The rich environmental history of Southwest Florida (Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties) is explored from the arrival of the first Floridians and extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna through Spanish contact with the Calusa tribe, the Seminole and Civil Wars, the Great Florida Land Boom of the 1920s, World War II, and into the recent era of explosive population growth and land development. Southwest Florida’s environment has been modified by natural process, exploitation of its natural resources (logging, naval stores, fishing, and mining), drainage, agriculture, tourism, and residential development, and will be impacted by climate change. Events both within and outside of the region interacted with the environment and are part of the tapestry that leads to modern Southwest Florida.