northern Florida during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Lower Chiaha comprised the major part of the Seminole tribe, which formed in the eighteenth century in Florida through a process of ethnogenesis. They numbered about 6,000 by the early 19th century. About 2,000 Upper Creek (Red Sticks), who were Creek speakers, joined them after defeat in the Creek War of 1813-1814. Although East and West Florida were under Spanish control, United States forces invaded in 1818 in the First Seminole War, in retaliation for Indian raids against settlers in Georgia. In 1821 the United States (US) acquired Florida from Spain, and it increased pressure for removal against the Seminole/Creek from Florida. It relocated several thousand Seminole and hundreds of Black Seminoles, who lived in close association as allies, to the Indian Territory. They were originally given land under Creek administration and later given a separate reservation. Those who remained in Florida fought against US forces during the second and third Seminole Wars. They had moved into central Florida and the Everglades to try to evade European-American settlement pressure. During this period, the Miccosukee mixed with the Creek-speaking Seminole, but many maintained their Mikasuki language and identity. Twentieth century to present The tribe had long maintained its distinction from the Seminole, who they believed were more willing to adapt to the majority culture. The federal and state governments persisted in treating them as a unified people, and there was a third group, known as Traditionals or Independents. An issue that divided them was the majority Seminole filing in 1950 with the Indian Claims Commission for claim for compensation for lands taken by the US government. The Miccosukee and Traditionals contended they had never reached an official peace with the US in Florida, and they wanted a return of their land rather than financial compensation. (The United States settlement of the claims with the Seminole and Miccosukee in Florida, and the Seminole in Oklahoma, was finally made in 1976. Division of shares within the tribes took until 1990 to settle.) Under the federal government's program of termination of recognition, it proposed in 1953 that the Seminole Tribe be terminated. The Seminole Tribe of Florida developed a constitution and corporate charter, organizing a government, which achieved federal recognition in 1957. These people had begun to move onto designated Indian reservations in Florida starting in the 1930s and 1940s. The land claims and termination