After 1930 increases in human habitation in southern Florida significantly changed land and water use in the area. Many farmers were attracted to the area by rich soil. Many tourists and businesses were attracted to the land by the warm weather and lovely beaches. They built many cities, including Miami, along the west coast of Florida. Orlando grew into parts of Kissimee. Water was needed for farming and urban reasons. By doing this they left less water for the ecosystem. In addition, they added a system of canals to channel water from the rain to the everglades. This was done to prevent flooding. Most of the water in the canals flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. The canals and dikes further reduced waterflow through the Everglades. More than half of the water in southern Florida was being diverted for human use by the 1980's. As a result, the Everglades ecosystem was drying up and dying. In the 1990's restoration was initiated to redirect water back to the everglades. Some land south of Lake Okeechobee and some areas around Miami will become wetlands again.

    The history of South Florida begins with two groups of people who migrated here about 11,000 years ago. The Tequestas nestled on the southeastern coast, and the Calusas established approximately 30 villages south and west of the Everglades. These native peoples are known as the people of the Glades.

    The Tequestas and Calusas established villages at the mouths of rivers, on offshore islands, and on hammocks . They ate shellfish, turtles, deer, small mammals, and wild plants, and went after large fish in their dugout canoes. They especially liked manatees, a delicacy latecomers dubbed "pork of the sea."

    The people of the Glades used no metal or stone. From shells they created picks, drinking cups, hammers, chisels, fishhooks, and other tools and household implements. They used sharks' teeth to make knives, chiseled out cypress logs for canoes, and made pottery from mud.

    The huge shell mounds along South Florida's coast and on nearby islands mark sites where these villagers settled. Archaeologists have determined that some mounds were used as burial sites and ceremonial sites.

    When the Spanish first arrived in the early 1500s, the Tequestas' territory extended north to present-day Pompano and south to the Florida Keys. In the sixteenth century, the Tequestas numbered about 800, and the population of the Calusas was about 2,000. European explorers, missionaries, and settlers all came to South Florida for different reasons, yet they all made their mark on the New World.

    In 1513, Spanish explorer Ponce de León sailed from his governor's mansion in Puerto Rico to Florida, searching for gold and slaves. He sailed along Florida's shores, stopping briefly at a place he called Manataca.

    The Calusas at Manataca had heard word of Spanish cruelty from traders who traveled throughout the area in great seagoing canoes. According to an early historian who told Ponce de León's story, the Calusas "fought from the morning until the night without hurt to the Spaniards, because the arrows did not reach, whilst for the cross-bows and artillery shots they dared not draw near, and in the end the Indians retired."

    In 1565, Spanish captain-general Pedro Menéndez de Avilés sailed to South Florida to make peace with the native peoples and settle the lands for his king. His fleet was caught in a storm, and the crew took shelter in a Tequesta village in Biscayne Bay.

    Menéndez returned in 1567 so that "the souls and natives thereof may be saved and his Majesty's purpose be furthered, which is to prevent the [French] Lutherans from setting foot in that land, and to endeavor to implant the gospel therein." During this voyage, he established a mission, protected by 30 soldiers. The soldiers occasionally provoked acts of hostility, culminating with killing one of the uncles of the Tequesta chief. This enraged the Tequestas, who attacked and forced the missionaries to retreat.

    The Spanish continued to establish missions and forts along the Florida coasts to strengthen their hold on the New World. During this time, however, the Tequestas and Calusas began to feel the decimating effects of slave raids and European diseases. By 1800, the people of the Glades were reduced to a handful of survivors.

     Spain surrendered Florida to British control at the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763; the Spanish missionaries and soldiers departed. This left South Florida to native bands of Creek and Muskogee Creek people who moved here after the Creek War of 1813-14, pushed south from the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama by the ever-growing United States. Collectively, they became known by non-natives as Seminoles.

    By 1821, the population of Seminoles in Florida was about 5,000. They lived and hunted throughout the state and provided refuge for runaway slaves, infuriating southern plantation owners. Florida's officials sequestered the Seminoles on a reservation north of Lake Okeechobee, and the Seminoles retaliated by raiding white settlements.

    In 1830, Congress decreed that all Indians east of the Mississippi be relocated "far beyond the possibility of any contact with white men." Many Native Americans were forced to travel west on the Trail of Tears to present-day Oklahoma. A number of Seminoles refused to leave and declared war on the U.S. Army. The Seminole Wars of 1835-42 and 1855-59 inflicted heavy losses on both sides, finally ending with an 1859 truce. After the battles ended, about 150 Seminoles remained, hiding deep in the cypress stands and saw-grass prairies. Today, descendants of these Seminoles still live within Everglades National Park.

    Spain briefly resumed control of Florida in 1821, when the United States acquired the territory. At this time, Florida's coast was a well-known haunt for pirates such as Black Caesar. By the early 1820s, the U.S. Navy cleared out the pirates, making room for a new industry - salvaging ships dum dum dum.

    Hurricanes and treacherous shipping lanes frequently scattered treasures and crews across the reef. The wrecking business became a major source of income here: salvagers were legally entitled to a portion of a ship's salvaged goods. Whenever a ship grounded, the cry "Wreck ashore!" halted all on-shore activities as residents rushed to scavenge the unlucky vessel.

    Today, more than 40 shipwrecks are located within the boundaries of Biscayne National Park. You can still view the remains of these wrecks on boat tours.

    Turn-of-the-century South Florida also became home to poachers and plume hunters, particularly near the small town of Flamingo. Plumes of great egrets and snowy egrets were in demand as fashion accessories. Hunters slaughtered these wading birds by the thousands for their colorful feathers, and several species came dangerously close to becoming extinct.

    In that same year, Marjory Stoneman Douglas first published The Everglades: River of Grass. She understood its importance as the major watershed for South Florida and as a unique ecosystem (the only everglades in the world).

    Throughout the following decades, Coe, Douglas, and other dedicated conservationists continued to push for protection. In the 1960s, developers proposed to sprinkle resorts on Biscayne Bay's keys. Conservationists campaigned to preserve the bay and its remaining untouched islands. In 1968, Congress designated Biscayne a national monument, citing its "rare combination of terrestrial, marine, and amphibious life in a tropical setting of great natural beauty." In 1980, Congress authorized new acquisitions of the bay's keys and reefs and changed Biscayne's status to a national park.

    In 1993, Biscayne National Park, with its glimmering bay and brilliant mosaic of underwater sea life, celebrated its 25th anniversary.