What's in a Name?

Generally, South Florida is a historian's nightmare. Some of the confusion is created by town planners, politicians, and developers who either failed to know the history, or worse, are indifferent to it. One case in point, are the indigenous people of Florida who in many instances are ignored, or if their name is used, it is often placed in the wrong location. One misconception, that adds to the confusion, places the Seminoles in Florida before the arrival of the Spanish. The truth is they came along after the Europeans arrived, about 200 years after. Long before the white men came to Florida, about 100,000 people inhabited the peninsula. The five main tribes were the Tequesta, Calusa, Timucua, Ais and Jaega Indians, with the lesser tribes of Tocobago, Apalachae and Jobe. Although the Tequesta Indians roamed southeast Florida in what is now Dade and Broward counties, you would be hard pressed to find anything named for these people in that area. Ironically, the town of Tequesta, in north Palm Beach County, is named for a tribe that lived south of Pompano Beach.

By Richard Procyk