within it. These include the Grande Marquise, Cicillo Matarazzo Pavilion, Manoel da Nóbrega Pavilion, Lucas Nogueira Garcez Pavilion, Armando de Arruda Pereira Pavilion, Palácio da Agricultural, the Monumento ŕs Bandeiras, Ibirapuera Auditorium, Obelisk of Săo Paulo and the planetarium.

Sao Paula is also a city that has an extensive collection of shopping districts containing a ton of malls. Some of the more prominent malls in the city include the Leste Aricanduva, Iguatemi, Ibirapuera, Morumbi, Eldorado, Pátio Higienópolis, Anália Franco, Bourbon and the Cidade Jardim.