Seminole

The Seminole are a Native American people who made themselves in Florida in the 18th century: Muscogee Creeks drifting south between 1767 and 1821 mixed with remnant Apalachee, Yamasee and escaped African slaves to forge, by ethnogenesis, a new nation. In hammocks and Everglades they raised chickee stilt houses, herded Spanish cattle, grew corn and traded deerskins, while the Green Corn ceremony and stomp dance carried the Creek fire south. Three Seminole Wars with the United States from 1817 to 1858 cost thousands of lives; most survivors were removed to Indian Territory in the late 1830s, while a few hundred unconquered held the swamps. The Florida Seminole never signed a peace treaty. In the 1970s their bingo halls launched Indian gaming nationwide, and later enterprises made the Seminole Tribe of Florida among the wealthiest tribal nations; Oklahoma Seminoles, Miccosukee and independents keep the patchwork clothing, sweetgrass baskets and the unconquered claim alive.