Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida. The city is best known for its white sandy beaches and many golf courses. Naples is the " Golf Capital of the World ", as it has the most golf courses of any city in Florida. For thousands of years before European colonization, the Calusa indigenous people lived in Florida, including the area of present-day Naples, from Charlotte Harbor to Cape Sable. The Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León explored the region in 1513 and met the Calusa, who resisted de León's attempts to establish a Spanish colony in Florida. This sparked a conflict between the Spanish and the Calusa people that lasted for nearly two hundred years. Following raids by Muscogee and Yamasee slave raiders allied with European settlers in the Carolinas in the early 18th century, the rest of the remaining Calusa population moved south and east to flee the raids. Naples was founded in 1886 by former Confederate general and Kentucky state senator John Stuart Williams and his partner, Louisville businessman Walter N. Haldeman, publisher of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Magazine and newspaper stories in the 1870s and 1880s spoke of the mild climate and rich fish stocks, comparing it to the sunny Italian peninsula. Naples' economy is largely based on tourism, and its closeness to the Everglades and the Ten Thousand Islands makes it a favorite among eco-tourists. The Naples area has several significant nature reserves, among them Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge and Picayune Strand State Forest.