22 Facts About Calusa

Calusa were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast.

Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region.

Some Archaic artifacts have been found in the region later occupied by the Calusa, including one site classified as early Archaic, and dated prior to 5000 BC.

Calusa had a stratified society, consisting of "commoners" and "nobles" in Spanish terms.

Marquardt notes that the Calusa turned down the offer of agricultural tools from the Spanish, saying that they had no need for them.

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The Calusa gathered a variety of wild berries, fruits, nuts, roots and other plant parts.

However, archeological digs on Sanibel Island and Useppa Island have revealed evidence that the Calusa did in fact consume wild plants such as cabbage palm, prickly pear, hog plum, acorns, wild papaya, and chili peppers.

The Calusa made bone and shell gauges that they used in net weaving.

The Calusa made fish traps, weirs, and fish corrals from wood and cord.

Calusa lived in large, communal houses which were two stories high.

The Calusa painted their bodies on a regular basis, but there was no report of tattooing among them.

The missionaries recognized that having a Calusa man cut his hair upon converting to Christianity would be a great sacrifice.

Calusa believed that three supernatural people ruled the world, that people had three souls, and that souls migrated to animals after death.

The Calusa believed that the three souls were the pupil of a person's eye, his shadow, and his reflection.

Calusa remained committed to their belief system despite Spanish attempts to convert them to Catholicism.

The Calusa resisted physical encroachment and spiritual conversion by the Spanish and their missionaries for almost 200 years.

Julian Granberry has suggested that the Calusa language was related to the Tunica language of the lower Mississippi River Valley.

The Calusa knew of the Spanish before this landing as they had taken in Native American refugees from the Spanish subjugation of Cuba.

In 1521 Ponce de Leon returned to southwest Florida to plant a colony, but the Calusa drove the Spanish out, mortally wounding Ponce de Leon.

The best information about the Calusa comes from the Memoir of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, one of these survivors.

Calusa struck an uneasy peace with their leader Caluus, or Carlos.

The Carolinan colonists supplied firearms to the Creek and Yemasee, but the Calusa, who had isolated themselves from Europeans, had none.