SEMINOLE

Seminole, "Unconquered" or "Runaways" were southeastern Creeks who were driven out of their home lands in Georgia and Alabama. They settled and intermarried with other southern tribes in Florida in order to continue their hunting, farming, and village traditions. Federal settlement pressures and wars reduced their numbers and forced many of them to the wall the Trail of Tears in 1838-1839, bringing them to Indian Territory, which later became the State of Oklahoma. But many fought to remain; they now have five reservations and trust lands in Florida as well as lands in Texas and in Seminole, Oklahoma.