The Seminole Tribe of Florida is a federally recognized Seminole tribe based in the U.S. state of Florida. Together with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, it is one of three federally recognized Seminole entities. It received that status in 1957. Today, it has six Indian reservations in Florida.
In 1975, the Tribe established tax-free smoke shops and a high-stakes bingo operation that became one of the first tribal gaming endeavors in the United States. These ventures, particularly the gaming operation, have generated significant revenues for education, welfare and economic development. A 2005 tribal audit said it took in $1.1 billion in revenues that year. The tribe requires members to have at least one-quarter Seminole blood quantum.
History
The Seminole emerged in a process of ethnogenesis from various Native American groups who settled in Florida in the 18th century, primarily Muscogee from what is now northern Florida, Georgia and Alabama. They distanced themselves increasingly from other Muscogee groups, and expanded and prospered owing to their thriving trade network during Florida's British and second Spanish periods (c. 1767–1821). These settlers joined with the survivors of Florida's original Native American communities (Tequesta, etc.) in the interior of south Florida. While some scholars have thought that the Calusa were also integrated into the Seminole tribes, there is no documentation to support that theory.
During this period, the largely autonomous Native American villages developed alliances with African-American maroons, mostly self-emancipated former slaves from the South's Low Country and some free blacks from the Spanish period of rule. These people became known as Black Seminoles, establishing towns near Native American settlements.
During the Seminole Wars against the United States in the 19th century, however, particularly after the second war, most Seminole and Black Seminole were forced by the US to relocate west of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory. A smaller group – possibly fewer than 500 – refused to leave Florida and moved deep into the Everglades, where they avoided settlers and thrived in pseudo-isolation. They fostered a culture of staunch independence. The modern Florida Seminole, about 17,233 at the 2010 census, Miccosukee and Traditionals descend from these survivors.
The Florida Seminole re-established limited relations with the United States and Florida governments in the late 19th century, and by the early 20th century were concentrated in five camps in the Everglades. The portion who spoke more Muskogee consolidated in the northern part of the Everglades near the Cow Creek Camp, becoming known as the Cow Creek Seminole. The Miccosukee, who spoke the Mikasuki language, were located to the south, in an area cut through by completion of the Tamiami Trail in 1928.
The Cow Creek Seminole eventually received of reservation land in the 1930s, beginning with Brighton Reservation. At first, few Seminoles had any interest in relocating to reservations, preferring their traditional lifestyle to a more sedentary reservation life. Following the efforts of Creek Christian missionaries, more Seminole moved to reservations in the 1940s to form their own churches. Other factors in the move include Florida's drainage of the wetlands and shift toward wide-scale agriculture. This contributed to the depletion of game and other resources by the state's expanding population, reducing the tribal people's ability to live in traditional ways.
Tribal reorganization
From 1920 to 1940, many changes took place in Seminole land and environment. Settlers and developers wanting to convert wetlands to farms and residential communities had built drainage projects, which altered the wetlands ecosystem and damaged many species that it supported. As early as 1916, Royal Palm State Park, which would be incorporated into the Everglades National Park in 1947, was set aside as a conservation area. Construction of the Tamiami Trail across the center of the Everglades, the Civilian Conservation Corps projects from 1933 to 1934, and the eventual opening of the National Park, all served to displace many Seminole families who had lived throughout the area.