Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TEQUESTA INDIANS
In 1998, 24 holes, inscribed in bedrock and arranged in the shape of a perfect circle, were
found in downtown Miami. The 'Miami Circle,' as it was dubbed, is thought to be the
foundations of a permanent structure and, at some 2000 years old, it's the oldest con-
tender for that title on the US East Coast.
Archaeologists think the Circle was built by Miami's earliest known inhabitants, the
Tequesta (Tekesta) Indians, who are otherwise a mystery. The tribe was mostly wiped out
by Spanish first contact, which brought violence and disease, and survivors likely melted
into the Miccosukee and Seminole nations.
Native American Resources
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum (
www.ahtahthiki.com
)
Tequesta Indians (
www.floridiannature.com/tequesta.htm
)
Heritage of the Ancient Ones (
www.ancientnative.org
)
Miccosukee Tribe (
www.miccosukee.com/tribe
)
The Unconquered People
In the late 18th century, members of the Creek Nation in Georgia and other tribes from the
north migrated to Florida. These tribes intermingled and intermarried, and in the late
1700s were joined by runaway slaves. African American newcomers were generally wel-
comed into Native American society and were occasionally kept as slaves, although this
slavery was more akin to indentured servitude (slaves, for example, had their own homes
that they inhabited with their families).
At some point, these fugitive, mixed peoples occupying Florida's interior were dubbed
'Seminoles,' a corruption of the Spanish word
cimarrones,
meaning 'free people' or 'wild
ones'. Defying European rule and ethnic category, they were soon considered too free for
the newly independent United States, which coincidentally was growing hungrier for land.
When the majority of the Creek were forced west across the Mississippi River in 1817,
Americans figured everything east of that body of water was now theirs for the settling.
But the Seminoles had no intention of leaving their homes.
