Jacksonville is the most populous city in the state of Florida and the thirteenth most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Duval County.^GR6 Since 1968, the city has shared a consolidated government with the county, making it the largest city in land area in the contiguous United States and the eleventh largest in the world. As of 2006, the city proper had an estimated population of 831,338, with a metropolitan population of more than 1.3 million.

Jacksonville is located in the First Coast region of northeast Florida. The city is situated on the banks of the St. Johns River, which flows north and empties into the Atlantic Ocean about 20 miles east of downtown. The settlement that became Jacksonville was founded in 1791 as Cowford due to its location at a narrow point in the river where cattle were once driven across. The city was renamed in 1822 for Andrew Jackson, the first military governor of the Florida Territory and eventual seventh President of the United States.