Other groups of early Native Americans inhabited the region around Jupiter Inlet and along the coastal area south to Lake Worth. Those tribes might have been under the political domination of the more powerful Calusa of the southwest coast of Florida. Along the shores of Lake Okeechobee, two small tribes, the Guacata and the Mayaimi, lived. Several different groups of Native Americans lived in the area of Palm Beach County. These nomads also searched for edible plants and sources of fresh water. They were hunter-gatherers and moved from place to place, following the large animals, or mega-fauna of the day, such as mammoths, mastodons, bears, bison, and giant sloths. By the end of the last ice age, or about 12,000 years ago, the first people were already living in the area we know as Florida. Florida’s unique history began long before it earned its Spanish-based name.
