Native Tribes of Florida Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering the major Native American tribes of Florida, their environments, survival methods, archaeological remains, and historical impacts.

Paleo-Indians

Among the earliest people to live in Florida, who arrived around 10,000 BC during the Ice Age and survived as highly mobile hunters and gatherers using large stone tools to hunt big game like mammoths and mastodons.

Calusa

A powerful Native group along the southwest coast of Florida that relied heavily on fishing, shellfish, and coastal resources, and was known for using shells for tools and building shell mounds and canals.

Ais

A Native group that lived along Florida's east coast, particularly around the Indian River Lagoon and Space Coast, relying on fishing, hunting, and gathering.

Timucua

A Native group primarily living in Northern and Central Florida known for practicing slash-and-burn agriculture to grow maize and beans, as well as for their tall stature and tattoos.

Shell Midden

An archaeological site containing large amounts of discarded shells and other human activity remains, providing evidence of what Native people ate and how they used coastal resources.

Slash-and-Burn Agriculture

A farming technique practiced by the Timucua to grow crops such as maize and beans.

Hernando de Soto

A Spanish explorer whose expeditions in Florida had devastating effects on the Timucua population.

Seminole

A later Florida Native group into which some survivors of earlier Native populations were eventually absorbed.

Indian River Lagoon

A body of water on Florida's east coast closely associated with the lifestyle and survival of the Ais tribe.

European Contact

The period of encounter between European explorers/colonizers and Florida's Native peoples that resulted in dramatic population decline, disease, conflict, and disruption of Native societies.