FUN FACTS
WHY AIRBOATS?
Airboats, or fan boats, cruise through the Everglades with an aircraft or automotive engine that powers a propeller (much like an aircraft propeller) enclosed within a protective metal cage. The flat bottom design of the airboat, along with the above water operating system, allows easy access to shallow swamps, marshes, canals, and even frozen lakes. The ecosystem of a swamp is particularly delicate. Oftentimes life can be found right below the water’s surface, and this is why the use of airboats is so important to Corey Billie’s – our first concern is the preservation of the Everglades.
HISTORY OF THE SEMINOLES.
The Seminoles, as defined by Dru J. Murray, are a, “fierce, proud tribe of Florida,” who have, “let neither three wars with the United States Army or the harsh Everglade swamps defeat them.” The term Seminole, a derivation of the Spanish word cimarron, meaning “wild men” in Spanish was given to a group of Native People who refused to be dominated and forced into slavery by the British controlled northern colonies, and traveled south.
These people were not born Seminoles – they were the Creeks, the Hitichis and Yamasees, the Apalachees, the Alabamas and Mobiles, the Choctaws, Chickasaw, and Houmas. The first recorded use of the term “Seminole” to denote an actual tribe did not occur until 1771. Forced south during the Seminole Wars, groups of separate tribes came together to create a new culture that would always refuse to be dominated or enslaved.
ADDITIONAL SEMINOLE LINKS:
Seminole History
Seminole History
DID YOU KNOW
- America’s smallest Post Office is located in the everglades Ochopee Florida.
- Manatees can remain underwater for as long as 20 minutes at a time.
- It is estimated that fewer than 100 Florida Panthers are left in the wild.
- The Florida Everglades is a whopping 1,509,000 acres in size!
- The illusive and endangered Ghost Orchid can only be found in Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Florida Everglades.