Located some 26 miles of downtown Naples, in Lee County, Fort Myers Beach is a vibrant island of 6,500 residents, which number swell to 30,000 during the winter months.It is 7 miles long by 1 mile at its widest. It is among others, known as one of the "safest beach" in the USA.My wife and I moved here in 1999 and I was struck by its unusual history
The early days of the island is marked with the fascinating stamp of the Calusa Indians or "Shell warriors" or "Shell People" who controlled Fort Myers Beachand other islands and keys in South West Florida, and had an Empire that ran from Cape Coral and Sanibel to PIne Island and Mound Key, which was considered their capital.It is now of our present Fort Myers Beach and is situated towards Lover's Key on the south end, today a reputed preserve. These fierce and highly sophisticated Indians first took control of the barriers Islands over 10,000 years ago until the 1800's.In fact their reign was so long that our famed river, the Caloosahatchee means the "river of the Calusa Indians".This was their major highway for game fishing.
Located some 26 miles of downtown Naples, in Lee County, Fort Myers Beach is a vibrant island of 6,500 residents, which number swell to 30,000 during the winter months.It is 7 miles long by 1 mile at its widest. It is among others, known as one of the "safest beach" in the USA.My wife and I moved here in 1999 and I was struck by its unusual history Early days The history of the island is marked with the fascinating stamp of the Calusa Indians or "Shell warriors" who controlled the Island and others in South West Florida, and had an Empire that ran from Cape Coral and Sanibel to PIne Island and Mound Key, which was considered their capital, which is part of our present Fort Myers Beach and is situated towards Lover's Key
on the south end, which is now a reputed preserve.. These fierce and highly sophisticated Indians first took control of the barriers Islands some 10,000 years ago until the 1800's.In fact their reign was so long that our famed river, the Caloosahatchee means the "river of the Calusa Indians".This was their major highway for game fishing. The Calusa Indians are the descendants of "Calos" and "Fierce People", a strong mix of the then Paleo-Indians who inhabited Southwest Florida approximately 12,000 years ago. It always amuses me when northerners comment on the so called lack of history in Florida. Perhaps they do not know about The Calusa Indians, The great Seminoles Indians.They do know about Ponce de Leon though. But let us come back to our warriors. before they became astute fishermen the Paleo-calusa Indians used to hunt for bears, woolly mammoths, sloths, tortoises, and saber-toothed tigers but with the discovery of the fishing game, they changed their diet, and in so doing, they started also a complex government with nobility, commoners and "workers" or "slaves" which was formed around a centralized goverment.They even had canals, a start of their own religion, and their own art form.But shell was their major source of food.They even made advanced tools and weapons out of them.AS we have building codes regarding the height we are allowed to build our homes in Florida, and especially along the barriers islands, these shrewd characters or "Shell warriors", used to build their cities above their mound. Pretty much the way the Aztec used to build their own cities at water level around present day Mexico city.
Mound Key was believed to be their major city, and it is now located deep in Estero Bay and is about 125 acres.The mound is in fact completely artificial, with sea shells driven spiral down into sandy or muddy surfaces. Marl, a material much like clay, was packed around this bottom layer.Again the similarity with the Aztec is surprising. Perhaps they share some common blood, but I will leave this to historians.One of the other similarity which shows how ruthless they were is the use of hardwood for weapons which was dipped in the fat of the victims or enemies. Again The Aztec used to do the same but for religious beliefs that imposed daily killings of innocents or enemies in order to praise their god.I should say one of their gods. Our Calusa Indians did the same with their victims for as sacrificial worship was commonly practiced. These were rustless but very sophisticated dudes!
They were not a friendly society and when the Spaniards arrived in South West Florida, the high priests and Calusa Indians in general had no intention to be subject to missionary activity. IN fact the calusa won most battles against the Spaniards and were responsible for a deadly and lingering wound which killed Ponce de leon around the 1520's. From 1500's to 1700's the spaniards tried many times to subjugate the Fierces Indians but it is the small pox which finaly killed most of the calusa Indians, which was imported by the Europeans.By the time the English controlled of most Florida in 1763 , their number went froma healthy 20,000 to a few hundreds. Despite the physical absence of the Calusas, their heritage lives on in the remains of the mound cities and is a formidable part of our history in Fort Myers Beach.We are proud of it.
The Calusa Indians are the descendents of "Calos" and "Fierce People", a strong mix of the then Paleo-Indians who inhabited Southwest Florida approximately 12,000 years ago. It always amuses me when northerners comment on the so called lack of history in Florida. Perhaps they do not know about The calusa Indians, The great Seminoles Indians.They do know about Ponce de Leon though. But let us come back to our warriors. before they became astute fishermen the Paleo-calusa Indians used to hunt for bears, woolly mammoths, sloths, tortoises, and saber-toothed tigers but with the discovery of the fishing game, they changed their diet, and in so doing, they started also a complex government with nobility, commoners and "workers" or "slaves" which was formed around a centralized goverment.They even had canals, a start of their own religion, and their own art form.But shell was their major source of food.They even made advanced tools and weapons out of them.
Aswe have building codes regarding the height we are allowed to build our homes in Florida, and especially along the barriers islands, these shrewd characters or "Shell warriors",
used to build their cities above their mound. Pretty much the way the Aztec used to build their own cities at water level around present day Mexico city. AS was said, Mound key was believed to be their major city, and it is now located deep in Estero bay and is about 125 acres.The mound is in fact completely artificial, with sea shells driven spiral down into sandy or muddy surfaces. Marl, a material much like clay, was packed around this bottom layer.Again the similarity with the Aztec is surprising. Perhaps they share some common blood, but I will leave this to historians.One of the other similarity which shows how ruthless they were is the use of hardwood for weapons which was dipped in the fat of the victims or enemies. Again The Aztec used to do the same but for religious beliefs that imposed daily killings of innocents or enemies in order to praise their god.I should say one of their gods. Our Calusa Indians did the same with their victims for as sacrificial worship was commonly praticed. These were rustless but very sophisticated dudes!
They were not a friendly society and when the Spaniards arrived in South West Florida, the high priests and Calusa Indians in general had no intention to be subject to missionary activity. IN fact the calusa won most battles against the spaniards and were responsible for a deadly and lingering wound which killed Ponce de leon around the 1520's. From 1500's to 1700's the spaniards tried many times to subjugate the Fierces indians but it is the small pox which finaly killed most of the calusa Indians, which was imported by the Europeen.By the time the English controlled of most Florida in 1763 , their number went froma healthy 20,000 to a few hundreds. Despite the physical absence of the Calusas, their heritage lives on in the remains of the mound cities and is a formidable part of our history in Fort Myers Beach.We are proud of it.
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