Florida Topics

With an artist's sense of wonder and a historian's respect for accuracy, the 58 rich and colorful images in this book present a fascinating and thoroughly researched glimpse into the lifestyles and cultures of Florida's ancient Indians. Morris's sensitive rendering of Florida's vanished heritage reflects his passion to create a pictorial record of the state's pre-Columbian peoples, the tribes who have been forgotten through the centuries.

As indigenous populations are invited to participate in cultural heritage identification, research, interpretation, management, and preservation, they are faced with a variety of challenges, questions that are difficult to answer, and demands that must be carefully navigated. We Come for Good describes the development and operations of the Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) of the Seminole Tribe of Florida as an example of how tribes can successfully manage and retain authority over the heritage of their respective cultures. With Native voices front and center, this book demonstrates ways THPOs can work within federal and tribal governments to build capacity and uphold tribal values--core principles of a strong tribal historic preservation program. The authors also offer readers one of the first attempts to document Native perspectives on the archaeology of native populations.

The artistic tradition that in the past sustained Florida Indians helps identify them today as possessing a resilient, modern culture. In this account of the arts and crafts of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee Indians, the author shows how artistic expression reflects and inspires history.

The history of the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes dates back to the 1500s, when most of Florida as well as much of the United States was uninhabited. During the early 19th century, the tribes moved into the South Florida interior, living on remote tree islands throughout the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. These self-reliant people kept mostly to themselves. Their struggles have included disease, poverty, relocation, and three wars with the U.S. Army. Nevertheless, these resilient tribes survived and have become a vital part of the country's history and a unique and highly popular feature of South Florida tourism. Today, these tribes are busy creating economic opportunity for members, preserving their heritage and culture, and protecting their homeland.

This history, rich with photographs and colorful drawings of the remarkable Calusa Indians who controlled all of south Florida when Europeans first arrived in the New World, presents a vivid picture of the luxurious natural environment that sustained the Calusa--the teeming estuaries along Florida's coasts, which have supported people for thousands of years.

The missions of Spanish Florida are one of American history's best kept secrets. Between 1565 and 1763, more than 150 missions with names like San Francisco and San Antonio dotted the landscape from south Florida to the Chesapeake Bay. Drawing on archaeological and historical research, much conducted in the last 25 years, Milanich offers a vivid description of these missions and the Apalachee, Guale, and Timucua Indians who lived and labored in them. First published in 1999 by Smithsonian Institution Press, Laboring in the Fields of the Lord contends the missions were an integral part of Spain's La Florida colony, turning a potentially hostile population into an essential labor force. Indian workers grew, harvested, ground, and transported corn that helped to feed the colony. Indians also provided labor for construction projects, including the imposing stone Castillo de San Marcos that still dominates St. Augustine today. Missions were essential to the goal of colonialism. Together, conquistadors, missionaries, and entrepreneurs went hand-in-hand to conquer the people of the Americas. Though long abandoned and destroyed, the missions are an important part of our country's heritage. This reprint edition includes a new, updated preface by the author.

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 sixteenth 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 eighteenth 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 seventeenth century, when Spanish documents recorded the important events of the interior regions of the Southeast.