Missions to the Calusa - (Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen) by John H Hann & William H Marquardt (Paperback)

About the Book

"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 This compilation of historical documents includes many reports never before translated into English, including letters from Pedro Menâendez, reports from King Charles II and governors, bishops, and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."--

Book Synopsis

This compilation of historical documents includes letters, reports, and accounts written by Europeans during the
colonization of Southwest Florida, offering insights into Spanish contact with the Calusa.

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