Missions to the Calusa
Missions to the Calusa
A compilation of historical documents written by Europeans during the colonization of southwest Florida
When Europeans arrived in southwest Florida in the early sixteenth century, they encountered a complex and powerful society. The Calusa have posed an enigma to many anthropologists and historians. This work provides missing information on the ethnography of the Calusa, a society that inhabited the area of Florida now known as Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties. This compilation of historical documents includes many reports never before translated into English, including letters from Pedro Menéndez, reports from King Charles II and governors, bishops, and soldiers, and eyewitness testimony from priests and laypersons about mission efforts from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries.
John Hann introduces Spanish contact with the Calusa from the early seventeenth century, focusing particularly on the ill-fated Franciscan attempt in 1697 to convert the Calusa to Christianity. His voluminous documentation for this effort is particularly valuable for its description of the role played by the Crown in instigating the mission despite little enthusiasm from religious authorities.
A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series
“Contributes significantly to the scant ethnohistorical and historical literature on this complex fisher-hunter-gatherer chiefdom of southwest Florida.”—American Antiquity
“By compiling in one volume numerous translated documents, . . . John Hann has produced another valuable research tool for students of Florida history. Spanning some 200 years, these documents vividly portray three brief abortive efforts to bring the Calusa under the sway of the Spanish church.”—Florida Historical Quarterly
“Will be of interest to students of Spanish missionary activity, especially during the seventeenth century, and to ethnohistorians.”—Hispanic American Historical Review
“A valuable contribution not only to Native American and early Florida history, but also to a better understanding of the Spanish missionary effort in the future United States.” —Mississippi Quarterly
“Finally, a comprehensive set of translations now exists for the enigmatic Calusa. Hann and Marquardt have assembled an exhaustive and diverse set of documents which locates the Calusa in their rightful place of importance in North American ethnography.”—Randolph Widmer, University of Houston
John H. Hann (1926–2009) was historical sites specialist for the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, Florida Department of State. His many books include Apalachee: The Land Between the Rivers, winner of the Florida Historical Society Rembert W. Patrick Memorial Book Prize.
William H. Marquardt is curator emeritus of south Florida archaeology and ethnography at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
