Miccosukee

Miccosukee

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida are a federally recognized Native American tribe in the U.S. state of Florida. They were part of the Seminole nation until the mid-20th century, when they organized as an independent tribe, receiving federal recognition in 1962. The Miccosukee speak the Mikasuki language, a close relative to the Hitchiti language also spoken by many Florida Seminole.

Historically, the Miccosukee trace their origins to the Lower Chiaha, one of the tribes of the Creek Confederacy in present-day Georgia. Under pressure from European encroachment in their territory, they migrated to northern Florida in the early 18th century, where they became part of the developing Seminole nation. By the late 18th century, the British recorded the name Miccosukee or Mikasuki as designating a Hitchiti-speaking group centered around the village of Miccosukee in the Florida Panhandle. Like other Seminole groups, they were displaced during the Seminole Wars (1817–1858), and many migrated or were forced to relocate west of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory in 1842, after the Seminole Wars. The Miccosukee chief Ar-pi-uck-i, also known as Sam Jones, proved an effective leader during the Second Seminole War.

In the 1920s and 1930s, many Seminole established communities along the recently constructed Tamiami Trail, a roadway that ran through the Everglades and connected the cities of Tampa and Miami. The Trail Indians, as they were called, generally kept more traditional practices. They were less interested in establishing formal relations with the federal government than those Seminole who started moving to reservations around the same time. When reservation Seminole organized a tribal government, which was recognized as the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the Trail Indians felt disfranchised. They established an independent tribal government, the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida, which received state recognition in 1957 and federal recognition in 1962.