[8] It is a recognized regional center for scientific research, and home to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

During the 17th century they established several missions in Apalachee territory to procure food and labor to support their settlement, as well as to convert the natives to Roman Catholicism.

Based on archaeological excavations, this Anhaica site is now known to have been about 0.5 miles (800 m) east of the present Florida State Capitol.

[13] It was likely an expression of the Creek people who migrated from Georgia and Alabama to this region in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, under pressure from European-American encroachment on their territory.

)[citation needed] During the First Seminole War, General Andrew Jackson fought two separate skirmishes in and around Tallahassee, which was then Spanish territory.

According to Jackson's adjutant, Colonel Robert Butler, they "advanced on the Indian village called Tallahasse (sic) [where] two of the enemy were made prisoner.

The Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolution, returned to the United States in 1824 for a tour.

[17] During the American Civil War, Tallahassee was the only Confederate state capital east of the Mississippi River not captured by Union forces, and the only one not burned.

A small engagement, the Battle of Natural Bridge, was fought south of the city on March 6, 1865, just a month before the war ended.

The legislature decided Tallahassee was the best location in Florida for a college serving African-American students; the state had segregated schools.

The end of slavery and the rise of free labor reduced the profitability of the cotton and tobacco trade, at a time when world markets were also changing.

The state's major industries shifted to citrus, lumber, naval stores, cattle ranching, and tourism.

In the post-Civil War period, many former plantations in the Tallahassee area were purchased by wealthy northerners for use as winter hunting preserves.

This included the hunting preserve of Henry L. Beadel, who bequeathed his land for the study of the effects of fire on wildlife habitat.

Until World War II, Tallahassee remained a small Southern town with virtually the entire population living within one mile (1.6 km) of the Capitol.

[citation needed] The main economic drivers were the colleges and state government, where politicians met to discuss spending money on grand public improvement projects to accommodate growth in places such as Miami and Tampa Bay, hundreds of miles away from the capital.

On May 26, 1956, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, two Florida A&M University students, were arrested by the Tallahassee Police Department for "placing themselves in a position to incite a riot".

On January 7, 1957, the City Commission repealed the bus-franchise segregation clause because of the United States Supreme Court ruling Browder v. Gayle (1956).

[24] Tallahassee's terrain is hilly by Florida standards, being at the southern end of the Red Hills Region, just above the Cody Scarp.

[citation needed] The Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department implements policies aimed at promoting compact growth and development, including the establishment and maintenance of an Urban Service Area.

"[28] Tallahassee has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa), with long, tropical summers and short, mild winters, as well as warm to hot, drier springs and autumns.

Historically, snow flurries are recorded every three to four years, but measurable snowfall of 0.1 inches (0.3 cm) or more has only happened once in the 1991–2020 time period.

Hurricane Michael passed 50 miles (80 km) to the west after making landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida in October 2018 as a Category 5 storm, resulting in 95% of Leon County being without power.

The Big Bend area of North Florida sees several tornadoes each year during the season, but they are generally weak, cause little structural damage, and rarely hit the city.

[55] Tallahassee has traditionally been a Democratic city, but the party has been supported by different ethnic groups over time, with a major shift in the late 20th century.

But until the late 1960s, most African Americans were disenfranchised from the political system, dating from Jim Crow laws passed by Democrats in Florida (and in all other Southern states) at the turn of the century.

[citation needed] This is likely due to the fact that Tallahassee and Leon County have the highest level of college graduates in the state.

Florida State University is home to nationally ranked programs in many academic areas, including law, business, engineering, medicine, social policy, film, music, theater, dance, visual art, political science, psychology, social work, and the sciences.

[92][93][94] FSU's intercollegiate sports teams, commonly known by their Florida State Seminoles nickname, compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

FAMU's main campus comprises 156 buildings spread over 422 acres (1.7 km2) atop the highest geographic hill in Tallahassee.