By the 16^th century, the indigenous people of Florida had reached a new pinnacle of artistic expression, cultural complexity and population size. When European explorers first arrived in Florida, the indigenous population probably numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The map above illustrates the location and general appearance of some of Florida’s most encountered tribes. In reality, there were probably dozens more tribes not pictured on the map that operated as individual colonies across Florida. Unfortunately, as the Europeans began a campaign of extermination against the inhabitants of the new world, many smaller tribes assimilated into larger ones or disappeared altogether.