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Jacksonville
Florida's most populous city, on the St. Johns River
Jacksonville sprawls across the flat coastal plain of northeastern Florida, where the broad St. Johns River bends north and east to meet the Atlantic. After the city merged with surrounding Duval County in 1968, it became the largest city by land area in the contiguous United States — a vast municipality of marsh, river, beach, and suburb covering more than 800 square miles.
The St. Johns, one of the few major rivers that flows north, runs through the heart of the city, wide and slow, lined with marshes and connected to a deep-water port. The Atlantic beaches lie to the east, and salt marsh and wetland spread in every direction across the low, flat terrain. A port, naval, and logistics center, Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida.