Misplaced Pages

#772227

87-657: Tacatacuru was a Timucua chiefdom located on Cumberland Island in what is now the U.S. state of Georgia in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was one of two chiefdoms of the Timucua subgroup known as the Mocama , who spoke the Mocama dialect of Timucuan and lived in the coastal areas of southeastern Georgia and northern Florida. The Tacatacuru were among the first native tribes to meet French explorer Jean Ribault 's expedition in 1562. They appear to have interacted amicably with

174-833: A Muskogean language people. For instance, the Yamasee term "Mico", meaning chief, is also common in Muskogee. After the Yamasees migrated to the Carolinas , they began participating in the Indian slave trade in the American Southeast . They raided other tribes to take captives for sale to European colonists . Captives from other Native American tribes were sold into slavery, with some being transported to West Indian plantations. Their enemies fought back, and slave trading

261-405: A ceremonial purpose, and was a highly caffeinated Cassina tea , brewed from the leaves of the yaupon holly tree. The tea was consumed only by males in good status with the tribe. The drink was posited to have an effect of purification, and those who consumed it often vomited immediately. This drink was integral to most Timucua rituals and hunts. Spanish explorers were shocked at the height of

348-641: A force which defeated the Yamasees at Salkechuh (also spelled Saltketchers or Salkehatchie) on the Combahee River . Eventually, Craven was able to drive the Yamasees across the Savannah River back into Spanish Florida . After the war, the Yamasees migrated southwards to the region around St. Augustine and Pensacola , where they formed an alliance with the Spanish colonial administration. These Yamasees continued to inhabit Florida until 1727, when

435-957: A guide for Catholics attending Mass , written in Latin with Spanish and Timucua commentary, was discovered at All Souls College Library in Oxford in 2019 by Dr. Timothy Johnson of Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida . The last previous discovery of a lost text by Friar Pareja was in 1886. The other sources for the language are two catechisms by another Franciscan, Gregorio de Movilla, two letters from Timucua chiefs, and scattered references in other European sources. Pareja noted that there were ten dialects of Timucua, which were usually divided along tribal lines. These were Timucua proper, Potano, Itafi, Yufera, Mocama, Agua Salada, Tucururu, Agua Fresca, Acuera, and Oconi. Yamasee The Yamasees (also spelled Yamassees , Yemasees or Yemassees ) were

522-627: A multiethnic confederation of Native Americans who lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida . The Yamasees engaged in revolts and wars with other native groups and Europeans living in North America, specifically from Florida to North Carolina. The Yamasees, along with the Guale, are considered from linguistic evidence by many scholars to have been

609-739: A result of duplicitous colonial mercantile practices. Infuriated by the practices of the colonists, the Yamasees resolved to go to war against them, forming a pan-tribal coalition and initiating a two-year long war by attacking the colonial settlement of Charles Town on April 15, 1715. Bolstered by the large number of Indian tribes they had managed to enlist into their coalition, the Yamasees staged large-scale raids against other colonial settlements in Carolina as well, leading to most colonists abandoning frontier settlements and seeking refuge in Charles Town. South Carolina Governor Charles Craven led

696-406: A similar game in which balls were thrown, rather than kicked, at a goal post. The Timucua probably also played chunkey , as did the neighboring Apalachee and Guale peoples, but there is no firm evidence of this. Archery , running , and dancing were other popular pastimes. The chief had a council that met every morning when they would discuss the problems of the chiefdom and smoke. To initiate

783-523: A single political unit. The various groups of Timucua speakers practiced several different cultural traditions. The people suffered severely from the introduction of Eurasian infectious diseases . By 1595, their population was estimated to have been reduced from 200,000 to 50,000 and thirteen chiefdoms remained. By 1700, the population of the tribe had been reduced to an estimated 1,000 due to slave raids from Carolinian settlers and their Indian allies. The local slave trade completed their extinction as

870-512: A single political unit. Timucua tribes, in common with other peoples in Florida, engaged in limited warfare with each other. The standard pattern was to raid a town by surprise, kill and scalp as many men of the town as possible during the battle, and carry away any women and children that could be captured. The victors in such battles did not try to pursue their defeated enemies, and there were no prolonged campaigns. Laudonnière reported that after

957-540: A successful raid a tribe would celebrate its victory for three days and nights. The Timucua may have been the first American natives to see the landing of Juan Ponce de León , if that landing was near St. Augustine in 1513. However, claims have also been made for Ponce de Leon Inlet , the portion of an unnamed barrier island in Melbourne Beach , and Jupiter Inlet as the site of the landing. Later, in 1528, Pánfilo de Narváez 's expedition passed along

SECTION 10

#1732772296773

1044-663: A tribe soon after the turn of the 18th century. The word "Timucuan" may derive from "Thimogona" or "Tymangoua", an exonym used by the Saturiwa chiefdom of present-day Jacksonville for their enemies, the Utina , who lived inland along the St. Johns River . Both groups spoke dialects of the Timucua language . The French followed the Saturiwa in this usage, but the Spanish applied the term "Timucua" much more widely to groups within

1131-413: A village, but the mounds belonged to clans rather than villages. The Timucua were a semi-agricultural people and ate foods native to North Central Florida. They planted food crops such as maize (corn), beans , squash and other vegetables. Archaeologists' findings suggest that they may have employed crop rotation . In order to plant, they used fire to clear the fields of weeds and brush. They prepared

1218-653: A wide section of interior North Florida. In the 16th century they designated the area north of the Santa Fe River between the St. Johns and Suwannee Rivers (roughly the area of the group known as the Northern Utina ) as the Timucua Province , which they incorporated into the mission system . The dialect spoken in that province became known as "Timucua" (now usually known as "Timucua proper"). During

1305-517: Is evidence that the Mocoso spoke a dialect of Timucua, while the other chiefdoms of the Tampa Bay area spoke a different, unknown language. A chiefdom in central Florida (in southeastern Lake or southwestern Orange counties) led by Urriparacoxi may have spoken Timucua. "Urriparacoxi" was a Timucuan term for "war-prince". While leadership titles were borrowed between different languages in what

1392-500: Is now the southeastern United States, "Urriparacoxi" is not known to have been used by any group that did not speak Timucuan. Based on a vocabulary list collected from a man named Lamhatty in 1708, Swanton classified the Tawasa language as a dialect of Timucuan. Later scholars have noted that while the vocabulary items appear to be mostly related to Timucuan, Lamhatty's tribal identity remains uncertain. The largest and best known of

1479-523: Is partially preserved in works by missionary Domingo Báez. Diego Peña was told in 1716-1717 that the Cherokee of Tuskegee Town also spoke Yamasee. Hann (1992) asserted that Yamasee is related to the Muskogean languages. This was based upon a colonial report that a Yamasee spy within a Hitchiti town could understand Hitichiti and was not detected as a Yamasee. Francis Le Jau stated in 1711 that

1566-450: Is probably a loanword , as it seems also to have been absorbed into the Timucua language . Thus, the connection of Yamasee with Muskogean is unsupported. A document in a British colonial archive suggests that the Yamasees originally spoke Cherokee, an Iroquoian language, but had learned another language. For a time they were allied with the Cherokee but are believed to have been a distinct people. In 1715 Col. George Chicken stated that he

1653-695: Is underway in Cuba to discover if any Timucua descendants exist there. Some historians believe a small group of Timucua may have stayed behind in Florida or Georgia and possibly assimilated into other groups such as the Seminoles. Many Timucua artifacts are stored at the Florida Museum of Natural History , the University of Florida and in other museums. The Timucua were divided into a number of different tribes or chiefdoms , each of which spoke one of

1740-655: Is unknown from later sources. However, both French and Spanish sources note a town named Eloquale or Etoquale in the Acuera chiefdom, suggesting that the Ocale may have migrated east and joined the Acuera. Hann has argued that the chiefdom of Mocoso , located near the mouth of the Alafia River on the eastern shore of Tampa Bay in the 16th century, was Timucuan. He suggests that the people of that chiefdom may have relocated to

1827-649: The English colony of the Carolina (present day South Carolina ). They established several villages, including Pocotaligo, Tolemato, and Topiqui, in Beaufort County . A 1715 census conducted by Irish colonist John Barnwell counted 1,220 Yamasees living in ten villages near Port Royal . Migration by the Yamasees to Charles Town (in the colony of Carolina ) beginning in 1686 was likely in pursuit of trading opportunities with English colonists, or to escape

SECTION 20

#1732772296773

1914-613: The Guale . They spoke the Itafi dialect of Timucua. The Yufera tribe lived on the coast opposite to Cumberland Island and spoke the Yufera dialect. The Ibi tribe lived inland from the Yufera, and had 5 towns located 14 leagues (about 50 miles) from Cumberland Island; like the Icafui and Cascangue they spoke the Itafi dialect. All these groups participated in a culture that was intermediate between

2001-541: The St. Johns River . After initial conflict, the Huguenots established friendly relations with the local natives in the area, primarily the Timucua under the cacique Saturiwa . Sketches of the Timucua drawn by Jacques le Moyne de Morgues , one of the French settlers, have proven valuable resources for modern ethnographers in understanding the people. The next year the Spanish under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés surprised

2088-553: The St. Johns culture or in unnamed cultures related to the Wilmington-Savannah culture , and were more focused on exploiting the resources of marine and wetland environments. All of the known Eastern Timucua tribes were incorporated into the Spanish mission system starting in the late 16th century. The Western Timucua lived in the interior of the upper Florida peninsula, extending to the Aucilla River on

2175-415: The Timucua language . The language is relatively well attested compared to other Native American languages of the period. This is largely due to the work of Francisco Pareja , a Franciscan missionary at San Juan del Puerto , who in the 17th century produced a grammar of the language, a confessional, three catechisms in parallel Timucua and Spanish, as well as a newly-discovered Doctrina . The Doctrina ,

2262-435: The exonym used by the Saturiwa (of what is now Jacksonville ) to refer to the Utina , another group to the west of the St. Johns River . The Spanish came to use the term more broadly for other peoples in the area. Eventually it became the common term for all peoples who spoke what is known as Timucuan. While alliances and confederacies arose between the chiefdoms from time to time, the Timucua were never organized into

2349-582: The 17th century, the Province of Timucua was extended to include the area between the Suwannee River and the Aucilla River , thus extending its scope. Eventually, "Timucua" was applied to all speakers of the various dialects of the Timucua language. The Timucua were organized into as many as 35 chiefdoms, each of which had hundreds of people in assorted villages within its purview. They sometimes formed loose political alliances, but did not operate as

2436-476: The 17th century. By 1675, they had abandoned Cumberland Island and relocated south, where they merged with other Timucua peoples and lost their independent identity. The Tacatacuru occupied Cumberland Island and the adjacent coastal areas of mainland Georgia . Their main village was located toward the southern end of the island. An archaeological site extending from the Dungeness mansion ruins northward along

2523-412: The American Southeast. The Yamasees also conducted raids on the Spanish colonial settlement of St. Augustine . Indian captives of the Yamasees were transported to colonial settlements throughout Carolina, where they were sold to white colonists; frequently, many of these captives were then resold to West Indian slave plantations. Many Yamasees soon became indebted to the colonists they traded with, as

2610-636: The Catholic Christian Indians of Spanish Florida . Pirate attacks on the Spanish missions in 1680 forced the Yamasees to migrate again. Some moved to Florida. Others returned to the Savannah River lands, which were safer after the Westo had been destroyed. In 1687, some Spaniards attempted to send captive Yamasees to the West Indies as slaves. The tribe revolted against the Spanish missions and their Native allies, and moved into

2697-577: The French Huguenots under René Goulaine de Laudonnière established Fort Caroline in Saturiwa territory. The Saturiwa forged an alliance with the French, and at first opposed the Spanish when they arrived. Over time, however, they submitted to the Spanish and were incorporated into their mission system. The important Mission San Juan del Puerto was established at their main village; it was here that Francisco Pareja undertook his studies of

Tacatacuru - Misplaced Pages Continue

2784-470: The French when they people established Fort Caroline in present-day Jacksonville, Florida , in 1564. The Tacatacuru later became deeply involved in the Spanish mission system , and one of the first missions in Spanish Florida , San Pedro de Mocama , was established in their territory. Like other tribes in the area, they were greatly affected by Eurasian diseases and war with other peoples through

2871-424: The Huguenots and ransacked Fort Caroline, killing everyone but 50 women and children and 26 escapees. The rest of the French had been shipwrecked off the coast and picked up by the Spanish, who executed all but 20 of them; this brought French settlement in Florida to an end. These events caused a rift between the natives and Spanish, though Spanish missionaries were soon out in force. The Timucua history changed after

2958-634: The Spanish established St. Augustine in 1565 as the capital of their province of Florida . From here, Spanish missionaries established missions in each main town of the Timucuan chiefdoms, including the Santa Isabel de Utinahica mission in what is now southern Georgia, for the Utinahica . By 1595, the Timucuan population had shrunk by 75%, primarily from epidemics of new infectious diseases introduced by contact with Europeans, and war. By 1700,

3045-502: The Spanish noted more than 50 caciques (chiefs) subject to the head caciques of Santa Elena (Yustaga), San Pedro ( Tacatacuru , on Cumberland Island), Timucua (Northern Utina) and Potano. The Tacatacuru, Saturiwa and Cascangue were subject to San Pedro, while the Yufera and Ibi , neighbors of the Tacatacuru and Cascangue, were independent. Villages were divided into family clans, usually bearing animal names. Other villages bore

3132-544: The Spanish, choosing to maintain stronger contacts with British colonists instead. The "prince" returned to Charles Town in 1715, right around the period when the Yamasee War broke out, and shortly after his family had been taken captive by Carolinian raiders and sold into slavery. The Yamasee Archeological Project was launched in 1989 to study Yamasee village sites in South Carolina. The project hoped to trace

3219-584: The Spanish. In Charles Town, some Yamasee families looked toward Christian missionaries to educate their children in reading and writing as well as converting them to Christianity. Christian missionaries in Carolina may have had some success in converting the Yamasees and Guale because they had both become familiar with Spanish missionaries and were more open to conversion than other tribes. For decades, Yamasee raiders (frequently equipped with European firearms and working in concert with Carolinian settlers) conducted slave raids against Spanish-allied Indian tribes in

3306-598: The St. Johns and Wilmington-Savannah cultures. The Oconi lived further west, perhaps on the east side of the Okefenokee Swamp . Both the Ibi and Oconi eventually received their own missions, while the coastal tribes were subject to San Pedro on Cumberland Island. Up the St. Johns River to the south of the Saturiwa were the Utina , later known as the Agua Dulce or Agua Fresca (Freshwater) tribe. They lived along

3393-585: The Tacatacuru participated in the Savannah archaeological culture. The Tacatacuru met the French Huguenot expedition of Jean Ribault in 1562. The account by Ribault's lieutenant René Goulaine de Laudonnière records a meeting with the natives of the "Seine River" (now known as the St. Marys River ) and their chief, though they do not mention any names from this time. The Tacatacuru met the French again when they returned under Laudonnière to establish

3480-455: The Tacatacuru, and all survivors abandoned Cumberland Island by 1675, relocating closer to St. Augustine. The island was subsequently occupied by the Yamasee . The remaining Tacatacuru were absorbed into other tribes in Florida and lost their independent identity. Timucua The name "Timucua" (recorded by the French as Thimogona but this is likely a misprint for Thimogoua ) came from

3567-502: The Tacatacuru, like the Saturiwa, were antagonistic toward them. Both groups were among those Native Americans who aided Dominique de Gourgue in his raid on the Spanish in 1567. After the Tacatacuru made peace with the Spanish, the latter established a fort and a mission, San Pedro de Mocama , on Cumberland Island near the main Tacatacuru town. This was one of the earliest of the missions in Spanish Florida , as well as one of

Tacatacuru - Misplaced Pages Continue

3654-493: The Tawasa are never described as Timucua in the historical record despite frequent European encounters with them. Swanton suggests based on village placenames that the Tawasa were a confederacy of peoples with "Muskhogean, Timucua, and Yuchi affiliations." The Timucua were not a unified political unit. Rather, they were made up of at least 35 chiefdoms, each consisting of about two to ten villages, with one being primary. In 1601

3741-725: The Timucua Rebellion of 1656. North of the Potano, living in a wide area between the Suwannee and St. Johns Rivers, were the Northern Utina . This name is purely a convention; they were known as the "Timucua" to their contemporaries. They participated in the Suwannee Valley culture and spoke the "Timucua proper" dialect. The Northern Utina appear to have been less integrated than other Timucua tribes, and seem to have been organized into several small local chiefdoms, with

3828-542: The Timucua dialects. At the time of European contact, there were two major chiefdoms among the Mocama, the Saturiwa and the Tacatacuru , each of which had a number of smaller villages subject to them. The Saturiwa were concentrated around the mouth of the St. Johns in what is now Jacksonville , and had their main village on the river's south bank. European contact with the Eastern Timucua began in 1564 when

3915-532: The Timucua language. The Tacatacuru lived on Cumberland Island in present-day Georgia, and controlled villages on the coast. They too were incorporated into the Spanish mission system, with Mission San Pedro de Mocama being established in 1587. Other Eastern Timucua groups lived in southeastern Georgia. The Icafui and Cascangue tribes occupied the Georgia mainland north of the Satilla River , adjacent to

4002-474: The Timucua were introduced to European foods, including barley, cabbage, chickens, cucumbers, figs, garbanzo beans, garlic, European grapes, European greens, hazelnuts, various herbs, lettuce, melons, oranges, peas, peaches, pigs, pomegranates, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, watermelons, and wheat. The native corn became a traded item and was exported to other Spanish colonies. A black tea called " black drink " (or "white drink" because of its purifying effects) served

4089-526: The Timucua, who averaged four inches or more above them. Timucuan men wore their hair in a bun on top of their heads, adding to the perception of height. Measurement of skeletons exhumed from beneath the floor of a presumed Northern Utina mission church (tentatively identified as San Martín de Timucua) at the Fig Springs mission site yielded a mean height of 64 inches (163 cm) for nine adult males and 62 inches (158 cm) for five adult women. The conditions of

4176-429: The Timucuan population had been reduced to just 1,000. In 1703, Governor James Moore led a force of colonists from Carolina with allied Creek , Catawba , and Yuchi and launched slave raids against the Timucua, killing and enslaving hundreds of them. A census in 1711 found 142 Timucua-speakers living in four villages under Spanish protection. Another census in 1717 found 256 people in three villages where Timucua

4263-617: The Yamasee understood Creek . He also noted that many Indians throughout the region used Creek and Shawnee as lingua francas , or common trading languages. In 1716-1717, Diego Peña obtained information that showed that Yamasee and Hitchiti-Mikasuki were considered separate languages. The Yamasee language, while similar to many Muskogean languages, is especially similar to Creek , for they share many words. Many Spanish missionaries in La Florida were dedicated to learning native languages, such as Yamasee, in an effort to communicate for

4350-399: The Yamasees as a multi-ethnic amalgamation of several remnant Indian groups, including the Guale , La Tama , Apalachee , Coweta , and Cussita Creek. Historian Chester B. DePratter describes the Yamasee towns of early South Carolina as consisting of lower towns, consisting mainly of Hitchiti-speaking Indians, and upper towns, consisting mainly of Guale Indians. The Yamasees were one of

4437-448: The Yamasees soon began to transport their captives to Carolina to sell in Charles Town's slave markets. They soon began to conduct raids specifically to take captives and sell them in Carolina. In 1713, Anglican missionaries in South Carolina sponsored the journey of a Yamasees man (whose actual name is unknown, as he was generally referred to as the "prince" or "Prince George") from Charles Town to London . Historians have noted that

SECTION 50

#1732772296773

4524-601: The Yustaga resisted Spanish missionary efforts until well into the 17th century. They maintained higher population levels significantly later than other Timucua groups, as their less frequent contact with Europeans kept them freer of introduced diseases. Like other Western Timucua groups, they participated in the Timucua Rebellion. The Asile, living immediately east of the Aucilla River, were described in early contact accounts as "a subject of Apalachee", and held some land on

4611-624: The bones and teeth indicated that the population of the mission had been chronically stressed. Each person was extensively tattooed. The tattoos were gained by deeds. Children began to acquire tattoos as they took on more responsibility. The people of higher social class had more elaborate decorations. The tattoos were made by poking holes in the skin and rubbing ashes into the holes. The Timucua had dark skin, usually brown, and black hair. They wore clothes made from moss, and cloth created from various animal skins. The Timucua groups, never unified culturally or politically, are defined by their shared use of

4698-421: The colony of Fort Caroline in 1564. The Chief Tacatacuru mentioned in French records from this time may be the earlier leader who met the initial expedition, or his successor. The Tacatacuru seem to have maintained friendly relations with the French, as well as with the Saturiwa, in whose territory Fort Caroline was established. Spanish forces from St. Augustine destroyed the French outpost in 1565, after which

4785-566: The combination of a smallpox epidemic and raids by Col. John Palmer (leading fifty Carolinian militiamen and one hundred Indians) eventually led many of the remaining Yamasees to disperse, with some joining the Seminole or Creek . Still others remained near St. Augustine until the Spanish relinquished control of the city to the British. At that time, they took with them around 90 Yamasees to Havana. Steven J. Oatis and other historians describe

4872-479: The eastern Timucua groups were the Mocama , who lived in the coastal areas of what are now Florida and southeastern Georgia , from St. Simons Island to south of the mouth of the St. Johns River . They gave their name to the Mocama Province , which became one of the major divisions of the Spanish mission system. They spoke a dialect also known as Mocama (Timucua for "Ocean"), which is the best attested of

4959-533: The end of the century the confederacy had crumbled, with most of the diminished population withdrawing to six towns further south on the St. Johns. The Acuera lived along the Ocklawaha River , and spoke the Acuera dialect. Unlike most of the other Timucuan chiefdoms, they maintained much of their traditional social structure during the mission period and are the only known Timucuan chiefdom to have missions in their territory for several decades, to have left

5046-505: The food stored in the villages, forced women into concubinage, and forced men and boys to serve as guides and bearers. The army fought two battles with Timucua groups, resulting in heavy Timucua casualties. After defeating the resisting Timucuan warriors, Hernando de Soto had 200 executed, in what was to be called the Napituca Massacre, the first large-scale massacre by Europeans on what later became U.S. soil (Florida). De Soto

5133-496: The largest slave raiding tribes in the American Southeast during the late 17th century, and have been described as a "militaristic slaving society", having acquired firearms from European colonists. Their use of slave raids to exert dominance over other tribes is partially attributed to the Yamasee aligning with European colonists in order to maintain their own independence. It was typical of Native Americans to take captives during warfare, particularly young women and children, though

5220-538: The leader of one being recognized as paramount chief. They were missionized beginning in 1597 and their territory was organized by the Spanish as the Timucua Province . Over time smaller provinces were merged into the Timucua Province, thereby increasing the profile of the Northern Utina substantially. They took the forefront in the Timucua Rebellion of 1656, and their society declined severely when it

5307-561: The mainland were speakers of the Yufera and Itafi dialects of Timucua; named tribes include the Ibi and the Cascangue or Icafui . The Guale people lived to the north. Cumberland Island and the surrounding area were inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous peoples who preceded the Tacatacuru; these early settlers often lived there in seasonal fishing camps. As did other Mocama peoples,

SECTION 60

#1732772296773

5394-443: The many streams and lakes in the area; and collect freshwater and marine shellfish. The women gathered wild fruits, palm berries, acorns, and nuts; and baked bread made from the root koonti . Meat was cooked by boiling or over an open fire known as the barbacoa , the origin of the word barbecue . Fish were filleted and dried or boiled. Broths were made from meat and nuts. After the establishment of Spanish missions between 1595–1620,

5481-549: The meeting, the White Drink ceremony would be carried out (see "Diet" below). The council members were among the more highly respected members of the tribe. They made decisions for the tribe. The Timucua of northeast Florida (the Saturiwa and Agua Dulce tribes) at the time of first contact with Europeans lived in villages that typically contained about 30 houses, and 200 to 300 people. The houses were small, made of upright poles and circular in shape. Palm leaf thatching covered

5568-462: The mission system, and to have remained in their original territory with much of their traditional culture and religious practices intact despite missionization. Three major Western Timucua groups, the Potano , Northern Utina , and Yustaga , were incorporated into the Spanish mission system in the late 16th and 17th centuries. The Potano lived in north central Florida, in an area covering Alachua County and possibly extending west to Cofa at

5655-411: The most prominent; the church eventually built there was as large as that in St. Augustine. For a time, the garrison marked the northern extent of Spanish power, providing defense against the Guale . In the late 16th century the Tacatacuru chief, Don Juan, was a major supporter of cooperation with the Spanish, and joined them in pushing back the Guale in the revolt of 1597. Juan died three years later, and

5742-467: The motivation of the "prince" to visit London was a form of "religious diplomacy" on the part of the missionaries to further ties between the Yamasee and British colonists. The missionaries hoped that if the "prince" converted to Christianity while in London, it would ensure the Yamasee would become firm allies of the British colonists. Around the period that the "prince" travelled to London, the Yamasees were largely unwilling to be culturally assimilated by

5829-494: The mouth of the Suwannee River . They participated in the Alachua culture and spoke the Potano dialect. They were among the first Timucua peoples to encounter Europeans. They were frequently at war with the Utina tribe, who managed to convince first the French and later the Spanish to join them in combined assaults against the Potano. They received missionaries in the 1590s and five missions were built in their territory by 1633. Like other Western Timucua groups they participated in

5916-405: The name of the residing chieftain. Children always belonged to their mother's clan. The Timucua played two related but distinct ball games. Western Timucua played a game known as the " Apalachee ball game ". Despite the name, it was as closely associated with the western Timucua as it was with the Apalachee . It involved two teams of around 40 or 50 players kicking a ball at a goal post. Hitting

6003-479: The nine or ten dialects of the Timucua language. The tribes can be placed into eastern and western groups. The Eastern Timucua were located along the Atlantic coast and on the Sea Islands of northern Florida and southeastern Georgia; along the St. Johns River and its tributaries; and among the rivers, swamps and associated inland forests in southeastern Georgia, possibly including the Okefenokee Swamp . They usually lived in villages close to waterways, participated in

6090-408: The people's origins and inventory their artifacts. The project located a dozen sites. Pocosabo and Altamaha have since been listed as archeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places . The name "Yamasee" perhaps comes from Muskogee yvmvsē , meaning "tame, quiet"; or perhaps from Catawban yį musí: , literally "people-ancient". Little record remains of the Yamasee language. It

6177-648: The pole frame, with a hole at the top for ventilation and smoke escape. The houses were 15 to 20 feet (4.5 to 6 m) across and were used primarily for sleeping. A village would also have a council house which would usually hold all of the villagers. Europeans described some council houses as being large enough to hold 3,000 people. If a village grew too large, some of the families would start a new village nearby, so that clusters of related villages formed. Each village or small cluster of related villages had its own chief. Temporary alliances between villages for warfare were also formed. Ceremonial mounds might be in or associated with

6264-466: The post was worth one point, while landing it in an eagle 's nest at the top of the post was worth two; the first team to score eleven points was the victor. The western Timucua game was evidently less associated with religious significance, violence, and fraud than the Apalachee version, and as such missionaries had a much more difficult time convincing them to give it up. The eastern Timucua played

6351-419: The purpose of conversion. It also allowed the missionaries to learn about the people's own religion and to find ways to convey Christian ideas to them. There is limited, inconclusive evidence suggesting the Yamasee language was similar to Guale . It is based on three pieces of information: Linguists note that the Spanish documents are not originals and may have been edited at a later date. The name Chiluque

6438-565: The river from roughly the Palatka area south to Lake George . They participated in the St. Johns culture and spoke the Agua Dulce dialect. The area between Palatka and downtown Jacksonville was relatively less populated, and may have served as a barrier between the Utina and Saturiwa, who were frequently at war. In the 1560s the Utina were a powerful chiefdom of over 40 villages. However, by

6525-399: The shore has been identified as the probable location of Tacatacuru. Spanish records indicate there were at least seven other villages on the island and eleven more on the mainland. Other Mocama -speaking Timucua lived in the area, including the Saturiwa , who lived to the south around the mouth of the St. Johns River in what is now Jacksonville, Florida . To the east of the Tacatacuru on

6612-419: The soil with various tools, such as the hoe. Later the women would plant the seeds using two sticks known as coa . They also cultivated tobacco . Their crops were stored in granaries to protect them from vermin and the elements. Corn was ground into flour and used to make corn fritters . In addition to agriculture, the Timucua men would hunt game (including alligators, manatees, and maybe even whales); fish in

6699-492: The village of Altamaha . In 1570, Spanish explorers established missions in Yamasee territory. The Yamasees were later included in the missions of the Guale province. Starting in 1675, the Yamasees were mentioned regularly on Spanish mission census records of the missionary provinces of Guale (central Georgia coast) and Mocama (present-day southeastern Georgia and northeastern Florida). The Yamasees usually did not convert to Christianity and remained somewhat separated from

6786-426: The village of Mocoso in Acuera province in the 17th century. Some scholars such as Julian Granberry, have suggested that the Tawasa people of Alabama spoke a language related to Timucua based on lexical similarities. The only surviving written Tawasa text is an account from an indigenous man named Lamhatty. Others like Hann have cast doubt on this theory on the basis that only some words appear to be cognates, and that

6873-689: The west and into Georgia to the north. They usually lived in villages in hammocks , and participated in the Alachua , Suwannee Valley or other unknown cultures. Because of their environment, they were more oriented to exploiting the resources of the hammocks. Early 20th-century scholars such as John Swanton and John Goggin identified tribes and chiefdoms around Tampa Bay (in the Safety Harbor culture area) – including Tocobaga , Uzita , Pohoy , and Mocoso – as Timucua speakers, classified by Goggin as Southern Timucua. Hann has argued that there

6960-601: The western fringes of the Timucua territory. In 1539, Hernando de Soto led an army of more than 500 men through the western parts of Timucua territory, stopping in a series of villages of the Ocale , Potano , Northern Utina , and Yustaga branches of the Timucua on his way to the Apalachee domain (see list of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition for other sites visited by de Soto). His army seized

7047-519: The western side of the Aucilla in the territory of the Apalachee chief of Ivitachuco. Other Western Timucua tribes are known from the earliest Spanish records, but later disappeared. The most significant of these are the Ocale , who lived in Marion County , near the modern city of Ocala , which takes its name from them. Ocale was conquered by De Soto in 1538 and the people dispersed; the town

7134-482: Was a large cause of the Yamasee War . The Yamasees lived in coastal towns in what are now southeast Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. The Yamasees migrated from Florida to South Carolina in the late 16th century, where they became friendly with European colonists. The Yamasees were joined by members of the Guale , a Mississippian culture chiefdom, and their cultures intertwined. The Hernando de Soto expedition of 1540 traveled into Yamasee territory, including

7221-573: Was in a hurry to reach the Apalachee domain, where he expected to find gold and sufficient food to support his army through the winter, so he did not linger in Timucua territory. The Acuera resisted the Spaniards de Soto's forces when de Soto's forces tried to seize stored food from Acuera towns, killing several of the Spaniards. In 1564, French Huguenots led by René Goulaine de Laudonnière founded Fort Caroline in present-day Jacksonville and attempted to establish further settlements along

7308-596: Was put down. On the other side of the Suwannee River from the Northern Utina were the two westernmost Timucuan groups, the Yustaga and the Asile. They lived between the Suwannee and the Aucilla River , which served as a boundary with the Apalachee . The Yustaga participated in the same Suwanee Valley culture as the Northern Utina, but appear to have spoken a different dialect, perhaps Potano . Unlike other Timucua groups,

7395-478: Was succeeded by his niece, Doña Ana. Tacatacuru prominence continued in the early 17th century; in 1601 the Spanish noted that the Cascangue and the once-powerful Saturiwa were then vassals of the Tacatacuru. San Pedro de Mocama was on the 1655 mission list, and the Tacatacuru do not appear to have taken part in the Timucua rebellion the following year. However, increased pressure from other tribes took its toll on

7482-411: Was the language of the majority, although there were a few inhabitants with a different native language. The population of the Timucua villages was 167 in 1726. By 1759 the Timucua under Spanish protection and control numbered just six adults and five half-Timucua children. In 1763, when Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain, the Spanish took the less than 100 Timucua and other natives to Cuba. Research

7569-696: Was told that the Yammasses were the ancient people of the Cherokee. The name of the Yamasees survives in the town of Yemassee, South Carolina , in the Lowcountry close to where the Yamasee War began. It is also used for the title of William Gilmore Simms ' 1835 historical novel The Yemassee: A Romance of Carolina , and by extension, Yemassee , the official literary journal of the University of South Carolina . There are currently self-identified Yamasee descendants in Florida and elsewhere, and

#772227