The History of the Everglades: From untamed wilderness to national treasure

Long before modern boundaries, the Everglades region was home to Indigenous peoples like the Calusa, Tequesta, and later the Seminole. These cultures adapted to the wetland environment, traveling by dugout canoe, harvesting fish and shellfish, and constructing shell mounds that still exist today. Their deep connection to the water defined their way of life.

Spanish explorers arrived in the 1500s, bringing disease and upheaval. By the 1800s, as US expansion pushed into Florida, the Everglades became a key battleground during the Seminole Wars (1816–1858). The Seminoles used the swampy terrain to resist forced removal, making the region one of the last refuges of Indigenous resistance in the Eastern US.

From the 1880s onward, the Everglades was viewed as a wasteland to be "improved." Canals and levees were constructed to drain the wetlands for sugarcane fields, cattle ranches, and settlements. These changes devastated the ecosystem, rerouting natural water flows and causing widespread habitat loss.

Conservationists, especially Marjory Stoneman Douglas, helped change public perception with her landmark 1947 book The Everglades: River of Grass. That same year, Everglades National Park was created, the first national park in the US established primarily to protect an ecosystem. However, it preserved only about 20% of the original Everglades.

Since the 1980s, large-scale efforts like CERP have aimed to reverse decades of ecological damage. The goals: restore natural water flow, reduce pollution, and protect endangered species like the Florida panther and manatee. Yet the Everglades still faces mounting threats from climate change, invasive species, and urban expansion.