Calusa

The Calusa (/kəˈluːsə/kə-LOO-sə) were a Native American people who lived on the coast and along the inner waterways of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region; at the time of European contact, the Calusa were the people of the Caloosahatchee culture. They were notable for having developed a complex culture based on estuarine fisheries rather than agriculture. Calusa territory reached from Charlotte Harbor to Cape Sable, all of present-day Charlotte and Lee counties, and may have included the Florida Keys at times. They had the highest population density of south Florida; estimates of total population at the time of European contact range from 10,000 to several times that, but these are still speculative.