Florida Native Peoples

Traces the history and culture of various Native American tribes in Florida, addressing such topics as mounds and other archeological remains, languages, reservations, wars, and European encroachment.

"An exceptional book for popular consumption. . . . It is a wonderful synthesis, and will be avidly read by both professional archaeologists and the general public."--Marvin T. Smith, Valdosta State University Florida's Indians tells the story of the native societies that have lived in Florida for twelve millennia, from the early hunters at the end of the Ice Age to the modern Seminole, Miccosukee, and Creeks. When the first Indians arrived in what is now Florida, they wrested their livelihood from a land far different from the modern countryside, one that was cooler, drier, and almost twice the size. Thousands of years later European explorers encountered literally hundreds of different Indian groups living in every part of the state. (Today every Florida county contains an Indian archaeological site.) The arrival of colonists brought the native peoples a new world and great changes took place--by the mid-1700s, through warfare, slave raids, and especially epidemics, the population was almost annihilated. Other Indians soon moved into the state, including Creeks from Georgia and Alabama, who were the ancestors of the modern Seminole and Miccosukee Indians. Written for a general audience, this book is lavishly illustrated with full-color drawings and photographs. It skillfully integrates the latest archaeological and historical information about the Sunshine State's Native Americans, connecting the past and present with modern place-names, and it gives a proud voice to Florida's rich Indian heritage. Jerald T. Milanich, curator in archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, is the author of Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe (UPF, 1995) and Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida (UPF, 1994), among numerous other books.

"With this latest book, historian John Hann has completed his remarkable trifecta on Florida's Indians, adding South Florida to his previous UPF volumes on the Apalachees and Timucuans. Hann deftly weaves a diverse range of Spanish documentary sources into a comprehensive overview of the nonagricultural peoples of the southern Florida peninsula, providing readers with a wealth of much-needed information in a single volume. This book will instantly become required reading for anyone studying South Florida's indigenous peoples."--John Worth, Florida Museum of Natural History "Finally, a concise, authoritative, and exhaustively researched ethnohistorical synthesis of the native peoples of South Florida. This book presents important documentation on the culture, religion, and political organization of the aboriginal peoples of South Florida, including some of the most politically complex groups in all of North America. . . . A marvelous exposé of Florida's lost natives and how they lived and interacted with each other and the Spanish, ultimately leading to their demise and extinction."--Randolph J. Widmer, University of Houston John Hann, a preeminent authority and prize-winning author of books on Florida's native peoples, offers here the first survey available of Indians of the peninsula south of Timucua and Apalachee territory, from their earliest contact with Europeans to their disappearance in the 18th century. The book will have broad appeal for residents of South Florida interested in learning about the Indians and colonial history of the areas in which they live and will be of specific interest to historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists. Hann discusses the peoples who occupied an area south of a line drawn roughly from the mouth of the Withlacoochee River eastward to Turtle Mound, located a little north of Cape Canaveral. He focuses on the Calusa of the southwest coast, the people of the Tampa Bay region, and the Surruque and Ais and their kin of the east coast from Turtle Mound southward through the Keys, as well as their hinterland kin from the St. Johns through the Kissimmee valleys. Using original unpublished sources that are virtually unknown to most anthropologists and archaeologists, Hann examines documents from the first periods of contact in North America. He also analyzes archaeological investigations from the last quarter century, particularly those involving the Calusa and the Tequesta living at the mouth of the Miami River. Common features among these people, he concludes, are the almost total absence of agriculture in their lives and their slight, episodic contact with Spaniards. Hann offers new insights on subjects such as the marriages and political alliances of chiefs, and his topics range from beverages and household utensils to ceremonial items, musical instruments, and fishing techniques and tools. He also presents an unparalleled compilation of information on indigenous Native American belief systems. This important work will be significant for understanding aboriginal culture not only of Florida but North America in general. John H. Hann, historian at the San Luis Archaeological and Historic Site in Tallahassee, is a member of the Florida Department of State, Bureau of Archaeological Research. He is the author, coauthor, or translator of many books on the native peoples of Florida, including The Apalachee Indians and Mission San Luis (with Bonnie McEwan, UPF, 1998) and Hernando de Soto among the Apalachee: The Archaeology of the First Winter Encampment (with Charles R. Ewen, UPF, 1998).

Describes the history and culture of the native peoples of Florida, including the Timucua, Calusa, and Apalachee.

When the conquistadors arrived in Florida as many as 350,000 native Americans lived there. Two and a half centuries later, Florida's Indians were gone. This text focuses on these native peoples and their lives, and attempts to explain what happened to them.

Examines the history and culture of Florida's Seminole and Miccosukee Indians, and discusses how the tribes have managed to withstand historical challenges and survive in the modern world.

This is the first book-length study to use Spanish language sources in documenting the original Indian inhabitants of West Florida who, from the late 16th century to the 1740s, lived to the west and the north of the Apalachee. Previous authors who studied the forebears of Creeks and Seminoles from the Chattahoochee Valley have relied exclusively on English sources dating from the second half of the 18th century, with the exception of John R. Swanton, who had limited access to Spanish records for his classic works from 1922 to 1946. In this history of the region's Native Americans, Hann focuses on the small tribes of West Florida--Amacano, Chine, Chacato, Chisca and Pansacola--and their first contacts with Spanish explorers, colonists, and missionaries. He also gives significant perspective to the forebears of the Lower Creeks, with an emphasis on the late 17th century, when Spanish documents recorded the important events of the interior regions of the Southeast. As Hann's fifth study of Florida natives, this book includes chapters on the Yamasee War and its aftermath and the early 18th-century dissolution of many societies and withdrawal of Spaniards from the region. This volume will be of great interest to archaeologists working in the Lower Southeast, historians and ethnohistorians specializing in Native American or Spanish colonial history, Latin American and Caribbean scholars concerned with Spanish colonial contexts, and anyone interested in Native Americans or Florida history.

“Portrays the vitality and dynamism of indigenous actors in what is arguably one of the most foundational and central zones in the making of modern world history: the Caribbean.”—Maximilian C. Forte, author of Ruins of Absence, Presence of Caribs “Brings together historical analysis and the compelling stories of individuals and families that labored in the island economies of the Caribbean.”—Cynthia Radding, coeditor of Borderlands in World History, 1700–1914 During the colonial period, thousands of North American native peoples traveled to Cuba independently as traders, diplomats, missionary candidates, immigrants, or refugees; others were forcibly transported as captives, slaves, indentured laborers, or prisoners of war. Over the half millennium after Spanish contact, Cuba also served as the principal destination and residence of peoples as diverse as the Yucatec Mayas of Mexico; the Calusa, Timucua, Creek, and Seminole peoples of Florida; and the Apache and Puebloan cultures of the northern provinces of New Spain. Many settled in pueblos or villages in Cuba that endured and evolved into the nineteenth century as urban centers, later populated by indigenous and immigrant Amerindian descendants and even their mestizo, or mixed-blood, progeny. In this first comprehensive history of the Amerindian diaspora in Cuba, Jason Yaremko presents the dynamics of indigenous movements and migrations from several regions of North America from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. In addition to detailing the various motives influencing aboriginal migratory processes, Yaremko uses these case studies to argue that Amerindians—whether voluntary or involuntary migrants—become diasporic through common experiences of dispossession, displacement, and alienation within Cuban colonial society. Yet, far from being merely passive victims acted upon, he argues that indigenous peoples were cognizant agents still capable of exercising power and influence to act in the interests of their communities. His narrative of their multifaceted and dynamic experiences of survival, adaptation, resistance, and negotiation within Cuban colonial society adds deeply to the history of transculturation in Cuba, and to our understanding of indigenous peoples, migration, and diaspora in the wider Caribbean world.

"Outstanding. . . . Brings to life the Apalachee and their Spanish conquerors. In clear, concise prose it paints a picture of the Apalachee and their society and shows how their interactions with Spanish explorers, missionaries, and colonists shaped the history of their society."--John F. Scarry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The Apalachee Indians of northwest Florida and their Spanish conquerors come alive in this story -- lavishly illustrated with 120 color reproductions -- story of their premier community, San Luis. With a cast of characters that includes friars, soldiers, civilians, a Spanish governor, and a diverse native population, the book portrays the dwellings, daily life, religious practices, social structures, and recreation activities at the mission. From their prehistoric ancestors and first contact with Europeans in the 1500s to their dispersal following attacks by the English and by their Native American allies in the early 1700s, the Apalachee played important roles in the history of Florida and of native peoples throughout the Southeast. The San Luis community near Tallahassee, the most thoroughly investigated mission in Florida, served as Spain's provincial capital in America. From 1656 to its conquest by the English, it flourished as the only significant Spanish settlement in Florida outside of St. Augustine. Written by the two foremost authorities on the Florida Apalachee, this full-color volume offers general readers a compelling combination of archaeology and history. John H. Hann is a research historian at the San Luis Archaeological and Historic Site and a leading scholar on the missions of Spanish Florida. He is the author of Apalachee: The Land Between the Rivers (UPF, 1988), Missions to the Calusa (UPF, 1991), and History of the Timucua Indians and Missions (UPF, 1996). Bonnie G. McEwan, director of archaeology at the San Luis site in Tallahassee, has conducted research in the Southeast, California, Spain, and the Caribbean. She is the editor of The Spanish Missions of La Florida (UPF, 1993). Financed in part with historic preservation grant assistance provided by the Bureau of Historic Preservation, Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State, assisted by the Historic Preservation Advisory Council.

Provides an overview of Florida's native peoples, from pre-history to the present.