city, transportation and business hub of southeastern Florida, U.S., and seat (1844) of Miami-Dade county. It is a leading resort and Atlantic Ocean port situated on Biscayne Bay at the mouth of the Miami River. The Everglades area is a short distance to the west. Greater Miami, the state's largest urban concentration, comprises all the county, which includes Miami Beach (across the bay), Coral Gables, Hialeah, North Miami, and many smaller municipalities; together these make up the southern section of Florida's “Gold Coast.” Area city, 35 square miles (91 square km). Pop. (2000) city, 362,470; Miami–Miami Beach–Kendall MD, 2,253,362; Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Miami Beach MSA, 5,007,564; (2005 est.) city, 361,701; (2006 est.) Miami–Miami Beach–Kendall MD, 2,402,208; Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Miami Beach MSA, 5,463,857.

During the Florida land boom in the early and mid-1920s, the city's population more than tripled, but the collapse of this speculation, compounded by a devastating hurricane in 1926, dampened Miami's fortunes for more than a decade. Miami Beach underwent a brief construction boom in the mid-1930s, when many Art Deco buildings were erected, but this came to an end when, during World War II, soldiers replaced tourists at the oceanfront hotels, and long stretches of beach were converted to rifle ranges. After the war, many soldiers returned to the Miami area to live, and in the 1950s and '60s Latin American immigrants, particularly those from Cuba, began to arrive in large numbers. During the 1980s Miami gained a reputation as a centre of the illegal drug trade, and several acts of violence were directed against foreign tourists in the early 1990s; however, by the end of the 20th century tourism was rebounding. In 1992 Hurricane Andrew caused some 50 deaths and considerable property damage to areas of the county just south of Miami, although the city itself was largely spared.

The downtown skyline of Miami now features a contemporary look, with a large collection of gleaming, glass-walled skyscrapers accented with neon lighting at night. The city's close relationship to Latin America is especially well represented in its ethnic neighbourhoods. Several hundred thousand Cuban refugees have settled in the area since 1959, and the Little Havana district, just west of downtown, has developed as a largely Cuban enclave within the city. Its annual Calle Ocho festival (March; part of the Carnaval Miami celebration) draws large crowds of visitors. Little Haiti, to the north of downtown, developed as a primarily Haitian neighbourhood after refugees began arriving in the city in the 1990s.

Metropolitan Miami has many institutions of higher education, including the University of Miami (Miami, University of) (1925) in Coral Gables, Barry University (1940) in Miami Shores, St. Thomas University (1961), Florida Memorial College (1879), International Fine Arts College (1965), Miami-Dade Community College (1960), and Florida International University (1972), site of the National Hurricane Center operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Jackson Memorial Hospital is the heart of a complex of medical services. The city also is a world leader in marine study. Located there are the famed University of Miami-affiliated Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and oceanographic laboratories of NOAA.