Calusa should be celebrated
To the editor:
Southwest Florida’s ignorance about the storied history of the Calusa Indians is astonishing. Calusa means fierce, and this fierce tribe ruled the southwest portion of the peninsula, eventually becoming known as Florida, for several thousands of years. Their friends and foes respected these tall, lean, and handsome Indians, and many neighbors paid tribute to their hereditary King, Calos. Invading Creek Indian tribes from Georgia were often defeated in vicious battles around the big lake.
They ruled their world, but their world changed in 1500. First, the Taino Cuban exiles arrived with word of the Spanish invaders. Next, shipwrecked survivors and strange animals were traded to them by the small island Indians to their south. Finally, a distressed Spanish ship blundered into Southwest Florida and repaired its worm-eaten wood hull behind Estero Island.
The Calusa were not welcoming but curious. They permitted the ship to be repaired, after which the Spanish informed them that their land now belonged to the King of Spain and they needed to convert as enslaved people. Having learned all the Calusa needed and not having any of the rest, the Calusa ordered them to leave. Seeing thousands of war-painted braves eager to attack, the ship’s Captain ordered his ship to leave.
It was the first salvo in the battle for Spanish dominance, the search for the fountain of youth, slaves, and retribution by Ponce de Leon for chasing one of his ships away. Spanish history is the only written account of those facts, but archeological evidence has proven the truth. Yet, most southwest Floridians and visitors ignore the great story uncovered at the archaeologically restored historical sites like the Mound House Museum on Crescent Street, Fort Myers Beach.
I encourage all local media to promote the historical sites up and down our coast, even more than the fine job they have already done. I would like to encourage our citizens to organize a celebration of the tribe with a “Calusa Days Festival.”
Edward F. Donlin
Cape Coral