TAMPA

city, seat (1846) of Hillsborough county, west central Florida, U.S., port of entry on Tampa Bay at the mouth of the Hillsborough River, connected to St. Petersburg and Clearwater (southwest and west) across the bay's western arm (Old Tampa Bay) by the Gandy and Howard Frankland bridges and the Courtney Campbell Causeway. Settlement of Tampa began with Fort Brooke, established (1824) to oversee the removal of Seminole Indians. During the U.S. Civil War, the Confederates yielded the fort after bombardment by Union gunboats. Henry B. Plant's South Florida Railroad arrived in 1885 and stimulated new industry. Plant developed the port extensively and promoted tourism. Cigar manufacturing was introduced in 1886 by Vincente M. Ybor, and cigars are still made in Ybor City, Tampa's Latin quarter. Tampa was the embarkation point (1898) for Colonel Theodore Roosevelt's Cuba-bound troops. In the 1920s the man-made Davis Islands were created offshore for real estate development. Citrus and phosphates (early economic factors) account for much of the port traffic. Tampa now has a wide range of industries and is a major distribution centre. The Gasparilla festival, a February event highlighted by a pirate invasion of the old port city, and Busch Gardens, including a zoo with an African setting, which features daily shows by rare tropical birds, are popular tourist attractions. Tampa is also the home of a National Football League team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The city is the seat of Hillsborough Community College (1968), the University of South Florida (1956), Tampa College (1890), and the University of Tampa (1931). The MacDill Air Force Base is nearby. Inc. 1855. Pop. (1990) city, 280,015; TampaSt. PetersburgClearwater MSA, 2,067,959.