Editing Seminole Wars (section)

===Colonial Florida===
====Decline of indigenous cultures====
The original [[indigenous peoples of Florida]] declined significantly in number after the arrival of European explorers in the early 1500s, mainly because the Native Americans had little resistance to diseases newly introduced from Europe. [[Spain|Spanish]] suppression of native revolts further reduced the population in northern Florida until the early 1600s, at which time the establishment of a series of [[Spanish missions in Florida|Spanish missions]] improved relations and stabilized the population.<ref name="lord">{{cite book |last=Milanich |first=Jerald T. |title=Laboring in the Fields of the Lord: Spanish Missions and Southeastern Indians |year=2006 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville, Florida |isbn=0-8130-2966-X |pages=187–8, 191, 195 }}</ref><ref name="missions">{{cite book |last1=Mcewan |first1=Bonnie G. |title=The Spanish missions of La Florida |date=1993 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville |isbn=0813012325 }}</ref>

Beginning in the late-17th century, raids by British settlers from the [[Province of Carolina|colony of Carolina]] and their Indian allies began another steep decline in the indigenous population. By 1707, settlers based in Carolina and their [[Yamasee|Yamasee Indian]] allies had killed, carried off, or driven away most of the remaining native inhabitants during a series of raids across the Florida panhandle and down the full length of the peninsula. In the first decade of the 18th century. 10,000–12,000 Indians were taken as slaves according to the governor of La Florida and by 1710, observers noted that north Florida was virtually depopulated. The Spanish missions all closed, as without natives, there was nothing for them to do. The few remaining natives fled west to [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]] and beyond or east to the vicinity of [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]]. When Spain ceded Florida to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] as part of the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1763, the majority of Florida's Indians travelled with the Spanish to [[Captaincy General of Cuba|Cuba]] or [[New Spain]].<ref name="lord"/><ref name="Timucua">{{Cite book |last=Milanich |first=Jerald T. |year=1999 |title=The Timucua |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=0-631-21864-5 |pages=209–213 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Horwitz |first=Tony |title=Apalachee Tribe, Missing for Centuries, Comes out of Hiding |url=http://www.weyanoke.org/doc/WSJ-ApalacheeTribe.doc |access-date=23 October 2011 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=9 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106175341/http://www.weyanoke.org/doc/WSJ-ApalacheeTribe.doc |archive-date=6 November 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Origin of the Seminoles====
During the mid-1700s, small bands from various Native American tribes from the [[southeastern United States]] began moving into the unoccupied lands of Florida. In 1715, the [[Yamasee]] moved into Florida as allies of the Spanish, after conflicts with colonists from the [[Province of Carolina]]. [[Creek people]], at first primarily the [[Lower Creek]] but later including [[Upper Creek]], also started moving into Florida from the area of Georgia. The [[Mikasuki]], ''[[Hitchiti]]''-speakers, settled around what is now [[Lake Miccosukee]] near [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]]. (Descendants of this group have maintained a separate tribal identity as today's [[Miccosukee]].)

Another group of Hitchiti speakers, led by [[Cowkeeper]], settled in what is now [[Alachua County, Florida|Alachua County]], an area where the Spanish had maintained cattle ranches in the 17th century. Because one of the best-known ranches was called ''[[La Chua ranch|la Chua]]'', the region became known as the "[[Paynes Prairie|Alachua Prairie]]". The Spanish in Saint Augustine began calling the Alachua Creek ''Cimarrones'', which roughly meant "wild ones" or "runaways". This was the probable origin of the term "Seminole".<ref>The Alachua Seminoles retained a separate identity at least through the Third Seminole War. Cowkeeper was succeeded by his nephew [[King Payne|Payne]] in 1784. Payne was killed in an attack on the Seminole by the Georgia militia in 1812. His brother [[Bolek|Billy Bowlegs]] (the first of that name) took most of the band to the Suwannee River. Disturbed by Andrew Jackson's campaign in 1818, the Alachua Seminole moved into central Florida. After the death of Bowlegs in 1821, his nephew [[Micanopy]] succeeded him. After he was captured and sent west, his nephew [[Billy Bowlegs]] (''Holata Micco'') led the remnants of the Seminole until his surrender in 1858. Weisman. pp. 22–24. Covington. p. 143.</ref><ref>[[Maroon (people)|Maroon]], the name for fugitive slaves in a number of locations throughout the [[Americas]], is also probably derived from the Spanish ''Cimarrones''.</ref>  This name was eventually applied to the other groups in Florida, although the Indians still regarded themselves as members of different tribes. Other Native American groups in Florida during the Seminole Wars included the [[Choctaw]], [[Yuchi]], [[Spanish Indians]] (so called because it was believed that they were descended from [[Calusa]]s), and "rancho Indians", who lived at Spanish/Cuban [[Fishing ranchos|fishing camps (ranchos)]] on the Florida coast.<ref>Missall. pp. 4–7, 128.<br />Knetsch. p. 13.<br />Buker. pp. 9–10.</ref>

In 1738, the Spanish governor of Florida, Manuel de Montiano, had [[Fort Mose]] built and established as a free Black settlement. [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|Fugitive African and African American slaves]] who could reach the fort were essentially free. Many were from Pensacola; some were free citizens, though others had escaped from United States territory. The Spanish offered the slaves freedom and land in Florida. They recruited former slaves as militia to help defend Pensacola and Fort Mose. Other fugitive slaves joined Seminole bands as free members of the tribe.

Most of the former slaves at Fort Mose went to Cuba with the Spanish when they left Florida in 1763, while others lived with or near various bands of Indians. Fugitive slaves from the Carolinas and Georgia continued to make their way to Florida, as the [[Underground Railroad]] ran south. The Blacks who stayed with or later joined the Seminoles became integrated into the tribes, learning the languages, adopting the dress, and inter-marrying. The blacks knew how to farm and served as interpreters between the Seminole and the whites. Some of the [[Black Seminoles]], as they were called, became important tribal leaders.<ref>Missall. pp. 10–12.</ref>