Everglades - Origin of The Word

Origin of The Word

The first written record of the Everglades was on Spanish maps made by cartographers who had not seen the land. They named the unknown area between the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of Florida Laguna del Espíritu Santo ("Lake of the Holy Spirit"). The area appeared on maps for decades without being explored. Writer John Grant Forbes stated in 1811, "The Indians represent as impenetrable; and the surveyors, wreckers, and coasters, had not the means of exploring beyond the borders of the sea coast, and the mouths of rivers".

British surveyor John Gerard de Brahm, who mapped the coast of Florida in 1773, called the area "River Glades". Both Marjory Stoneman Douglas and linguist Wallace McMullen suggest that cartographers substituted "Ever" for "River". The name "Everglades" first appeared on a map in 1823, although it was also spelled as "Ever Glades" as late as 1851. The Seminoles call it Pa-hay-okee, meaning "Grassy Water", and the region was labeled "Pa-hai-okee" on an American military map in 1839, although it appeared as "Ever Glades" throughout the Second Seminole War.