The Calusa built their entire way of life around the ocean and estuaries of the Gulf Coast, creating a vast empire by learning to manipulate their environment. The two forms together may have indicated his transformation (Figs. By the early 19th century, Anglo-Americans in the area used the term Calusa for the people. //-->. The Penn Museum respectfully acknowledges that it is situated on Lenapehoking, the ancestral and spiritual homeland of the Unami Lenape. The Calusa Indians, a poorly understood group of bygone Native Americans D Donna Jean Calusa Indians European Explorers University Of South Florida Gulf Coast Florida Spirit World Mexica South Florida People & Environments: The Calusa Domain: Calusa beliefs included a trinity of governing spirits. The Calusa leader, Calus (called Carlos II by the Spaniards), agrees to accept a Jesuit missionary among his people, but the Calusa refuse to . What formation processes resulted in the complex of mounds and other features there? The pelican, wolf, and deer figureheads mentioned here (Figs. The Calusa believed that their cacique was not only the leader of their tribe, but also their spiritual leader. The Calusas were one of the few North American Indian tribes who were ruled by a hereditary king. Perhaps a dancer wore the mask and carried the figurehead of the particular animal he was emulating (Cushing 1896). But Widmer argues that the evidence for maize cultivation by the Calusa depends on the proposition that the Narvez and de Soto expeditions landed in Charlotte Harbor rather than Tampa Bay, which is now generally discounted. They believed that people had three souls-in a person's eye, shadow, and their reflection in the water. The Calusa king Caalus, perched high on his throne in his grand house, watched as Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the first governor of La Florida, arrived with his entourage. Tribute was offered in the form of prestige goods, such as feathers, mats, deerskins, food, and metals and captives recovered from Spanish shipwrecks (Hudson 1976). Or, were the Romans protecting something even more valuable than silver? Native American art,