 Europeans found a thriving native population, the Mayaimi in the Lake Okeechobee Basin, while the Jaegas and Ais resided east of Lake Okeechobee and along the east coast north of the Tequestas.When the Spanish arrived, there were perhaps about 20,000 Native Americans in South Florida.The native peoples had all but been wiped out through war, enslavement, or European diseases, by the time the English gained control of Florida in 1763.