Measured by latitude, you'll find about 40 miles between Captiva and Marco Islands, with Sanibel Island just south of Captiva. For those who prefer dry land, driving from Sanibel/Captiva to Marco Island is roughly 65 miles.
While the three couldn't be more different, Sanibel/Captiva and Marco Island share deep historical roots through the Calusa, which dominated Southwest Florida's barrier islands. And even some more modern parallels.
These islands all served as major territories and village sites for the Calusa people, who lived on and around Sanibel Island for thousands of years. They built elaborate shell mounds, dug canal systems, crafted tools and produced artwork.
The Calusa were also the original native people of Marco Island, building an advanced coastal society over 4,000 years.
Juan Ponce de León became the first European known to reach Florida in 1513, landing (it's said) near Caxambas Pass on the southern end of Marco Island. Later Spanish navigators named it La Isla de San Marcos after Saint Mark.
Spanish exploration of Sanibel began that same year. Folklore suggests he named it Santa Isybella for Queen Isabella, though maps later referred to the area as S. Nivel or San Ybel, giving Sanibel its modern name.
A second attempt in 1521 by Ponce de León to colonize nearby Punta Rassa failed after he was mortally wounded in a Calusa attack.
This contact with the Calusa brought diseases and raids, which devastated the native population by the mid-1700s.
In 1896, pioneering anthropologist Frank Hamilton Cushing led the landmark Pepper-Hearst expedition at Key Marco, an island adjacent to modern Marco. The excavation is considered one of the most critical and complex archaeological breakthroughs in North American history.
Cushing excavated a small "muck pond." The mud acted as a preservative. Cushing pulled more than 1,000 prehistoric wooden artifacts out of the silt intact.
The crowning jewel of the expedition was the Key Marco Cat, a six-inch wooden figurine with human and panther characteristics.
Pioneers and pirates – folklore ties both remote shores to pirate encampments, followed by 19th-century homesteaders and commercial fishermen.
Both islands experienced massive modern transformations in the 1960s — Marco via the Mackle brothers into a resort-style community; Sanibel through the opening of its causeway, though Sanibel subsequently took a strict conservation path by incorporating as an independent city in 1974 to limit development.
Captiva: It's famous for its pirate tales (legend says pirate Jose Gaspar kept his female prisoners captive here, which inspired the island's name), stunning sunsets and a laid-back "Old Florida" vibe. It features white-sand beaches and narrow tropical lanes without traffic lights.
Sanibel: It's the seashell capital of the world because of its unique east-west orientation, which acts like a giant scoop for hundreds of specialty shells. It might also be considered the inspiration for the bending-over search posture known as the "Sanibel Stoop." Over half of the island is preserved and known as the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
Marco: It's the largest and only developed barrier island among Florida's Ten Thousand Islands. It has over 100 miles of man-made residential canals, pristine crescent beaches.
Sources: The News-Press and Naples Daily News archives, newspapers.com, the State Archives of Florida, Visit Florida and the Marco Island Historical Society.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Historic ties bind Sanibel, Captiva and Marco Island