Its official limits include Sarasota Bay and several barrier islands between the bay and the Gulf of Mexico. According to the U. The Sarasota city limits contain several islands, called keys, including Lido Key , St.
Longboat Key is the largest key separating Sarasota Bay from the Gulf of Mexico but is a separate municipality.
The city limits expanded significantly with the real estate rush of the early twentieth century, reaching almost 70 square miles km 2. The speculation boom began to crash in and the city limits began to contract, shrinking to less than a quarter of that area. The area known today as Sarasota appeared on a sheepskin Spanish map from with the word Zarazote over present-day Sarasota and Bradenton.
Around to , The Florida Mortgage and Investment Company of Edinburgh bought 60, acres for development in what is now Sarasota. Many Scottish people began to arrive in Sarasota in December Edwards became the first mayor of the city government. Sarasota has a humid subtropical climate [ 15 ] with hot, humid summers and cooler, milder winters. There are distinct rainy and dry seasons, with the rainy season lasting from March to November and the dry season from December to February.
Census Bureau , the city has a total area of The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is the name given to the many natural deep water sections as well as humanmade channels, canals, and cuts that link the entire Sarasota Bay system. As of the United States census , there were 54, people, 25, households, and 12, families residing in the city.
