Archipelago of ~1,700 islands, four sub-regions
The Keys arc 200 miles southwest from the Florida mainland into the Gulf of Mexico–Atlantic boundary, divided into Upper Keys (Key Largo, Tavernier), Middle Keys (Islamorada, Marathon), Lower Keys (Big Pine, key deer territory), and Key West at the terminus. Roughly 1,700 islands and keys total — only about 30 are inhabited. Each sub-region has a distinct character: Key Largo is dive-shop and reef-charter; Islamorada is sportfishing capital; Marathon is mid-Keys workhorse with the bay-side flats; Key West is the cultural and tourist anchor.
Calusa, Tequesta, and the colonial relay
Before European contact the Keys were home to the Calusa in the southwest and Tequesta in the upper Keys — sophisticated maritime peoples whose populations were largely destroyed by European disease, slaving raids, and warfare through the 1700s. Spanish colonial control began 1565, passed to Britain 1763, returned to Spain 1783, and finally to the United States in 1821 with the Adams–Onís Treaty. The shifting flags left a layered place-name record (Cayo Hueso — "bone key" — became Key West) but very little continuity of indigenous community on the islands themselves.
Conch identity — Bahamian-American fishing heritage
The local nickname "Conch" (pronounced "konk") refers to descendants of Bahamian-American settlers who arrived in the 1800s as wreckers, spongers, and fishermen. The Conch community brought Loyalist-Bahamian architecture, the Junkanoo musical tradition, and the seafood-forward cooking that still defines Keys food. Cuban exiles arriving after the 1959 revolution layered Cuban-American culture into Key West — visible in the cigar industry's historical roots, café con leche stops, and the ongoing Cuban-American demographic presence. "Conch" is now used loosely as a local identity marker for anyone born in or deeply rooted to the Keys.
Conch Republic — the 1982 micronation moment
On April 23, 1982 the U.S. Border Patrol set up a roadblock on US-1 just north of Key Largo to check vehicles for drugs and undocumented migrants. The blockade collapsed Keys tourism overnight. In response the Key West city council declared independence as the "Conch Republic," ceremonially seceded from the United States, declared war (with stale Cuban bread), surrendered after one minute, and applied for foreign aid. The roadblock came down. The Conch Republic is now a tongue-in-cheek but genuinely held local identity — flags fly across Key West, Independence Day is celebrated annually April 23, and the motto "We Seceded Where Others Failed" is everywhere.