Orange County (Florida)

Orange County is a county in the state of Florida, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,145,956, making it Florida's fifth-most populous county. The county seat is Orlando.Orange County is the central county Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.HistoryThe land that is Orange County was part of the first land to emerge from below the Early Oligocene sea 33.9 - 28.4 million years ago and is known as Orange Island. Orange County's Rock Spring location is a Pleistocene fossil bearing area and has yielded a vast variety of birds and mammals including giant sloth, mammoth, camel, and the dire wolf dating around 1.1 million years ago.In 1821, two counties formed Florida: Escambia to the west and St. Johns to the east. In 1824, the area to the south of St. Johns County became Mosquito County, and Enterprise was named the county seat. This massive county took up much of central Florida. Mosquito County was renamed Orange County in 1845 when Florida became a state. Several counties, such as Osceola, Seminole, Lake, and Volusia were carved out of Orange County.