Old World Miami

Biscayne Bay, a string of barrier islands, Everglades water, and Keys that do not join the mainland. This is Tequesta country before the hotels.

Folklore

The Tequesta kept a town at the river mouth that later maps would call Miami. They traded with the Mayaimi of the inland lake and with Matecumbe people on the Keys. Spanish ships wrecked on the reef; the shore took the cargo. English wreckers told the same story in a louder accent. The Everglades were not empty swamp — they were a road system of sloughs, as straight in places as any canal a later surveyor would brag about. There are no mountains here. If you cannot see a sail, it is because the sawgrass is taller than you, not because the land rose up.

How to play it

Use the bay inlets. Do not assume the Keys are one island. Interior water is a navy path if you can hold both banks. The east coast is barrier islands; a port in the bay is safer than one on the open Atlantic until you own the inlet.