The Tampa Reservation is one of six

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

s governed by the

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

Seminole Tribe of Florida The Seminole Tribe of Florida is a federally recognized Seminole tribe based in the U.S. state of Florida. Together with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, it is one of three federally recognized ...

. It is located in

Hillsborough County, Florida Hillsborough County is located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. In the 2020 census, the population was 1,459,762, making it the fourth-most populous county in Florida and the most populous county outside the Miami metro ...

Economic development

The

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa is a gaming complex and hotel that opened in 2004. It is located on the Tampa Reservation off of Interstate 4, just east of Tampa, Florida. The 190,000 square foot casino has been expanded multiple times ...

is located on the reservation in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough ...

, as well as the

Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and r ...

, Green Room, and a food court.

History

Tampa Reservation was founded in 1980 on nine acres of land. Ruby Tiger Osceola and 17 members of her family moved from

Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries A settlement established by Maroons or escaped sl ...

onto the reservation, at the urging of then-Chief

James E. Billie James Edward Billie (born March 20, 1944), known as Chief Jim Billie, is a politician who chaired the Seminole Tribe of Florida from 1979 to 2001, and again from 2011 to 2016. Billie's first tenure was the longest "of any elected leader in the ...

Reservations

Other

reservations are: *

Big Cypress Reservation The Big Cypress Indian Reservation is one of the six reservations of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. It is located in southeastern Hendry County and northwestern Broward County, in southern Florida, United States. Its location is on the Atlanti ...

, the largest territory, including 81.972 sq mi (212.306 km²), in Broward and Hendry CountiesPritzker 392 *

Brighton Reservation Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, located in northeast Glades County near the northwest shore of Lake Okeechobee. It is one of six reservations held in trust by the federal governme ...

, 57.090 sq mi (147.862 km²), Glades County * Hollywood Reservation (formerly called the Dania Reservation), acres,Daniel Chang, "Seminole Tribe to Close Park Near Hollywood"
''Miami Herald'', 14 September 2012 Broward County * Immokalee Reservation,

Collier County Collier County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East Naples, where the county offices were moved from ...

* Fort Pierce Reservation, a site in

St. Lucie County St. Lucie County ( es, Condado de Santa Lucía, link=) is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 329,226. The county's seat is Fort Pierce. St. Lucie County is included in the Port St. Lucie, FL Metr ...

, taken into trust for the tribe in 1995 by the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

Language

Most members of the tribe are bilingual, speaking the

Mikasuki language The Mikasuki, Hitchiti-Mikasuki, or Hitchiti language is a language or a pair of dialects or closely related languages that belong to the Muskogean languages family. Mikasuki was spoken by around 290 people in southern Florida. Along with the C ...

(which is also spoken by the Miccosukee Tribe) and English. Use of both Muskogean languages has declined among younger people.

Notes

References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .

External links

Seminole Tribe of Florida
official website {{Coord missing, Florida Seminole Tribe of Florida American Indian reservations in Florida Populated places in Hillsborough County, Florida 1980 establishments in Florida Populated places established in 1980