Hillsborough County, Administrative county in Tampa Bay Area, Florida, United States
Hillsborough County is an administrative unit in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida that covers several cities along with coastal strips and inland zones. The landscape shifts between waterfront areas along the Gulf of Mexico, flat residential districts and rural patches with farms and open pastures.
Authorities carved out the administrative area in January 1834 from parts of two older territories when Florida was still an American territory. The boundaries stayed largely unchanged while the form of government later adjusted several times.
The name comes from Wills Hill, an 18th-century British politician who never visited the area. Today families of different backgrounds live in neighborhoods between the coast and inland zones, where Spanish-speaking and English-speaking communities meet in schools and parks.
Visitors can choose between urban centers with shops and restaurants or quieter suburbs and rural areas. Public facilities such as libraries and parks are spread across the entire territory and are usually open during the day.
The administration switched to a charter form in 1983 when voters first elected commissioners in 1985. Since then elected representatives and a manager share responsibilities in running the territory.
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