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HISTORY OF THE SEMINOLE TRIBE OF FLORIDA

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In the 1700s Native Americans from across Georgia and Alabama began to move South into Florida, which at that time was Spanish territory. These people were collectively called "Creeks" by the European settlers. After the Creek War in 1814, more Creeks settled in Florida. By 1820, about 5,000 Native Americans lived in Florida. These Indians came to be known as Seminoles, which meant "runaway." They were called this because they had left their homes in the Southeast to live on their own.

By the early 1800s, many slaves were leaving southern plantations for freedom in Spanish Florida. They lived in their own villages, often next to the Seminoles, and farmed their own land. In exchange for a portion of their harvest, the Seminoles protected the former slaves from recapture. When the Seminole Wars broke out, these so-called "Black Seminoles" were some of the fiercest fighters because for them capture meant a return to slavery.

The First Seminole War (1817-1818) began in 1817 when American General (and later President) Andrew Jackson was sent with his army to Florida to fight the Seminoles and seize the territory from Spain. As a result of this war, Spain ceded Florida to the United States and the Seminoles were forced to move further south in the state.

After Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the government began negotiations to remove the Seminoles from Florida and move them to territory west of the Mississippi River. Widespread opposition led by Chief Osceola resulted in the outbreak of the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). In 1837 Osceola was captured while under a flag of truce, but the war continued for five more years until 1842 when most of the Seminoles had been captured and sent to Oklahoma. The Second Seminole War was the longest and costliest Indian War in U.S. history.

Following the Second Seminole War, the remaining Seminoles took refuge in the South Florida swamps and Everglades. Fighting broke out again in 1855. When the Third Seminole War ended in 1858, less than 200 Seminoles remained in Florida. They were seldom seen until the late 1800s when they began to come to the new trading posts in South Florida.

In 1934 Congress passed the Wheeler-Howard Act, commonly known as the Indian Reorganization Act. This law provided procedures for Indian tribes to become federally recognized. The Seminoles had attempted to organize for federal recognition purposes in the 1930s and ‘40s, but had not been successful. In 1953 Congress adopted a proposal to terminate assistance to non-recognized Indian tribes. By 1954 six tribes had lost federal services and it appeared the Seminoles would be next. Seminole leaders and tribal members began to fight the proposal by drafting a constitution and charter for the Seminole Tribe which were later approved by the Secretary of the Interior. On August 21, 1957, a majority of tribal members voted to establish the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

A group of Mikasuki-speaking Seminoles along the Tamiami Trail chose not to belong to the Seminole Tribe of Florida. After several years of negotiations, they became the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida in 1962.

Today more than 2,000 Seminoles live on six reservations in South and Central Florida: Hollywood, Big Cypress, Brighton, Tampa, Fort Pierce and Immokalee.


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