The name Tallahassee is a Muskogean language word translated as “old fields” or “old town”. It is believed to be an expression of the Creek people who migrated from Georgia and Alabama in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, being driven out by the new European-American’s moving in on their territory. They found large areas of cleared land previously occupied by the Apalachee tribe.

The Spanish Empire established their first colonial settlement at St. Augustine. During the 17th century they established several missions in Apalachee territory to procure food and labor to support their settlement, as well as to convert the natives to Roman Catholicism. The largest, Mission San Luis de Apalachee in Tallahassee, has been partially reconstructed by the state of Florida.

The expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez encountered the Apalachee people, although it did not reach the site of Tallahassee. Hernando de Soto and his mid-16th century expedition occupied the Apalachee town of Anhaica (at what is now Tallahassee) in the winter of 1538–39. Based on archaeological excavations, this Anhaica site is now known to have been just east of our present Tallahassee.

Tallahassee is the capital of the Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida in 1824. In 2020, the population was 196,169 making it the eighth-largest city in the state of Florida. The population of the Tallahassee metropolitan area was 385,145 as of 2018. Tallahassee is the largest city in the Florida Panhandle region, and the main center for trade and agriculture in the Florida Big Bend and Southwest Georgia regions.