1. Seminole “seh-minn-ole“

3. History: Tribes of Georgia and Florida joined together for protection. These tribes merged and unified as the Seminole Nation in the 1700’s. Settled in northern Florida and moved further south when Europeans attacked them. Eventually lived in the Everglades of Florida until they were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1800’s with other eastern tribes to live on reservations.

4. What type of climate?

5. Florida has a hot, humid, and rainy climate FL, gets 51 inches of rain per year. The US average is 37. Snowfall is 0 inches. The average US city gets 25 inches of snow per year. On average, there are 241 sunny days per year in FL. The July high is around 90 degrees. The January low is 52.

6. What do they eat?

7. Food: Seminole men were good hunters. Fish were speared from canoes. They caught otter, raccoon, bobcats, turtle, alligator, and birds. To catch deer, they would burn a patch of grass. When the new grass grew in, the deer came to feast, and the Seminole caught the deer. They did not tend their crops. The land teemed with food like wild pineapples, mangos, guava, oranges, and mulberry trees. Villagers planted crops behind their house and on nearby hammocks. They did not weed or fertilize or irrigate. Wild plants mingled with the ones they had planted. The Seminole planted pumpkins, pawpaws, and corn. Corn was the main crop. They used corn to make corn flour, corn bread, corn pancakes, and even a corn soft drink called sofkee. Sofkee is still a popular soft drink among the Seminoles on reservations today. Cane Sugar: These early people sweetened their food with sugar cane

8. Where do they live?

9. Homes were called Chickees. Made of wood and plaster. Roofs were palmetto. Homes were in large villages around a town square with central buildings. As they moved homes were built on wooden stilts 2 to 3 feet of the ground in the Everglades. Homes did not have outer walls; during rain they hung hide tarps.

10. What do they wear?

11. Traditional Seminole clothing was fairly simple. Men generally wore breechcloths and women wore wraparound skirts made from palmetto. Shirts were rarely worn by the tribe, but in cool weather poncho-style shirts were worn. Both men and women wore moccasins on their feet.