Seminole Nation Case Study

How were some of the members of the Seminole Nation able to avoid removal? These sources allow you to further to investigate this story of American Indian removal.

The United States forcibly removed about 4,400 individuals from the Seminole Nation to Indian Territory in the 1800s, but 300–500 managed to stay in Florida. Today their descendants belong to two federally recognized nations: the Seminole Nation of Florida and the Miccosukee Nation of Florida.

Be the Geographer

What does this map tell you about Seminole resistance and removal?

  1. Were all members of the Seminole Nation successful in avoiding removal?
  2. Where were some members of the Seminole Nation removed to?
  3. How many Seminole communities are located in Florida today?
  4. Challenge Question
  5. Based on this information, what challenges would the Seminole Nation have? (What would be difficult about maintaining unity while being spread so far apart?)
Close
Seminole map

Some members of the Seminole Nation successfully avoided removal. Even the U.S. military was unable to force all of the Seminole Nation from Florida.


Gene Thorp/Cartographic Concepts, Inc. © Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian.

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