In 1566 a new Spanish governor of La Florida was summoned to the Calusa capital and led up to a vast meeting hall on a tall platform. The king and queen sat on thrones, with 500 men behind the king and 500 women behind the queen. The site is Mound Key Archaeological State Park, south of Fort Myers, where mounds still rise over 30 feet. 👑
Calusa capital identified at Mound Key, where mounds still stand over 30 feet tall
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Key facts
- In 1566 the new Spanish governor of La Florida was invited to the Calusa (Kousa) kingdom's capital and was brought to a massive meeting hall atop a tall platform
- At the center of that hall the Calusa king and queen sat on thrones, and the Spanish reported 500 men standing behind the king and 500 women behind the queen during the meeting
- The Calusa capital site is now Mound Key Archaeological State Park, south of Fort Myers, where broad mounds still stand more than 30 feet tall
- Spanish records and ruined forts at the location corroborated that this was where the Calusa king and queen met the Spanish governor in 1566
- The earthen pyramid de Soto commandeered in the Tampa Bay area is thought to be destroyed, though other mound remains survive there
Sources
Mound Key Archaeological State Parken.wikipedia.org
Mound Key was an important site of the Calusa people, and most experts believe it to be the site of their capital, Calos. The Mound Key Site on the island ...
Mound Key Archaeological State Parktrailoffloridasindianheritage.org
Mound Key is believed to have been the cultural center for the Calusa. They had their first encounters with Europeans in the early 1500s when the Spaniards ...
Features - Searching for the Fisher Kingsarchaeology.org
Mound Key (center) in Estero Bay was the capital of the Native Calusa people when the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century.(Merald Clark).
Last Parcel of Land on Mound Key Bought by Lee Countyfloridamuseum.ufl.edu
Lee County Commission voted to buy the last privately owned property on Mound Key, the Calusa capital. last 9.5 acres in private ownership.
Florida's Mound Key as location of elusive Spanish fortarchaeology.wiki
The Spanish fort was built in 1566 in the capital of the Calusa, the most powerful Native American tribe in the region, on present-day Mound Key ...
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