Indigenous People of The Everglades Region - Seminole

Seminole

Following the demise of the Calusa and Tequesta, Native Americans in southern Florida were referred to as "Spanish Indians" in the 1740s, probably due to their friendlier relations with Spain. Between the Spanish defeat in the Seven Years' War in 1763 and the end of the American War of Independence in 1783, the United Kingdom ruled Florida. The term "Seminolie" was first used by a British Indian agent in a document dated 1771. The beginnings of the tribe are vague, but records show that Creeks invaded the Florida peninsula, conquering and assimilating what was left of pre-Columbian societies into the Creek Confederacy. The mixing of cultures is evident in the language influences present among the Seminoles: various Muskogean languages, notably Hitchiti, and Creek, as well as Timucuan. In the early 19th century, a US Indian agent explained the Seminoles this way: "The word Seminole means runaway or broken off. Hence ... applicable to all the Indians in the Territory of Florida as all of them ran away ... from the Creek ... Nation". Linguistically, the term "Seminole" comes from the Creek words Sua (Sun God), ma (mother, although in this connotation it is pejorative), and ol (people) to mean "people whom the Sun God does not love", or "accursed".

Creeks, who were centered in modern-day Alabama and Georgia, were known to incorporate conquered tribes into their own. Some Africans escaping slavery from South Carolina and Georgia fled to Florida, lured by Spanish promises of freedom should they convert to Catholicism, and found their way into the tribe. Seminoles originally settled in the northern portion of the territory, but the 1823 Treaty of Moultrie Creek forced them to live on a 5-million-acre (20,000 km2) reservation north of Lake Okeechobee. They soon ranged farther south, where they numbered approximately 300 in the Everglades region, including bands of Miccosukees—a similar tribe who spoke a different language—who lived in The Big Cypress. Unlike the Calusa and Tequesta, the Seminole depended more on agriculture and raised domesticated animals. They hunted for what they ate, and traded with European-American settlers. They lived in structures called chickees, open-sided palm-thatched huts, probably adapted from the Calusa.

In 1817, Andrew Jackson invaded Florida to hasten its annexation to the United States in what became the First Seminole War. After Florida became a U.S. territory and settlement increased, conflicts between colonists and Seminoles became more frequent. The Second Seminole War (1835–1842) resulted in almost 4,000 Seminoles in Florida being displaced or killed. The Seminole Wars pushed the Indians farther south and into the Everglades. Those who did not find refuge in the Everglades were relocated to Oklahoma Indian territory under Indian Removal.

The Third Seminole War lasted from 1855 to 1859. Over its course, 20 Seminoles were killed and 240 were removed. By 1913, Seminoles in the Everglades numbered no more than 325. They made their villages in hardwood hammocks, islands of hardwood trees that formed in rivers or pine rockland forests. Seminole diets consisted of hominy and coontie roots, fish, turtles, venison, and small game. Villages were not large, due to the limited size of hammocks, which on average measured between one and 10 acres (40,000 m2). In the center of the village was a cook-house, and the largest structure was reserved for eating. When the Seminoles lived in northern Florida, they wore animal-skin clothing similar to their Creek predecessors. The heat and humidity of the Everglades influenced their adapting a different style of dress. Seminoles replaced their heavier buckskins with clothing of unique calico patchwork designs made of lighter cotton, or silk for more formal occasions.

The Seminole Wars increased the U.S. military presence in the Everglades, which resulted in the exploration and mapping of many regions that had not previously been recorded. The military officers who had done the mapping and charting of the Everglades were approached by Thomas Buckingham Smith in 1848 to consult on the feasibility of draining the region for agricultural use. Between the end of the Third Seminole War and 1930, the tribe lived in relative isolation.

The construction of the Tamiami Trail, from 1928 to 1930, a road connecting Tampa to Miami and bisecting the Everglades, brought a steady stream of white people into Seminole territory that altered traditional ways of life. The Seminole began to work in local farms, ranches, and souvenir stands. They cleared land for the town of Everglades, and were "the best fire fighters could recruit" when Everglades National Park caught fire in times of drought. As metropolitan areas in South Florida began to grow, the Seminoles became closely associated with the Everglades, simultaneously seeking privacy and serving as a tourist attraction, wrestling alligators and selling craftwork. As of 2008, there were six Seminole reservations throughout Florida; they feature casino gaming that supports the tribe.