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.

Postcards of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee tribes originated in towns where the Everglades and Big Cypress dwelling Indians came to trade. The natives' dress and accessories presented a novelty to southern Florida's early visitors. With Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad and hotels, tourism became a rising industry. During World War I, a failing hide market forced Indians to find a new livelihood, and the "Seminole Indian Village Attractions" began in Miami. Indians sold crafts and wrestled alligators, embracing tourism while keeping their culture intact. Tourist-attraction Indians (later organized as the Miccosukee Tribe) moved their Everglades camps to the Tamiami Trail. By the mid-1930s, many families had opened their own tourist attractions, becoming the first native entrepreneurs. Economic reinvention, especially through tourism, has sustained these tribal groups, most recently with bingo and gaming.

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.

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.

Years before the first shots of the Civil War were fired, Florida witnessed a clash of wills and ways that prompted three wars unlike any others in America's history. Among the most well-known of Florida's native peoples, the Seminole Indians frustrated troops of militia and volunteer soldiers for decades during the first half of the nineteenth century in the ongoing struggle to keep hold of their ancestral lands. While careers and reputations of American military and political leaders were made and destroyed in the mosquito-infested swamps of Florida's interior, the Seminoles and their allies, including the Miccosukee tribe and many escaped slaves, managed to wage war on their own terms. The study of guerrilla warfare tactics employed by the Seminoles may have aided modern American forces fighting in Viet Nam, Cambodia, and other regions.

In the early 1800s, dozens of Siouan-speaking Cheraw families, including Catawbas and Lumbees, fled war and oppression in the Carolinas and migrated to Florida, just as native Apalachicola Creeks were migrating away. Being neither Black nor White, the Cheraw descendants were persecuted by the harsh ¿racial¿ dichotomy of the Jim Crow era and almost forgot their proud heritage. Today they have rediscovered their past. This is their story. S. Pony Hill was born in Jackson County, Florida. He holds a degree in Criminal Justice from Keiser University, Deans List, and Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society member. He was previously a contract researcher for federal acknowledgement grants through the Administration for Native Americans and several tribes including the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee in Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation, and the Sumter Band of Cheraw Indians (SC). He specializes in southeastern Indian archival research and ethno history. He is the author of Patriot Chiefs and Loyal Braves, available online and the recently released book Strangers in their Own Land: South Carolinas State Indian Tribes. He currently lives with his family in San Antonio TX. Christopher Scott Sewell was born in New Bern, North Carolina. He holds a degree in Sociology from Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma. He has worked extensively as a contract researcher in the field of Southeastern populations, and has been involved in Native American rights issues for twenty years. He currently lives with his family in Bristol, Florida.

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

This comprehensive look at the first humans in Florida combines contemporary archaeology, the writings of early European explorers, and experiments to present a vivid history of the state's original inhabitants. Includes a photographic atlas of projectile points and pottery types as well as typical plant and animal remains uncovered at Florida archaeological sites. The author replicated many primitive technologies during the writing of this book. He fashioned a prehistoric tool kit from stone, wood, bone, and shell, then used the implements to carve wood, twist palm fiber into twine and rope, make and decorate pottery, and weave fabric. The book shows detailed photos of these processes. 16-page color insert, 360 b&w photos, 159 line drawings