San Antonio de Carlos, established in 1567, was the first Jesuit mission in the New World. The site is located in what is now

Mound Key Archaeological State Park Mound Key Archaeological State Park is a Florida State Park, located in Estero Bay, near the mouth of the Estero River. One hundred and thirteen of the island's one hundred and twenty-five acres are managed by the park system. It is a complex of ...

off Estero Bay in Florida and what was the cultural center of the

Calusa The Calusa ( ) were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. At the time of ...

or Calos people, who lived in the area for more than 2,000 years.

Background

In the 1500s, the Spanish began exploring the Florida peninsula and the Caribbean.

Juan Ponce de León Juan Ponce de León (, , , ; 1474 – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' known for leading the first official European expedition to Florida and for serving as the first governor of Puerto Rico. He was born in Santervá ...

, who came to the area in 1513, was the first contact between the Calusa and Europeans. He was injured when he was shot by an arrow in the thigh by a Calusa warrior, and died as the result of the injury. King Caalus, also known as

Carlos Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

, ruled more than 20,000 Calusas people of southern Florida in the mid 1500s. He had a large house that held up to 2,000 people on Mound Key, an island created from disposed clam and oyster shells. The Calusa people, who lived in a number of villages, primarily ate shellfish, turtles, and fish for their sustenance. They supplemented their diet with food they gathered and hunted, including birds and deer.

History

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (; ast, Pedro (Menéndez) d'Avilés; 15 February 1519 – 17 September 1574) was a Spanish admiral, explorer and conquistador from Avilés, in Asturias, Spain. He is notable for planning the first regular trans-oceani ...

, was appointed as Spain's first Governor of Florida in 1566. Menéndez arrived to the area with 200 soldiers, some of whom were musicians who played fifes, trumpets, and drums. They built a fort, which included a Jesuit mission. Many of the native Calusa people died as the result of diseases brought to them by the Spanish and for which they had no immunity. The Spanish abandoned the site by 1569, due to the resistance of the Calusa against colonization.

Aftermath

In 1697, Franciscan friars attempted to convert the Calusa people. The friars' naked and dead bodies were later found inside their canoes in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

. Most of the Calusa people died off as the result of disease and warfare from armed local tribes around 1750. Any remaining people went to Cuba or the Florida Keys by the end of the 18th century. Fisherman and pirates occupied the site until the late 19th century. In 1891, the land was homesteaded by Frank Johnson. In 1905, the Johnson's land, and that of others who moved into the area, was sold to the utopian group, the Koreshans; and specficially, the

Koreshan Unity The Koreshan Unity was a communal utopia formed by Cyrus Teed, who took the name "Koresh", the original Persian form of his name Cyrus. The Koreshans followed Teed's beliefs, called Koreshanity, and he was regarded by his adherents as "the new Mes ...

, which was led by

Cyrus Teed Cyrus Reed Teed (October 18, 1839 – December 22, 1908) was a U.S. eclectic physician and alchemist turned pseudoscientific religious leader and self-proclaimed messiah. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Teed took on the name Koresh and ...

, who went by the name "Koresh". After Teed's death in 1908, the numbers of Koreshans dwindled, and the last remaining follower, Hedwig Michel, deeded the property to the State of Florida in 1961, upon which it became the

Koreshan State Historic Site The Koreshan State Historic Site is a state park in Lee County, Florida located on U.S. Highway 41 at Corkscrew Road. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 4, 1976, under the designation of Koreshan Unity Settlemen ...

Archaeological study

The Spanish fort and mission of San Antón de Carlos, at the capital of the Calusa, are part of the Mound Key (8LL2) archaeological study. The paper, published in 2018, reports on the evidence of the fortification and structures of the colonial period.

References

{{Pre-Columbian North America Calusa Native American history of Florida Archaeological sites in Florida Protected areas established in 1970 Florida Native American Heritage Trail