Tampa, Florida

===Indigenous peoples and European exploration===
{{main|Tocobaga|Pohoy}}

The shores of [[Tampa Bay]] have been inhabited for thousands of years. A variant of the [[Weeden Island culture]] developed in the area by about 2000 years ago, with archeological evidence suggesting that these residents relied on the sea for most of their resources, as a vast majority of inhabited sites have been found on or near the shoreline and there is little evidence of farming. At the time of European contact in the early 16th century, several chiefdoms of the [[Safety Harbor culture]] dominated the area.<ref name="milanich1998">{{cite book |last1=Milanich |first1=Jerald T. |title=Florida's Indians from Ancient Times to the Present |date=1998 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville |isbn=0-8130-1599-5}}</ref>

Early Spanish explorers interacted most extensively with the [[Tocobaga]], whose principal town was at the northern end of Old Tampa Bay near today's [[Safety Harbor, Florida|Safety Harbor]] in [[Pinellas County]]. While there is a substantial historical record of the Tocobaga (and the [[Calusa]], who lived to the south), there is less surviving documentation describing the [[Pohoy]], who lived near the mouth of the Hillsborough River near today's downtown Tampa. However, evidence suggests that the language and culture of the Pohoy and other lesser-known groups around the bay were very similar to that of the Tocobaga.<ref>Milanich, Jerald T. 1995. ''Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe''. University Press of Florida. {{ISBN|0-8130-1360-7}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Childers |first=Ronald Wayne |title=Historic Notes and Documents: A Late Seventeenth-Century Journey to Tampa Bay |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |date=Spring 2002 |volume=80 |issue=4 |pages=504–24 |jstor=30146374}}</ref>

Expeditions led by [[Narváez expedition|Pánfilo de Narváez]] and [[Hernando de Soto]] landed near Tampa, but neither [[conquistador]] stayed long. There is no natural gold or silver in Florida, and the native inhabitants repulsed Spanish attempts to establish a permanent settlement or convert them to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]]. The fighting resulted in a few deaths, but the many more deaths were caused by infectious diseases brought from Europe, which devastated the population of Native Americans across Florida and the entire Western Hemisphere. The indigenous cultures of the Tampa Bay area had collapsed by around 1600, leaving the west coast of [[Spanish Florida]] largely depopulated and ignored for more than 200 years.<ref name="Mulder, Kenneth 1990">Mulder, Kenneth. ''Tampa Bay: Days of Long Ago''. P&M Pub. Co., 1990.</ref>

In the mid-18th century, events in the American colonies and the early United States drove the [[Seminole]] people into northern Florida, but they did not move into central Florida until after the United States gained control of Florida in 1821.<ref>{{cite web |title=European Exploration and Colonization – Florida Department of State |url=http://dos.myflorida.com/florida-facts/florida-history/a-brief-history/european-exploration-and-colonization/ |website=dos.myflorida.com |publisher=Florida Department of State |access-date=May 9, 2018 |archive-date=May 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180509151025/http://dos.myflorida.com/florida-facts/florida-history/a-brief-history/european-exploration-and-colonization/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.johnhorse.com/black-seminoles/faq-black-seminoles.htm |title=FAQ on the Black Seminoles, John Horse, and Rebellion |publisher=johnhorse.com |access-date=December 25, 2009 |archive-date=April 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402112945/http://www.johnhorse.com/black-seminoles/faq-black-seminoles.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Before the American period, the Tampa Bay area had a handful of residents: [[Cubans|Cuban]] and Native American fishermen who established small seasonal camps called "ranchos" on the shores of Tampa Bay. The largest was at the mouth of Spanishtown Creek in today's [[Hyde Park (Tampa)|Hyde Park]] neighborhood along [[Bayshore Boulevard]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kite-Powell |first1=Rodney |title=Tampa and Cuba connected through time |url=http://www.tbo.com/health-lifestyles/tampa-and-cuba-connected-through-time-20160410/ |access-date=May 9, 2018 |work=The Tampa Tribune |date=April 10, 2016 |archive-date=May 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180509150916/http://www.tbo.com/health-lifestyles/tampa-and-cuba-connected-through-time-20160410/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>