Before the European colonial period, the Calusa tribe had dwelt in the region for thousands of years, from Charlotte Harbor to Cape Sable. In 1513, Juan Ponce de León landed in the region and found resistance from the Calusa, which was then followed by nearly 200 years of strife between the Spanish and the Calusa. In the early 1700s, following slaving raids by Uchise Creek and Yamasee tribes allied with the English Province of Carolina, most of the Calusa retreated south and east.