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What is the Miccosukee Indian Reservation?
Niki Foster
Niki Foster
The Miccosukee Indian Reservation is the homeland of members of the Miccosukee, a Native American tribe. It is located in Florida, in parts of Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. The Miccosukee Indian Reservation is comprised of three areas: Tamiami Trail, Alligator Alley, and Krome Avenue.
Tamiami Trail is the area with the largest Miccosukee population and the site of most Tribal operations. Part of the land is dedicated to a traditional Miccosukee lifestyle, including hunting, fishing, and subsistence agriculture, and commercial development is prohibited. The reservation also features an Indian village and museum open to visitors. The Indian village showcases traditional arts and crafts, cooking, and demonstrations with alligators. Tamiami Trail is located 40 miles (64 km) west of Miami.
Alligator Alley is the largest of the three sections of the Miccosukee Indian Reservation. It is located in western Broward County, where it borders Collier County. Alligator Alley features a gas station and service plaza.
Krome Avenue, the smallest portion of the Miccosukee Indian Reservation, is home to the Miccosukee Resort & Casino, as well as a tobacco shop and convention center. In addition to hotel accommodations, gaming, and dining, the resort features a European spa and Club Egret, a child-care center and play space. The Krome Avenue section of the Miccosukee Indian Reservation is located at the intersection of Tamiami Trail and Krome Avenue.
The Miccosukee tribe, once known as the Lower Chiaha, historically lived in present day Georgia with the Upper Chiaha, with whom they formed one of the Muskogee Creek tribes. They later separated from the Upper Chiaha, and migrated to Alabama, then moved to Florida around the turn of the 19th century. The Miccosukee joined with the Seminole tribe during the Second and Third Seminole Wars of the mid-19th century, but officially separated from the Seminoles in the 1950s, gaining federal recognition in 1962.
Tribal membership is open to anyone who has a Miccosukee mother, and is not enrolled with any other Native American tribe. The tribe is active in environmental preservation efforts. They also sponsor the Miccosukee Championship, a Professional Golfers Association (PGA) event, and several National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) teams.
The language of the Miccosukee tribe is Mikasuki, also called Hitchiti-Mikasuki, a Muskogean language related to Choctaw and Creek-Seminole. Mikasuki currently has about 500 speakers. The Hitchiti language, which was mutually intelligible with Mikasuki and possibly part of a single dialect continuum, is now extinct.
Niki Foster
In addition to her role as a UnitedStatesNow editor, Niki enjoys educating herself about interesting and unusual topics in order to get ideas for her own articles. She is a graduate of UCLA, where she majored in Linguistics and Anthropology.
Learn more...
Niki Foster
In addition to her role as a UnitedStatesNow editor, Niki enjoys educating herself about interesting and unusual topics in order to get ideas for her own articles. She is a graduate of UCLA, where she majored in Linguistics and Anthropology.
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![The Miccosukee Indian Reservation is known for its alligator demonstrations.]()
By: eastmanphotoThe Miccosukee Indian Reservation is known for its alligator demonstrations.
Discussion Comments
I really love the museums on the Miccosukee reservation -- I actually found out about it through my kids, since they went on field trips there a few times and really loved it.
I finally went with them as a parent volunteer, and I have to say, it was really interesting! I was surprised how much I learned about the culture.
@Icecream17 - I know in Broward county there is the Seminole Indian reservation, which is a little north of Miami. That is where the famous Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is located.
It is really quite a tourist spot. I bet that many cities could see a lot of tax revenue if they opened their own private casinos to compete with the ones on these Indian reservations, but the movement does have its share of controversy.
The gambling on the Indian reservations like Miccosukee is really popular, because in Miami Dade County this is the only legal gambling available. There are measures currently in place in order to expand legalized gambling to the area, but in the past the residents didn’t want it.
The problem is that the casinos on the Indian reservations do not generate any tax revenue so many in the county government want to expand gambling so that the county could have receive much of the enormous potential tax revenue that they could generate.
The problem in the past has been that many residents were against the expansion of gambling outside of the Indian reservations because they felt that it would lead to an increase in crime.
A lot of people are now rethinking this because many city governments like those in Miami are in desperate need of tax dollars and the casinos could also draw more tourist traffic as well.
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