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History of Tampa


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Name

The word "Tampa" may mean "sticks of fire" in the language of the Calusa, a Native American tribe that once lived south of today’s Tampa Bay. This might be a reference to the many lightning strikes that the area receives during the summer months. Other historians claim the name means "the place to gather sticks".

Toponymist George R. Stewart writes that the name was the result of a miscommunication between the Spanish and the Indians, the Indian word

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