Missions to the Calusa - (Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen) by John H Hann & William H Marquardt (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- A compilation of historical documents written by Europeans during the colonization of southwest FloridaWhen Europeans arrived in southwest Florida in the early sixteenth century, they encountered a complex and powerful society.
- Author(s): John H Hann & William H Marquardt
- 484 Pages
- Social Science, Archaeology
- Series Name: Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen
Description
About the Book
This compilation of historical documents includes letters, reports, and accounts written by Europeans during thecolonization of Southwest Florida, offering insights into Spanish contact with the Calusa.
Book Synopsis
A compilation of historical documents written by Europeans during the colonization of southwest Florida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 This compilation of historical documents includes many reports never before translated into English, including letters from Pedro Menéndez, reports from King Charles II and governors, bishops, and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.
volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series
Review Quotes
"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
