The Everglades have a special
place in the history of indigenous people of our land. Not too long
ago, disregard for pretty much everything but expansionist interests
by America nearly wiped out dozens of American Indian tribes, including
Florida's. Looking back before Florida statehood, it seems today’s
South Florida’s tribe-members are descended from more northern
tribes, primarily the Creek. They survived war and vigorous settlement
of Europeans through creative dealings with three colonist powers (which
surrounded them, actually) and the cover of the Everglades to become
today’s Seminoles and Miccosukees.
Many foolhardy practices were used to take control
of Florida in the 1800s, deeply affecting its longtime native peoples.
The indigenous tribes can be traced back at least 12,000 years on American
lands. The U.S. softened its ways with American Indians 115 years ago,
primarily for economic reasons: fighting the American Indians was expensive!
12,000 years of freedom threatened
For a time, you could say, the endangered species
in the Everglades weren’t limited to the flora and fauna. For
a time before active interest in the region, some were members of the
human species, hiding out in the swamps of the Everglades. (The threats
against flora and fauna today are even somewhat of a metaphor for the
threats against these “runaways” of generations past. See
if you can perceive some similarities.)
You should know from American History lessons
that America’s indigenous tribes were pushed farther and farther
into oblivion for hundreds of years by fighting with conquerors, colonists,
settlers, U.S. military action and relocation. They were also killed
off by diseases that were introduced to America by the mere presence
of Europeans. The native tribes simply had no natural immunity to ailments
that had persisted for generations on another continent, the Old World
people generally having built up an immunity to them. What you may not
know is that during the 1800s, north Florida became the new home –
the last “free” ground – for northern tribes escaping
military assaults and encroaching settlements of Europeans colonists.
This “freedom” didn’t last long, as U.S. interests
in Florida grew.
Eventually, the remoteness of the Everglades
became the hiding place for a small group of what we know today as Seminoles
and Miccosukees, after three wars against the U.S.
Only around 300 Seminole and Miccosukee managed
to avoid relocation or death by heading into the Everglades, after the
third (and last) so-named Seminole War ended in 1858. This, after running
up a $20 million military bill for the U.S. (in 1800s dollars, mind
you). They were not heard from by outsiders until, looking to trade,
some visited tiny U.S. settlements in Fort Lauderdale and other places
20 years later. The others, 3,000 of them, were removed from Florida
to make way for U.S. settlers.
Many centuries before that, and throughout the
ensuing years, a Miccosukee tribe existed as part of the Creek Nation.
They first came to Florida from Georgia in the 1700s, enticed by the
Spanish colonists to take over lands once held by indigenous tribes.
The Spanish were primarily interested in having a Miccosukee buffer
zone between themselves and the English. They are one of the two U.S.
recognized (formally) Florida tribes.
It took 100 years after the last war for the
Seminoles to be officially recognized as the Seminole Tribe of Florida,
granted certain rights that recognized them as a separate government
and people within the U.S. The official treaty and the constitution
of the Seminoles was recognized by the U.S. in 1957. In 1970, the Seminoles
of Florida and Oklahoma were given more than $12,000,000 from the Indian
Claims Commission of the U.S. for the land that was taken from them
by the military. Among the tribes in the Seminole heritage are: Creeks,
Yuchis and Yamasses; local tribes Calusa, Tequesta and Mayaimi; and
possibly others. Notably, in the 1800s and perhaps earlier, they also
accepted runaway slaves into the tribe.
Other Florida tribes are the Upper Muskogee and
Lower Muskogee Creek tribes. Also, there’s the Miccosukee Seminole
Tribe, which is a bit radical, politically. It rejects the sovereignty
of other American Indian tribes, and claims to be the only truly sovereign
nation in North America, and defiantly claims all of Florida as theirs
(or at least, in the recent past they had). These are only some of the
tribes that exist in the U.S. today, among hundreds.
This column is a mere snapshot of an extraordinarily
diverse history; I would sooner be fired from a cannon at the front
of the Seminole Hard Rock Café than claim to know a lot about
American Indian history. But, you can learn much more about it with
the suggestions here. Try a library, visit the Miccosukee or Seminole
tribes' museums, to learn more about the past and present of Florida's
indigenous peoples.
Some websites to visit to learn more about the
Everglades and its indigenous peoples: Seminoles, at http://seminoletribe.com;
the Miccosukee Tribe, at http://miccosukeeresort.com;
the National Park Service Everglades section, at http://nps.gov/ever/
and NPS's Everglades archaeology area, at http://www.nps.gov/ever/eco/archeol.htm;
South Florida Historical Museum, at http://historical-museum.org;
U.S. Geological Survey, at http://sofia.usgs.gov;
the Florida Museum of Natural History's South Florida archaeology section,
at http://flmnh.ufl.edu/sflarch/;
the Florida Office of Cultural and Historical Progams, at http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/facts/history/seminole/.
"Gator" Wade is a
freelance writer and adventurer with interests in wildlife, history
and dangerous pursuits.
He is currently based in South Florida.