Southeast: The Seminole Geography: Location and Environment: The Seminole lived deep in the Florida Everglades. During the early 1700s they broke off from their ancestors in Georgia and Alabama (Creeks) and moved to Florida. Florida is a peninsula. The Seminole lived in hot swampy saw-grass marshes. They built their villages near rivers in these hot semitropical low swamplands.

Science Plants: Tall cypress trees, and palms draped by Spanish moss covered the area. You can also find climbing vines and medicine plants. Grapes, figs, plumbs and other fruit are also there. The Seminole women raised corn, beans, squash and tobacco where they could find dry land.

Basic Needs:
Foods:
The Seminole were farmers as well as hunters. They also gathered some of their foods. They collected grapes, figs, plumbs and other fruit.
The Seminole women raised corn, beans, squash and tobacco where they could find dry land. Men hunted deer, bear and other animals. There was plenty to eat.

For more information on food:
Seminole Food and Recipes.

Clothes:
While the Seminole lived on reservations in Florida they used sewing machines. They sewed together scraps of imported cotton into bright and colorful shirts and dresses. Colorful European style clothing was made using patchwork and rickrack.

For more information on clothes:
Seminole Clothing: Colorful Patchwork
The Seminole Longshirt
THE PLAIN SHIRT
Seminole Moccasins
Seminole Leggings
Two Seminole ladies wearing traditional Seminole clothing

Shelters: The Seminole's houses were called chickees. They were made from palmetto trees. They had a raised platform held up by poles stuck in the ground. Chickees had thatched roofs and open walls. Their houses were well suited to the warm and wet climate. The open walls allowed the Seminoles to stay cool. The raised platform was high enough to keep them dry.

Transportation: They made their own dugout canoes. These dugout canoes had platforms in the back of the canoe for a man to stand on. The man would use a long pole to push the canoe through the swamps. There were fish and alligators in the swamp.

Literature - To understand more of the culture of the Seminoles people read an original story by clicking on the following site.
Site for Literature: Legends

The Seminole Today
2000 Population
In the 1990 US census there were 15,564 Seminole living in the United States.

Social Studies- Reservation Locations Today the Seminoles (and a branch tribe they are related to called the Miccosukees) live on five reservations in southern Florida. Many other Seminoles live in Oklahoma.

For more information on the Seminole:
This site is dedicated to the rich history and culture of the Florida Seminole Indians.
Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

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