Florida Naturally.com

South Florida’s Tequesta and Calusa tribes were the first to settle the Florida area and had it all to themselves for many years. Little by little, the Spanish, English, French, and Seminole Indian settlers moved into the north end of the state.

The state of Florida is comprised of a minor portion of the Floridian Plateau and the costal lowlands. Much of this landmass has been submerged by ancient seas.

TBig Cypress Swamphe Big Cypress, so named because of its 2,400 square miles of big cypress trees, is what many people envision when they think of the Everglades: dim and shadowy, with pools of algae-laden water surrounding stands of cypress trees hanging heavy with Spanish moss and air plants.

The Big Cypress is a classic swamp, home to snakes, alligators, bobcats, deer, and a few remaining black bears and Florida panthers. The pond cypress tree is a deciduous conifer and, can grow to more than 100 feet tall. The dwarf cypress rarely gets higher than four feet. These venerable trees, some of which may be 600 years old, have a curious growth coming from their roots called cypress knees." The Bald cypress trees can be seen at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.

The Florida peninsula has been inundated by and later emerged from the surrounding seas at least four times in recent geologic history. As glaciers expanded, they consumed bodies of water, including the shallow tropical seas covering Florida, causing the land to emerge.