Miami Origins and Name Meaning involves a lot of interesting facts which I’ll go through with you briefly. Did you know Miami is the only major city in the States that was founded by a woman? I’ll tell you all about it in this post along with a list of neighborhoods that take part in the Greater Miami.

NAME MEANING

The city of Miami takes its name from the Miami River, which in turn derives its name from Lake Mayaimi, which is now known as Lake Okeechobee about 90 miles (145 km) from downtown Miami to the northwest, close to West Palm Beach, a city that is located on the Atlantic coast.

In the language of the Mayaimi, Calusa and Tequesta tribes’ languages that have been completely extinguished nowadays, “Mayaimi” meant “big water”.

The tribe of the Tequesta, among other areas, lived at the mouth of the Miami River for thousands of years before the arrival of the Spanish colonizers.

The Archeological Excavations

In fact, in 1998, during routine excavations for a luxury apartment complex on the south side of the mouth of the Miami River, a series of holes in the limestone that attracted attention, were discovered.

After an archaeological inspection, it was revealed that they were part of a circle of 38 feet (12 meters) in diameter along with other holes. The excavation showed there was a total of 24 holes forming a perfect circle in the limestone.

The Miami Circle

The examination of the terrain revealed numerous archaeological artifacts, tools made out of seashells, axes made of stone, human teeth, and even coal. Today it is known as the Miami Circle, which seems to be the remains of a sacred place for the Tequesta tribe.

In February of 2002, the Miami Circle became part of the list in the National Registry of Historic Places and in January of 2009, it was declared a National Historic Monument.

Do you want to visit the Miami Circle and take some awesome pictures? Click here for more information.

Brief History Summary

The Female Founder

Miami is the only major city in the United States that was conceived and founded by a woman, Julia DeForest Tuttle. She was a businesswoman dedicated to her father’s business; the citrus plantations. A native of Cleveland, city of the state of Ohio, she visited once in South Florida or “The Bay Region” as it was known at that time, and was fascinated with the area.

Julia, her husband, and their two children, Frances and Henry, moved to Fort Dallas on the banks of the Miami River in 1891. Shortly after that, she became a widow. But still, continued to work on her dream of founding a city.

Henry Flagler 

Julia knew she had to fight hard to make the most important means of transportation at that time, the railroad, to reach the area to attract land buyers.

After several unsuccessful attempts to convince Henry Flagler who owned the railroad to extend the line beyond St. Augustin, in northern Florida which was the last stop; something happened.

Female Brightness

The great winter frost of 1894-1895 that devastated all the citrus plantations of the north and center of Florida seemed to conspire with her and it was then when she seized the moment and sent to Henry Flagler a box of oranges and a bouquet of orange blossoms to show him that the great frost had not done its damage in Miami, South Florida.

That was how, Mr. Flagler after several negotiations with Julia Tuttle where she had to donate some of her lands for the construction of the train station and a hotel, decides to extend the line of the Florida East Coast Railway. The train made the arrival for the first time on 22 of April of 1896.

A few months later, on July 28 of the same year, the city of Miami was founded beginning its journey to the great metropolis that is today.

The Magic City – The Capital of Latin America

Naturally, this is a condensed version of several years of history but enough to have a brief idea of its origins.

Nowadays, the little village next to the Miami River became a Great Metropolis, the one we all call “Miami” in general, is a conglomeration of different cities and towns. All of them form the Greater Miami.

What is Greater Miami?

Let’s say that Miami, the city founded by Julia Tuttle, is the mother city and around them were other cities and towns started to grow  and today they all make up The Greater Miami.

They are what in other parts of the world are called neighborhoods or boroughs, here in Miami they are self-governing cities. Each one has its own mayor, police department and budget for public expenditures.

There is also another entity that is the county, which in this case is called Miami-Dade and it unites all the cities of Greater Miami.

In turn, the county is responsible for the administration and public services of the areas that do not belong to any of the cities of Greater Miami but that still are within the limits of the county. Miami-Dade County also has its own mayor, police and budget.

The Airport

The Miami International Airport, which opened its doors in 1920 is located on county land among the cities of Miami, Miami Springs, Virginia Gardens, and Doral.

All this information is to answer the questions that visitors sometimes ask about how the city is organized, especially if they are visitors from other countries since the political division varies greatly from country to country.

Which are the Cities that Make up Greater Miami?

Some of the most renowned cities are Miami Beach, Aventura, Coral Gables, and Key Biscayne; but the Greater Miami has a total of 34 cities that in turn, several of them have their neighborhoods with their own places of historical, cultural, commercial and recreational interest.

As you can see, Miami is a kaleidoscope of picturesque areas with interests for all tastes.

For that reason, to make it real simple, from now on we will refer to the different cities and neighborhoods as areas.

However, in order to complete the information on the cities and their areas, below I included a list of the different cities with their most emblematic neighborhoods. They are listed according to the map in the picture so that you also have an idea of their location.

In another article, I will show you the points of interest of each of these areas and those that are not  recommended for those who are not familiar with the city.

Cities of The Greater Miami and Iconic Neighborhoods

24- Miami 

• Design District
• Midtown
• Wyndwood
• Downtown Miami
• Brickell
• Little Havana
• Coconut Grove

30- Pinecrest

31- Palmetto Bay

32- Cutler Bay

33- Homestead

34- Florida City

35- Islandia – (Years ago, it was a city that had 18 inhabitants by the 2010 census. It was discarded as a city and became part of the county in 2012.)

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