A Brief History of Native Americans in Greater Gainesville
Native American tribes inhabited Greater Gainesville prior to and following the arrival of the first Europeans. However, determining the precise identity of some of these groups is no easy task.
According to Dr. Andrew Frank, professor of history at Florida State University and an ethnohistorian who specializes in the history of the Florida Seminoles and the Native South, “connecting archaeological sites with specific tribal names is really hard.”
Seminole Tribe of Florida
Seminoles view their heritage as going back to “time immemorial,” said Dr. Frank. They were comprised of various southeastern Native American groups. They had either inhabited Florida for centuries or migrated there after Americans encroached upon their lands further north.
In the modern Greater Gainesville area, native tribes were sometimes called Creeks. This name is essentially an amalgamation of ethnic groups, said Dr. Frank.
These Creeks had migrated down to Florida primarily from Georgia and Alabama. They were also referred to as the Alachua. After 1765, all Native Americans in Florida were referred to as Seminoles. The word “Seminole” originated from the Spanish “cimarron,” meaning “wild” or “runaway.”
The U.S. government waged a series of three conflicts against the Seminoles in the 1800s known collectively as The Seminole Wars. This was part of a larger attempt to exterminate Native Americans everywhere east of the Mississippi River, said Dr. Frank.
Fort Brooke, which was located in the southern part of what is now downtown Tampa, was constructed as part of an effort to transport the Seminoles out of Florida. It became a holding area for Seminoles being forcibly removed west to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears.
The Seminole ultimately withstood the U.S. assault despite being outgunned and outnumbered. A group of 200 Florida Seminoles escaped into the Everglades and joined fellow members already residing there. The military did not pursue them. For this reason, descendants of people who lived in the Everglades often call themselves “the unconquered Seminoles,” said Dr. Frank. The Seminole Tribe of Florida, the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida and the Independent Seminoles descend from this small band.
The idea of the Florida Seminoles as a political entity is a modern notion that arose in the 1950s when they organized and became a federally-recognized tribe in 1957, said Dr. Frank. Tampa is home to one of the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s six reservations. It was created in the late 20th century. They no longer have a presence in Greater Gainesville.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida have engaged in myriad economic development projects, which includes owning Hard Rock Hotel & Casinos and running one of the biggest cattle operations in the U.S.
Maintaining their unique culture while operating within the mainstream economy has been identified as “the priority for today’s Seminole Tribe of Florida,” according to their stated objectives.
Photo of Holatta Micco (Billy Bowlegs), via semtribe.com.
By Colin McCandless.