In 1813 the Maskókî (the Europeans called them “Creek”) Indians in what is now Alabama rose against the European settlers. The resulting brutality on the part of the whites, and a treaty mandated by General Andew Jackson, caused many of the warriors to take refuge in Florida, which was still ruled by Spain. They joined with a variety of Indian groups in Florida that had banded to together as Yat’siminoli, or free people, and resisted being controlled by outside forces. After the Spaniards ceded the land to the United States, the whites began to call the indians Seminoles, a derivation of what they called themselves.