Miami or the ‘Gateway to the Americas’ is the city in the heart of the South Florida metropolitan area and holds a population of nearly 5,500,000 million in just 35.68 square miles. This ranks Miami in the top 10 largest cities in the United States. Miami suburbs stretch from the Florida Everglades to the west and Biscayne Bay to the east that also extends from Florida Bay north to Lake Okeechobee.

In 1566 Miami was claimed for Spain by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later in 1567. The ‘Mother of Miami’ Julia Tuttle was the women behind the city making it "the only major city in the United States conceived by a woman’. Julia was a local citrus grower and a wealthy Cleveland native and after the Great Freeze of 1894–1895, when only crops in Miami survived, Julia convinced Henry Flagler, a railroad tycoon, to expand his Florida East Coast Railroad to the Miami. For this she got her name as mother of the city, which became so in 1896 with a population of just over 300.

Miami has been thriving ever since in business commerce and infrastructure. The Port of Miami is the now busiest cruise ship passenger port in the world. Many of the world biggest brands have their headquarters in Miami Bacardi, Burger King, Perry Ellis International, RCTV International, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Ryder Systems and many more. Miami is also the base for over 1400 multinational headquarters for the Latin America divisions of American Airlines, Disney, FedEx, Microsoft, Sony, Visa International, and Wal-Mart to name a few.In the last ten years building has been priority in the city with more than 50 skyscrapers being built rising over 400 feet, making Miami’s skyline one to be envied like New York and Chicago.

Miami shores are where most things happen for the city of Miami. Biscayne Bay, which contains hundreds of natural and artificial barrier islands.  Two of the largest of these islands are Miami Beach and South Beach. Miami’s climate is warm all year round as a result of the Gulf Stream running northward just 15 miles (24 km) off the coast. 

Popular culture sees Miami filled with all elements of entertainment, music, fashion, film, theatre, museums and performing arts centers. South Beach is a haven of Art Deco and culture. Recently the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts was opened and is the second-largest performing arts center in the United States. The Grand Opera has its home here also.

The Majority of the museums are found in Downtown Miami such as the Bass Museum, Frost Art Museum, Historical Museum of Southern Florida, Jewish Museum of Florida, Lowe Art Museum, Miami Art Museum, Miami Children's Museum, Miami Science Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Wolfsonian-FIU Museum and the Miami Cultural Center. The ‘Olympics of Art’ exhibition held every December is the world’s largest art exhibition and brings thousands of visitors each year to admire.

Miami is home to some of the world’s top modeling agents and city embraces fashion at ever turn. Miami Fashion Week and the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week are major fashion events in the year and are held Miami held at the Wynwood Art District.

Numerous popular television shows have been set in Miami, such as Nip/Tuck, CBS's CSI: Miami, Dexter, The Golden Girls, Miami Vice and reality show Miami Ink. The video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which became one of the best selling video games in history was set in Miami along with movies such as There's Something About Mary, Marley & Me, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Bad Boys, The Birdcage, Blow, True Lies, Police Academy 5, The Bodyguard, and the James Bond films Goldfinger, Thunderball, Casino Royale.