Cessions of Indian Lands 1816-1830

Cessions of Indian Lands 1816-1830

During the mid to late-1700s, Lower and Upper Creek Indians––as well as small groups of other diverse Indian communities, including those who spoke Miccosukee––gradually migrated south from Georgia and Alabama into the relatively unpopulated regions of North and Central Florida. This map indicates that large stretches of Indian territory in the Southeast were ceded to the United States prior to 1816, which was the result of economic and social pressures that either encouraged or forced Native inhabitants to move farther South and West. These migrants formed loose associations with the survivors of the original Indian communities living in Florida and formed separate groups of mostly Muskogee and Miccosukee speaking factions. These groups would eventually be given the common name of the “Seminoles” by many Europeans. The image suggests that by 1830, most of the former Indian lands in the Southeast had been claimed by the United States.

Dixon Ryan Fox

Harper's Atlas of American History, Courtesy the private collection of Roy Winkelman.

Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT)

http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/pages/2400/f2443/f2443.htm

ca. 1920

Map