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The History of Caloosa lake
Location: Florida,
USA
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Caloosa (Calusa) Indian
History
Calusa. An
important tribe of
Florida, formerly holding the southwest coast from about Tampa Bay to
Cape Sable and Cape Florida, together with all the outlying keys, and
extending inland to Lake Okeechobee.
They claimed more or less authority also over the tribes of the east
coast, north to about Cape Canaveral. The name, which can not be
interpreted, appears as Calos or Carlos (province) in the early Spanish
and French records, Caloosa and Coloosa in later English authors, and
survives in Caloosa village, Caloosahatchee river, and Charlotte (for
Carlos) harbor within their old territory.
They cultivated the ground to a limited extent, but were better noted
as expert fishers, daring seamen, and fierce and determined fighters,
keeping up their resistance to the Spanish arms and missionary advances
after all the rest of Florida had submitted.
Their men went nearly naked. They seem to have practiced human
sacrifice of captives upon a wholesale scale, scalped and dismembered
their slain enemies, and have repeatedly been accused of being
cannibals. Although this charge is denied by Adair (1775), who was in
position to know, the evidence of the mounds indicates that it was true
in the earlier period.
Their history begins in 1513 when, with a fleet of 80 canoes they
boldly attacked Ponce de León, who was about to land on
their
coast, and after an all-day fight compelled him, to withdraw. Even at
this early date they were already noted among the tribes for the golden
wealth which they had accumulated from the numerous Spanish wrecks cast
away upon the keys in passage from the south, and two centuries later
they were regarded as veritable pirates, plundering and killing without
mercy the crews of all vessels, excepting Spanish, so unfortunate as to
be stranded in their neighborhood.
In 1567 the Spaniards established a mission and fortified
post
among them, but both seem to have been discontinued soon after,
although the tribe came later under Spanish influence. About this time,
according to Fontaneda, a captive among them, they numbered nearly 50
villages, including one occupied by the descendants of an Arawakan
colony from Cuba. From one of these villages the modern Tampa takes its
name. Another, Muspa, existed up to about 1750.
About the year 1600 they carried on a regular trade, by canoe, with
Havana in fish, skins, and amber. By the constant invasions of the
Creeks and other Indian allies of the English in the 18th century they
were at last driven from the mainland and forced to take refuge on the
keys, particularly Key West, Key Vaccas, and the Matacumbe keys. One of
their latest recorded exploits was the massacre of an entire French
crew wrecked upon the islands.
Romans states that in 1763, on the transfer of Florida from Spain to
England, the last remnant of the tribe, numbering then 80 families, or
perhaps 350 souls, was removed to Havana. This, however, is only
partially correct, as a considerable band under the name of Muspa
Indians, or simply Spanish Indians, maintained their distinct existence
and language in their ancient territory up to the close of the second
Seminole war.
Nothing is known of the linguistic affinity of the Calusa or their
immediate neighbors, as no vocabulary or other specimen of the language
is known to exist beyond the town names and one or two other words
given by Fontaneda, none of which affords basis for serious
interpretation. Gatschet, the best authority on the Florida languages,
says: "The languages spoken by the Calusa and by the people next in
order, the Tequesta, are unknown to us. They were regarded as people
distinct from the Timucua and the tribes of Maskoki origin" (Creek
Migr. Leg., 1, 13, 1884).
There is a possibility that some fragments of the language may yet come
to light, as boys of this tribe were among the pupils at the mission
school in Havana in the 16th century, and the Jesuit Rogel and an
assistant spent a winter in studying the language and recording it in
vocabulary form. Fontaneda names the following among about 50 Calusa
villages existing about 1570:
Calaobe
Casitoa
Cayovea
Comachica
Cuchiyaga
Cutespa
Enempa
Estame
Guarungunve
Guevu
Jutun
Metamapo
Muspa
Ňo (explained as meaning 'town beloved')
Quisiyove
Sacaspada
Sinaesta
Sinapa
Soco
Tampa (distinguished as 'a large town') Tatesta
Tavaguemue
Tequemapo
Torno
Tomsobe
Tuchi
Yagua
Of these, Cuchiyaga and Guarungunve were upon the keys. Onathaqua
(possibly intended for Ouathaqua). A tribe or village about Cape
Canaveral, east coast of Florida, in constant alliance with the
Calusain 1564 (Laudonniere). Probably identical in whole or in part
with the Ais tribe. Not to be confounded with Onatheaqua.
