Editing Seminole Wars (section)

====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>