Why go
This history adds meaning to the island's name and its position between Florida and Cuba. The Calusa were present before Europeans arrived; Spanish rule later brought a small fishing and salvage settlement. After colonial control shifted, people from Cuba, Britain and the young United States continued to use the island even without a firmly governed town.
The full story
The Calusa lived in this part of the Keys before European contact. The Spanish called the island Cayo Hueso, literally 'bone cay.' One account links the name to bones left by earlier inhabitants, although that explanation is a tradition rather than a certainty. During Spanish rule, the island supported a small fishing and salvage settlement with a garrison. When Britain took control of Florida in 1763, Spanish and Indigenous residents were moved to Havana. Florida returned to Spain two decades later, but Key West was not formally resettled. Fishers from Cuba and Britain, followed by people from the United States, still used the island. That loose pattern of occupation matters when reading later accounts of land sales and flag raising: the island was connected to several shores long before it became a plotted American town.
Useful to know
- Read Cayo Hueso as the island's historic Spanish name, not as the name of a separate stop.