It
is thought that the first human occupants of South
Florida were the Calusa, a resilient and highly
structured society that established communities on the
barrier islands of the Gulf Coast, particularly on Pine,
Marco, Sanibel, and Captiva. They also built an inland
community, called Mayaimi, located at the edge of Lake
Okeechobee, largely as a trading center for interaction
with the Tekesta who lived along the Atlantic Coast. The
Calusa were the southernmost tribe of natives living
along the peninsula's western shores.
Other
cultures included the Apalachee of the northern
Panhandle. The Timuca, a confederation of as many as 15
separate groups, lived on the northern section of the
peninsula. On the western shore were the Osochi, Utina,
Ocale, Freshwater, and Yustaga. The Tocobaga occupied
territory around Tampa Bay. The Timuca shared the
coastline south of Tampa Bay with the Calusa. Other
tribes occupied the southeastern coastal regions.
Finding
their way to South Florida some five-to-six thousand
years ago, the Calusa were about 20,000 strong when Ponce
de Leon arrived from Spain in 1513 and claimed (and
named) La Florida. They were more sophisticated in their
culture and structured society than the other native
groups, establishing permanent towns and living by means
other than agriculture. This was a strong, often
ferocious nation which exercised power over neighboring
tribes, particularly the groups that occupied the Lake
Okeechobee and Atlantic Coast regions to the east.
The
Calusa and other native groups traveled along the Gulf
Coast and to the Caribbean islands in huge dugout craft,
made of cypress. These boats held as many as forty men,
carrying trade goods, plants, animals, and tools for
building their unique community structures. While the
northern groups lived in enclosed structures, the Calusa
built chickees, open-sided buildings perched on stilts
above the land or water, protecting the communities from
high tides and flooding by torrential rainfall. Chickees
had no walls, permitting breezes to flow through, as a
mosquito and gnat prevention measure.
Like
the other groups, the Calusa celebrated during feast
periods with elaborate ceremonies and much dancing.
Artisans carved clan masks denoting the spirits of birds
and animals, including wolves, deer, cats, turtles, and
bears, among others. Finely detailed and highly colored
cypress figurines were carved, representing animals and
half-animal, half-human totemic creatures. Wooden and
sandstone plaques were carved, with images of animals,
birds, insects, and human body parts. From looking at
these remarkable pieces of art, one can grasp the intense
relationship with Nature shared by the Calusa. Artifacts
from the pre-Spanish period are found in several museums
in southwestern Florida, including the Museum of the
Islands in Bokeelia on Pine Island.
Decline
of the Calusa
Throughout
recent history, beginning with Ponce de Leon's first
visit in 1513, the native peoples of the Florida
peninsula were in almost constant conflict with the
newcomers: European and American colonists; Spanish
conquistadors; English and Spanish pirates; land-based
thugs and profiteering slave traders; and Jesuit
missionaries, who subjugated the South Florida natives as
virtual slaves on work farms; all came into conflict with
the Timucua and Calusa, as they proclaimed their
divinely-given right to preside over the natives with
absolute authority. With the Europeans came physical
abuse, plus diseases formerly unknown to the native
groups. During the seventeenth century, the native
population was almost totally decimated by typhus,
measles, yellow fever, and smallpox.
When
de Leon arrived, Florida natives numbered more than
100,000. In less than 20 years, the total native
population had fallen to less than 11,000, and most of
those lived in the northern part of the peninsula, as
members of the Creek Federation. By the time the
pestilences, Indian wars, and deportation of natives to
reservations in Arkansas were over, there were no more
than 70 Calusa remaining in their Everglades sanctuary:
less than 1.5 percent of the number of Calusa living in
southern Florida when the Spaniards began colonization.
Soon there were none.
The
saga of the Florida native peoples is appallingly similar
to the story of the changes made to the landscape of
South Florida by colonizers and developers. The Creeks
and Calusa were "reclaimed" in order that their lands be
used for settlement and development purposes by the
conquerors. In this case of human reclamation, death and
deportation was the outcome.
Following
the final truce in the war between the United States and
the Florida native people, the remaining members of the
formerly independent groups of the Central Florida Creek
Federation were merged by the white conquerors into one
tribal group, becoming known as Seminoles. Two Seminole
reservations are located north of Interstate 75 in the
Big Cypress Swamp. In pre-Spanish days, the South Florida
native people occupied and farmed the most productive
land in the state. Their current home is the least
productive.
The
Miccosukee -- Lower Creeks who were originally known as
Mikasuki, speaking the Hitichi language -- were given
tribal status in 1962 following an international
campaign. The fight for recognition embarrassingly (not
to the Miccosukee) involved Fidel Castro, who among other
international leaders recognized their nationhood. The
Miccosuckee occupy a reservation straddling Interstate
75, with a small tribal headquarters area along the
Tamiami Trail (Highway 41), next to Everglades National
Park.
Whether
there is Calusa blood in any Seminole or Miccosuckee is
not known. What we do know is that once there were more
than 5,000 productive Calusa, living their lives in their
own highly developed communities in Southwestern Florida.
Today, their culture is embodied in a few fragments of
masks, figurines, and sandstone plaques, displayed in
museums, and their former towns are remembered by the
remains of community mounds and raised middens on barrier
islands, and hammocks in the Everglades and Big Cypress
Swamp with the chickee their sole lasting material
contribution to American society.
For
our tour of Southwest Florida attractions
click on the hand, or go to the individual
chapters.
The
Calusa
