Tidal charts florida1/23/2024 Today, it is a protected tangle of dense mangroves, lagoons, and tunnels, attracting outdoor enthusiasts drawn to its isolated beauty.Ī white heron stands in the marsh area of Ten Thousand Islands as it looks for fish © Getty Images Wildlife watching The area was ceded to Europeans and small groups of Seminole by the mid-1700s and eventually white fishermen took over the area for commercial fishing.īy the middle of the twentieth century, the Ten Thousand Islands were almost completely uninhabited – most people moving to nearby Marco Island, Naples and Everglades City – and the region was designated a national wildlife refuge in 1996. When the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, European diseases killed 80 percent of the indigenous population of Florida and the Ten Thousand Islands weren’t spared – the Calusa died in great numbers. The land originally belonged to the Calusa, who created large shell mounds and structures, built sophisticated docks and bridges, and dug canals throughout the region. In fact, archaeologists have found evidence of Native American habitation from around 3500 years ago, although some of these sites have since disappeared beneath rising sea waters. The Ten Thousand Islands have long been a fertile place, attracting fish, game – and consequently humans – for thousands of years. Pre-dawn over the marsh and mangroves at the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge © Getty Images History of the Ten Thousand Islands
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