Mondo's NAT #333 - Miccosukee

Native American Tribe series.

Miccosukee

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida is a federally recognized Native American tribe in the U.S. state of Florida. They were part of the Seminole nation until the mid-20th century, when they organized as an independent tribe, receiving federal recognition in 1962. The Miccosukee speak the Mikasuki language, which is mutually intelligible with Hitchiti language, considered its dialect and also spoken by many Florida Seminole.

The Miccosukee historically inhabited the upper Tennessee Valley in present-day Georgia, where they were originally part of the Upper Chiaha. Later they split: the Miccosukee (Lower Chiaha) migrated northeast to the Carolinas and the Upper Chiaha, also known as Muscogee, migrated west to northern Alabama. Under continuing encroachment pressure from European-American settlers, many migrated to northern Florida during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Lower Chiaha comprised the major part of the Seminole tribe, which formed in the eighteenth century in Florida through a process of ethnogenesis. They numbered about 6,000 by the early 19th century. About 2,000 Upper Creek (Red Sticks), who were Creek speakers, joined them after defeat in the Creek War of 1813-1814. Although East and West Florida were under Spanish control, United States forces invaded in 1818 in the First Seminole War, in retaliation for Indian raids against settlers in Georgia.

In 1821 the United States (US) acquired Florida from Spain, and it increased pressure for removal against the Seminole/Creek from Florida. It relocated several thousand Seminole and hundreds of Black Seminoles, who lived in close association as allies, to the Indian Territory. They were originally given land under Creek administration and later given a separate reservation.

Those who remained in Florida fought against US forces during the second and third Seminole Wars. They had moved into central Florida and the Everglades to try to evade European-American settlement pressure. During this period, the Miccosukee mixed with the Creek-speaking Seminole, but many maintained their Mikasuki language and identity.

The tribe had long maintained its distinction from the Seminole, whom they believed were more willing to adapt to the majority culture. The federal and state governments persisted in treating them as a unified people, and there were a third group, known as Traditionals or Independents. Under threat of termination in 1953, the Seminole Tribe of Florida developed a constitution and corporate charter, organizing a government, which achieved federal recognition in 1957. The latter had moved onto reservations starting in the 1930s and 1940s.

In the process, the Trail People became more defined and they began to organize as the Miccosukee Seminole Tribe, as they were mostly Mikasuki language speakers. They were recognized by the state of Florida in 1957, and gained federal recognition in 1962 as the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.

The tribe today occupies several reservations in southern Florida, collectively known as the Miccosukee Indian Reservation. The largest land section is a 333-acre (1.35 km2) reservation on the northern border of Everglades National Park, about 45 miles (72 km) west of Miami. The tribe controls about 200,000-acre (810 km2) of wetlands, most under a perpetual lease with the state of the South Florida Water Management District's Water Conservation Area 3A South. It may use "this land for the purpose of hunting, fishing, frogging, and subsistence agriculture to carry on the traditional Miccosukee way of life." Another site is its Alligator Alley Reservation, located near Ft. Lauderdale.