01/23/2018

HISTORY OF FLORIDA

In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon (1474 - 1511), a Spanish explorer and conquistador led the first European expedition to Florida.  De León spotted the peninsula on April 2, 1513, and he named the region La Florida ("flowery land"), and to Spain's Easter celebration known as "Pascua Florida" or Feast of Flowers.  He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico.  Other Spanish voyages to Florida quickly followed Ponce de León's. Sometime in the period from 1514 to 1516, Pedro de Salazar enslaved as many as 500 Indians along the Atlantic coast of the present-day southeastern United States. Diego Miruelo visited what was probably Tampa Bay in 1516, Francisco Hernández de Cordova reached southwest Florida in 1517, and Alonso Álvarez de Pineda sailed and mapped all of the Gulf of Mexico coast in 1519.  In 1521, Ponce de León sailed from Cuba with 200 men in two ships to establish a colony on the southwest coast of the Florida peninsula, probably near Charlotte Harbor. However, attacks by the native Calusa drove the colonists away in July 1521. Ponce de León was wounded in a skirmish and died of his injuries upon the expedition's return to Havana. His remains were removed in the crypt of San Jose Church in 1836 and transferred to the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Louisiana Purchase occurred in 1803. Disagreements with the Spanish government led settlers between the Mississippi and Perdido Rivers to declare that area an independent Republic of West Florida in 1810.  It was then annexed by the US which claimed it was part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.  In 1819 the US renegotiated that purchase. In 1822 East Florida and West Florida both were merged into the Florida Territory with the Perdido River as the boundary between it and the new state of Alabama.  The US finally acquired Florida when John Quincy Adams signed the Florida Purchase Treaty with Spain in 1819  by assuming $5 million of claims by US citizens against Spain. Florida  became the 27th state on March 3,1845.  Florida then seceded from the Union on January 10, 1861, and after less than a month as an independent republic, became one of the founding members of the Confederate States of America.  Florida was readmitted to the US on July 25,1868.

The Civil War began April 12, 1861 and ended May 9, 1865. The approximately 625,000 deaths from both sides were more that of those US soldiers that died in WW I and WW 2 combined.

Read about the "Conch Republic" and the Florida Keys.

The Dry Tortugas is a small group of islands, located at the end of the Florida Keys, United States, about 67 miles west of Key West.  Spanish explorer Ponce de León gave the Dry Tortugas their name on his first visit in 1513. The name is the second oldest surviving European place-name in the US, after the name Florida. They were given the name Las Tortugas (The Turtles) due to 170 sea turtles taken on the islands and shoals by de León's men. Soon afterward, the word "Dry" was added to the name, to indicate to mariners the islands' lack of springs.  See http://www.drytortugas.com/ and http://www.nps.gov/drto/index.htm

# Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi River in land area, although it is fourth largest (after Michigan, Florida, and Wisconsin) in total area.  17 states rank by total area and land area are the same. See www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area  Other web sites show slightly different statistics and rankings.

See many other Symbols of Florida at:  www.dos.myflorida.com/florida-facts/florida-state-symbols/  

See www.netstate.com/states/symb/fl_symb.htm and  www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/florida 

Also see www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Florida  and  www.history.com/topics/us-states/florida  and                                             www.infoplease.com/us-states/florida.html

GREAT SEAL of the STATE of FLORIDA

It is used on official documents and on legislation. It is included in the state flag.  It features a shoreline on which a Seminole woman is spreading hibiscus flowers.  Two of Florida's state trees, the Sabal palm are growing.  In the background a steamboat sails before a sun breaking the horizon, with rays of sunlight extending into the sky. The seal is encircled with the words "Great Seal of the State of Florida", and "In God we Trust".  It is the size of a silver dollar.

In 1985, the seal was revised to include a Seminole Indian rather than a Western Plains Indian, the steamboat is more accurate, and the cocoa palm has been changed to a sabal palm.

FLORIDA FLAGS

                            Florida State Flag                                                    Collier County Flag   

COUNTIES (There are 67 Counties in Florida)

Palm Beach County is the largest county in area, followed by Collier County.  See info on rankings by size  and see information on each county.  Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_counties_in_Florida

The names of Florida's 67 counties reflect its diverse cultural heritage. 40 are named after specific people. Some are named for: Southern political leaders, Spanish explorers, Spanish saints, and  Native American place names used by the Spanish.  Natural features of the region, including rivers, lakes, and flora, are also commonly used for county names. Florida has counties named for participants on both sides of the Second Seminole War. Miami-Dade County is partially named for Francis L. Dade, a Major in the U.S. Army at the time; Osceola County is named for a Native American resistance leader during the war''

LARGEST CITIES IN FLORIDA IN 2010

Above data from http://www.togetherweteach.com/TWTIC/uscityinfo/09fl/flpopr/09flpr.htm

HISTORY OF USA  See http://www.animatedatlas.com/movie.html

AMERICAN INDIANS IN FLORIDA

The original inhabitants of the area that is now Florida included:

The Apalachee tribe
The Calusa tribe
The Choctaw tribe
The Creek tribe
The Miccosukee tribe
The Tequesta, Jeaga and Ais tribes
The Timucua tribe

There are two federally recognized Indian tribes in Florida today.

More about the Seminole Tribe?

The Seminole Nation has five different reservations in Florida, but all of them are governed by the same tribe. Big Cypress Indian Reservation is the largest, but the Hollywood Reservation is where the seat of the Seminole government is located.

Other Indian tribes, bands and communities remaining in Florida today include:

CALUSA INDIANS

At the beginning of the historic period, in 1492 AD, it is conservatively estimated that there were about 100,000 Indians living in Florida. Some estimate as many as 350,000. Accepting the first estimate, the distribution is thought of as this: Timucuans in the northeast, 40,000; Apalachee and Pensacola in the northwest, 25,000; Tocobaga in the west-central, 8,000; Calusa in the southwest, 20,000; Tequesta in the southeast, 5,000; Jeaga, Jobe and Ais (pronounced 'ice') in the east-central, 2,000. There were others, as well as sub-groups, i.e., Saturiwa, Santaluces, Boca Ratones, Tocobaga, etc. By the late 1700s, it is thought that all of these indigenous Indians were gone. Also, note that there is no mention of the Seminoles, as they did not enter Florida until the early 1700s.   See www.losttribesflorida.com/calusa.html

The Calusa were natives of Florida's southwest coast. At the time of Europeon contact, the Calusa were the people of the Caloosahatchee culture which was based on estuarine fisheries rather than on agriculture.

These Indians controlled most of south Florida. The population of this tribe may have reached as many as 50,000 people. The Calusa men were tall and well built with long hair. Calusa means "fierce people," and they were described as a fierce, war-like people. Many smaller tribes were constantly watching for these marauding warriors. The first Spanish explorers found that these Indians were not very friendly. The explorers soon became the targets of the Calusa attacks. This tribe was the first one that the Spanish explorers wrote home about in 1513.

The Hotel Escalante (Veranda E Dining Room) (on the corner of 5th Avenue South and 3rd Street South) is named after a remarkable Spaniard named Escalante Fontaneda, who lived with the Calusa Indians in the  16th Century in what is now Naples.

His story begins in 1564, in Spain, when his father’s distinguished naval career came to a halt after a cholera outbreak claimed the lives of his wife and two young daughters, leaving the distraught Juan Fontaneda to raise his nine-year-old son, Escalante, alone.  He embarked on a three-year study program for his son, and on Escalante’s 12th birthday, Fontaneda returned to the sea to explore the New World, with Escalante in tow.

Fontaneda arrived in St. Augustine in 1567, and later that year set out on an expedition with his son and a crew to explore the Florida coast.  Their party was attacked by natives. All were killed except Escalante.

Escalante was found by Juan Carlos, King of the Calusas, who made him his personal slave.  Within a year, Escalante had mastered the Calusa language and ways, and become faithful and hard-working.  As a reward, Juan Carlos freed him and Escalante became a member of the tribe.

By then, the tribe was living near the southwest coast of Florida and needed a better route to the Gulf of Mexico for their dugout canoes.  Escalante was appointed to head the project: building a canal from Naples Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.  Recalling his knowledge and study of European waterways, he completed the project in record time.  The canal he built later became Fifth Avenue South.

Escalante Fontaneda lived with the Calusas until he was 28, when he returned to Spain.  He wrote extensively about his life with them. Legend tells us that he was the only European to live with this Indian nation.

By the 18th Century, the Calusas had disappeared from South Florida.  In the late 1800s, Naples was “discovered,” and Fifth Avenue South was built on what was once the Calusa canal.

SEMINOLE INDIANS & ALICE MICCO SNOW

The Seminoles are descendents of the Creek people and started moving into Florida around 1760. They comprise three federally recognized tribes and independent groups, now living in Oklahoma with a minority in Florida. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creek from what are now northern Muscogee. The word Seminole is a corruption of cimarrón, a Spanish term for "runaway" or "wild one".  See www.losttribesflorida.com/seminole.html

During their early decades, the Seminole became increasingly independent of other Creek groups and established their own identity. They developed a thriving trade network during the British and second Spanish periods (roughly 1767–1821).

Seminole culture is largely derived from that of the Creek; the most important ceremony is the Green Corn Dance; other notable traditions include use of the black drink and ritual tobacco. As the Seminole adapted to Florida environs, they developed local traditions, such as the construction of open-air, thatched-roof houses known as chickees.  Historically the Seminole spoke Mikasuki and Creek, both Muskogean languages.

After the United States achieved independence, its settlers increased pressure on the Seminole, leading to the Seminole Wars (1818–1858).  As a result of the wars and national policy, through 1842 most Seminoles and Black Seminoles were removed to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. During the American Civil War, most of the Oklahoma Seminole allied with the Confederacy, after which they had to sign a new treaty with the U.S., including freedom and tribal membership for the Black Seminole. Today residents of the reservation are enrolled in the federally recognized Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, while others belong to unorganized groups.

Perhaps fewer than 200 Seminoles remained in Florida, but they fostered a resurgence in traditional customs and a culture of staunch independence. In the late 19th century, the Florida Seminole re-established limited relations with the U.S. government and in 1930 received 5,000 acres (20 km²) of reservation lands. Few Seminole moved to reservations until the 1940s; they reorganized their government and received federal recognition in 1957 as the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The more traditional people near the Tamiami Trail received federal recognition as the Miccosukee Tribe in 1962.

Naples Botanical Garden lake named after Alice Micco Snow  The late Seminole herbalist and medicine carrier Alice Micco Snow received an honor no other Seminole has ever been granted when a Florida lake was named for her in a moving ceremony in November 2014 at Naples Botanical Garden.

 Seminole medicine man Bobby Henry removed a patchwork dress covering a permanent plaque dedicated to Snow. A photo of her as a young woman – hoisting a huge stalk of bananas – adorns the sign.

 Dignitaries and members of the Tribe, tourists, workers and the curious saluted the newly named Lake Tupke amid applause in the pastoral scene. As a child, Snow received the nickname Tupke from her father. Tupke is a derivative of Snow’s Indian name Tefolothok, which is Florida Creek for “go around each other.” And “go around” Snow did in more than 75 years of finding, preserving and carrying natural Florida medicine plants and herbs to Tribal medicine men across Seminole Country.

 "A lot of people knew Alice Snow. She traveled to all of our reservations,” said Chairman James E. Billie. “But they knew her all over Indian Country; all the way out to Oklahoma, Tribes knew about her and sought her advice.” 

Her impact was felt outside Indian Country as well. Duane L. Burnham, a retired CEO with the Chicago-based global pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories, and his wife, Sue, donated $1 million to Naples Botanical Garden for dubbing the previously unnamed lake after Snow. 

“Sue and I both met Alice at the very beginning of our association with the NBG,” Duane Burnham said. “She gave us our first tour, and we were so impressed with her knowledge, her passion for Florida’s natural healing plants.” 

Snow, the daughter of Charlie Micco and Emma Micco, spoke both Creek and Mikasuki, an important skill when dealing with medicine, said Salina Dorgan, Snow’s daughter.

“My mother’s vision about the medicine to us in our family was she tried to educate us as to the importance of medicine among our Seminole people,” Dorgan said. “One of the things she always explained was that the medicine songs were always in the Seminole (Creek) language but the medicine people were more often the people who spoke Mikasuki. That played an important role for my mother because she could speak in both languages. We were very fortune because her father … brought up his children – she was one of seven siblings – and made sure that each and every one of them knew both languages.” 

Dorgan said she convinced her mother to share her knowledge with the world.

“There were limited areas where you can find certain medicine,” said Dorgan, who told her mother, “If you don’t start to share some of this knowledge, there’s gonna be nobody who knows where these plants are at. You got to give the location.”

Snow agreed and the book was published.

“It doesn’t give you the remedies; all it does is just talk about the plants or the herbs that the medicine man requires,” Dorgan said. 

Chairman Billie described Snow as a visionary, whose inspiration lasted for decades around important Tribal affairs. 

“One inspiration of Alice’s that I remember was, I think it was maybe about the middle of the ’70s, Alice had this business side to her and she said she wanted about 2 to 3 acres to put a hotel up and a restaurant on the Brighton Reservation. I was sitting on the Council in those days and I remember thinking, ‘What the heck is she gonna do with a motel and a restaurant?’ That’s how far backwards we were in our thinking. As time went along I kind of pondered on that. She did put up a little restaurant over there. It is called Alice’s Restaurant. We still visit that place and a lot of us folks eat our breakfast there. 

“As time went along, the idea of the motel lingered among myself and our people, and it happened on occasion, in the last 10, 12 years or so, that Seminole Tribe businesses have flourished. Seminole Tribe’s business is one of the best or is the best in the world. I didn’t say in Naples, I said the world. It is branded Hard Rock cafes and hotels and casinos – over 153 locations on Earth. 

“Our management is the best in the world. The country of Vietnam gave us a call the other day and I went over there to check them out. We flew into Hanoi. They told us they don’t have casino management there, so they wanted our people to go over and help them and write the casino rules and regulations of casinos. That is the inspiration that Alice Snow gave us, and to this day we are very thankful that we knew her. I just wanted you to know that Alice Snow’s ideas linger on and we are doing very well with them.” 

Healing plants: Medicine of the Florida Seminole Indians by Alice Micco Snow & Susan Enns Stans published in 2001 in English.  "Seminole medicine men & women call upon people who have a special knowledge of certain plants, roots, barks, & other items that need to be collected for the medicine they make. Alice Snow belongs to the very special small group of people who have this knowledge. It is with honor that I have known & worked with Alice for many years, & have seen how her endeavor to pass her knowledge to others will continue through the generations."--James E. Billie, chairman, Seminole Tribe of Florida.

In Ortona, FL among her Seminoles and beneath the most nondescript brass plate lies Alice Micco Snow, 1922 to 2008, who knew more about native medicines than any other Seminole, many said.  In her youth, Ms. Micco Snow could ride a running horse up beside a wild hog while carrying a knife in her teeth, leap from the animal, and cut the hog's throat, she once recalled to a reporter.

Bob & Alice Micca Snow

OSCEOLA

EVERGLADES CITY AREA

Read about the Historic Rod and Gun Club.  Also see stories about Ted Smallwood and Mr Watson.

LAKES and RIVERS

Read about the ten largest lakes in Florida.

Read about the many rivers in Florida.

FLORIDA HUMOR

Q: How many Justices are there on the Florida Supreme Court?
A: No one knows. They are not finished counting yet!

Q: What's the best thing to come out of Gainesville?
A: I-75

Urban Meyer and Fulmer are in a bathroom taking a leak.
Fulmer finishes and starts to walk out of the room when Meyer says down in Florida, they teach us to wash our hands after we take a leak.
Fulmer responds, Up in Tennessee, they teach us not to piss on our hands.

I believe in having sex on the first date.
At my age, there may not be a second date.

Senior Campbell's - New Large Type Alphabet Soup.

Two businessmen in Florida were sitting down for a break in their soon-to-be new store. As yet, the store wasn't ready, with only a few shelves set up. One said to the other, ' I bet any minute now some senior citizen is going to walk by, put his face to the window, and ask what we're selling.'

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when, sure enough, a curious senior citizen walked to the window, had a peek, and in a soft voice asked

"What are you sellin' here?"

One of the men replied sarcastically, "We're selling assh*les."

Without skipping a beat, the old timer said, "You're doing well. Only two left."

  

An old farmer in  Florida had a large pond in the back of his property - picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some peach trees. The pond was deep enough for swimming. One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond.

He grabbed a five gallon bucket to bring back some fruit. When he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond. He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end.

One of the women shouted to him, "We're not coming out until you leave!" The old man frowned, "I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked."

Holding the bucket up he said, "I'm here to feed the alligator."

Moral: Old men can still think fast.
 

A ventriloquist is touring clubs in Florida. With his dummy on his knees, he's going through his usual dumb blonde jokes when a blonde woman in the audience stands on her chair and shouts, "I've heard enough of your stupid blonde jokes. What does the color of a person's hair have to do with her worth as a human being? It's guys like you who keep women like me from being respected at work and from reaching our full potential!"

The embarrassed ventriloquist starts to apologize, when the blonde yells, "You stay out of this, mister! I'm talking to that little bastard sitting on your knee!"

A retired couple in Florida couple drove their car to Wal*Mart, only to have their car break down in the parking lot. The man told his wife to carry on with the shopping while he fixed the car in the lot. The wife returned later to see a small group of people near the car. On closer inspection, she saw a pair of male legs protruding from under the chassis. Although the man was in shorts, his lack of underpants turned private parts into glaringly public ones. Unable to stand the embarrassment, she dutifully stepped forward, quickly put her hand up his shorts, and tucked everything back into place.

On regaining her feet, she looked across the hood and found herself staring at her husband who was standing idly by. The mechanic, however, had to have three stitches in his forehead.