Like the Calusa, the Tequesta were devastated by European diseases. The Calusa were one of the few tribes known to be shell collectors. Rogel also stated that the chief's name was Caalus, and that the Spanish had changed it to Carlos. Florida's climate had reached current conditions and the sea had risen close to its present level by about 3000 BC. Many smaller tribes were constantly watching for these marauding warriors. Descriptions of the principal town of Calos, probably located on Mound Island in Estero Bay (roughly 50 kms north of Key Marco), were first recorded by Spanish missionaries in 1586. The immensity of the kings house, as well as the huge shell mounds and the canals required large amounts of labor and mechanisms to mobilize and to organize that labor that he thinks are indicative of a lower class that worked at the behest of the Calusas elites. They were occupying this land and engaging in commerce, culture, religion, politics and family life . Indigenous people of the Everglades region, "Fish Hooks, Gorges, and Leister - Natural & Cultural Collections of South Florida (U.S. National Park Service)", Evidence for a Calusa-Tunica Relationship, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Calusa&oldid=1140745100, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters, Language articles with unreferenced extinction date, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Bullen, Adelaide K. (1965). The men wore their hair long. Florida Museum of Natural History Florida and Georgia archaeologists have discovered the location of Fort San Antn de Carlos, home of one of the first Jesuit missions in North America. The Calusa people's diet consisted mainly of fish and shellfish from the Gulf of Mexico and its many waterways. One is left only to imagine how lifelike these wooden figureheads must have appeared when used on ceremonial occasions. The "nobles" resisted conversion in part because their power and position were intimately tied to the belief system; they were intermediaries between the gods and the people. [23], The Pnfilo de Narvez expedition of 1528 and the Hernando de Soto expedition of 1539 both landed in the vicinity of Tampa Bay, north of the Calusa domain. What did the Calusa tribe believe in? ( Public Domain ). Be notified when an answer is posted. The Calusa people were an important tribe of Florida. By the early 19th century, Anglo-Americans in the area used the term Calusa for the people. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. How was the Calusa Indian nation organized? MacMahon, Darcie A. and William H. Marquardt. Additionally, they had (as their name suggests) a fierce, war-like reputation. The Carolinan colonists supplied firearms to the Creek and Yemasee, but the Calusa, who had isolated themselves from Europeans, had none. In the winter of 1896, Frank Hamilton Cushing began archaeological excavations in southwest Florida. Tabby, also called tabbi or tapia, is made by burning shells to create lime, which is then mixed with sand, ash, water and broken shells. The Calusa knew of the Spanish before this landing, however, as they had taken in Native American refugees from the Spanish subjugation of Cuba. This tribe of Indians controlled most of Southwest Florida and created an elaborate network of canals, homes, and government. 3). The missionaries recognized that having a Calusa man cut his hair upon converting to Christianity (and European style) would be a great sacrifice. Soon 20 war canoes attacked the Spanish, who drove off the Calusa, killing or capturing several of them. Marquardt, William H. (2004). The Iroquois, on the other hand, placed the shaman at the head of all things spiritual. Lucy Fowler Williams is Keeper of Collections for the American Section. The Calusa believed that the three souls were the pupil of a person's eye, his shadow, and his reflection. Prior surface surveys had revealed Spanish ceramics, beads and other artifacts, but the location of the fort hadnt been determined. The archaeologists were surprised to discover the Spanish used a primitive shell concrete known as tabby to stabilize the wall posts of their wooden structures. Pottery distinct from the Glades tradition developed in the region around AD 500, marking the beginning of the Caloosahatchee culture. Slaves occupy the lowest level in Calusa society. [Online]Available at: http://floridahistory.org/indians.htm, Marquardt, W. H., 2014. The most powerful ruler governed the physical world, the second most powerful ruled human governments, and the last helped in wars, choosing which side would win. The Calusa and their legacy: South Florida people and their environments. Although each tribe and region was different, the division of labor between men and women was generally similar across most of the Native American tribes. A new study says Florida's Calusa tribe built fish enclosures to amass surplus food, allowing its society to flourish and build structures such as the king's manor on Mound Key . (904) 665-0064. Cultivated gourds were used as net floats, and sinkers and net weights were made from mollusk shells. Rituals were believed to link the Calusa to their spirit world (Art by Merald Clark.) The first phase of work included the creation of a detailed topographic map of the island using LiDAR, which gave archaeologists information about its structures and geography. Approximate Calusa core area (red) and political domain (blue). They were a very innovative and prosperous tribe, and had a number of traditions that set them apart from other tribes in the area. "Calusa". Cushings excavations took place along the coast. [9] There is also evidence that as early as 2,000 years ago, the Calusa cultivated a gourd of the species Cucurbita pepo and the bottle gourd, which were used for net floats and dippers. [15], The Calusa wore little clothing. There is an eyewitness account from 1566 of a "king's house" on Mound Key that was large enough for "2,000 people to stand inside. The Calusa, who had no immunity against such illnesses, were wiped out in large numbers. 5,8,4) traveled this year, in an unprecedented loan of the Key Marco material, to the National Gallery of Art where they were exhibited as part of the Columbian Quincentenary exhibition, Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration. These figureheads will be on display in Philadelphia through 1992 in the Main Entrance of The University Museum. It is based on the Creek and Mikasuki (languages of the present-day Seminole and Miccosukee nations) ethnonym for the people who had lived around the Caloosahatchee River (also from the Creek language). This change may have resulted from the people's migration from the interior to the coastal region, or may reflect trade and cultural influences. In the 1700's, infectious diseases, slaving raids and attacks by Creek and Yamasee Indians who were supplied with guns by the English, decimated the Calusa population. These deposits were carefully water-screened using a series of nested screens in order to capture even the finest organic materials. [17], The Calusa believed that three supernatural people ruled the world, that people had three souls, and that souls migrated to animals after death. Wiki User. In his second voyage, Ponce de Leon received a poisoned arrow that hounded his tight and he died in Cuba the same year in 1521.His decease is attributed to Calusa people. By around 5000 BC, people started living in villages near wetlands. The plaques and other objects were often painted. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. Photograph by Amanda Roberts Thompson, courtesy Florida Museum of Natural History The Calusa also famously resisted colonization and conversion. Ravaged by new infectious diseases introduced to the Americas by European contact and by the slaving raids, the surviving Calusa retreated south and east. The researchers used ground penetrating radar and LiDAR to locate and map the forts structures, which they then partially excavated. Join CJ as he discusses: The origins of the Calusa Their physical description Their society, hierarchy, and religion Expedition Magazine. In 1987, the Tribe approved a constitution and began to lay the groundwork for a self-sufficiency plan. Despite the social complexity and political might that the Calusa attained, they are said to have eventually went extinct around the end of the 18 th century. At first, there must have been an uneasy tolerance of one another, as the Spanish built their fort, Marquardt explained. THE CALUSA INDIANS OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. Unlike most Florida Indian tribes . The Calusa are said to have been the descendants of Palaeo-Indians who inhabited Southwest Florida about 12000 years ago. "Chapter 10. . They were supported by the labor of the majority of the Calusa. They developed a complex culture based on estuarine fisheries rather than agriculture. The Spanish careened one of their ships, and Calusas offered to trade with them. They had three specific deities that they believed their cacique interpreted for. "The Calusa: A Stratified, Nonagricultural Society (With Notes on Sibling Marriage)." Said by a Spaniard, Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, who was a captive among them for many years, to mean "fierce people," but it is perhaps more probable that, since it often appears in the form Carlos, it was, as others assert, adopted by the Calusa chief from the name of the Emperor Charles V, about whose greatness he had learned from Spanish prisoners. He was also attacked by the Calusa. Franciscan friar Fray Lopez, director of the unsuccessful 1697 mission attempt, described the Calusa temples as very tall and wide, with a mound in the middle and a structure on the mound enclosed with reed mats and containing benches around the walls. It was not conserved and is in poor shape, but it is displayed at the nature center in Marathon. People commonly occupied both fresh and saltwater wetlands. Though not all have survived, carvings included a sea turtle, alligator, pelican, fish-hawk, owl, bear, crab, wolf, wildcat, mountain lion, and a deer, many of which were painted black, white, gray-blue, and brownish-red. But our work over the past 35 years has shown the Calusa developed a politically complex society with sophisticated architecture, religion, a military, specialists, long-distance trade and social ranking all without being farmers.. The Calusa were a tribe of Native Americans known as the "Shell Indians" and some of the first Floridians. (Public Domain ). 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