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40-990: The Yamasees, along with the Guale, are considered from linguistic evidence by many scholars to have been 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

80-463: A Muskogean language was spoken by at least some of the people of the paramount chiefdom of Cofitachequi in northeastern South Carolina . If so, that would be the most eastern outpost of Muskogean. The people of Cofitichequi were probably absorbed by nearby Siouan and Iroquoian speakers in the late 17th century. A vocabulary of the Houma may be another underdocumented Western Muskogean language or

120-640: 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

160-735: 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

200-555: A version of Mobilian Jargon , a pidgin based on Western Muskogean. The best-known connection proposed between Muskogean and other languages is Mary Haas ' Gulf hypothesis , in which she conceived of a macrofamily comprising Muskogean and a number of language isolates of the southeastern US: Atakapa , Chitimacha , Tunica , and Natchez . While well-known, the Gulf grouping is now generally rejected by historical linguists. A number of Muskogean scholars continue to believe that Muskogean

240-746: Is extinct , its precise relationship to the other languages is uncertain; Mary Haas and Pamela Munro both classify it with the Alabama–Koasati group. For connections among these groupings, the traditional classification is that of Mary Haas and her students, such as Karen Booker, in which "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw) is seen as one major branch, and "Eastern Muskogean" (Alabama-Koasati, Hitchiti-Mikasuki, and Muscogee) as another. Within Eastern Muskogean, Alabama-Koasati and Hitchiti-Mikasuki are generally thought to be more closely related to each other than to Muscogee. That classification

280-461: Is a list of basic vocabulary in five Muskogean languages from Broadwell (1992): Proto-Muskogean is reconstructed as having the consonants (given in IPA transcription): The phonemes reconstructed by Haas as */x/ and */xʷ/ show up as /h/ and /f/ (or /ɸ/ ), respectively, in all Muskogean languages; they are therefore reconstructed by some as */h/ and */ɸ/ . */kʷ/ appears as /b/ in all

320-522: 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

360-502: 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

400-496: Is reflected in the list below: A more recent and controversial classification has been proposed by Pamela Munro . In her classification, the languages are divided into a "Southern Muskogean" branch (Choctaw-Chickasaw, Alabama-Koasati, and Hitchiti-Mikasuki) and a "Northern Muskogean" one (Muscogee). Southern Muskogean is the subdivided into Hitchiti-Mikasuki and a "Southwestern Muskogean" branch containing Alabama-Koasati and "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw). The classification

440-503: Is reflected in the list below: A third proposed classification is that of Geoffrey Kimball, who envisions a threeway split among the languages, with "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw), "Eastern Muskogean" (Muscogee), and "Central Muskogean" (Alabama-Koasati and Hitchiti-Mikasuki). However, Kimball's classification has not received as much support as either Haas's or Munro's. Several sparsely attested languages have been claimed to be Muskogean languages. George Broadwell suggested that

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480-402: Is related to Natchez. Most family languages display lexical accent on nouns and grammatical case , which distinguishes the nominative from the oblique. Nouns do not obligatorially inflect for gender or number. Muskogean verbs have a complex ablaut system; the verbal stem almost always changes depending on aspect; less commonly, it is affected by tense or modality. In Muskogean linguistics,

520-549: Is then that it is supposed that he founded Beaufort . Three years later all of the Indians from Cape Fear to St. Mary's River combined under the leadership of the Yemassees for the purpose of destroying the colony on Ashley River. Governor Craven at once proclaimed martial law, laid an embargo on all ships to prevent the departure of men or provisions, and at the head of 1,200 men, part of whom were people of African descent, met

560-646: 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

600-456: 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

640-410: 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

680-634: 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

720-559: The Indians in a series of desperate encounters and finally drove them beyond the Savannah. In 1710 a speck of civil war appeared in Charleston, when two claimants to the office of acting governor, on the death of Tynte, the successor of Johnson, disputed for the honor. A compromise was effected, by referring the case to the proprietors for a decision. They wisely discarded both candidates, and appointed Charles Craven, brother of one of

760-514: The Muskogean languages are generally divided into two branches, Eastern Muskogean and Western Muskogean. Typologically, Muskogean languages are agglutinative . One documented language, Apalachee , is extinct and the remaining languages are critically endangered. The Muskogean family consists of six languages that are still spoken: Alabama , Chickasaw , Choctaw , Muscogee (previously referred to as Creek), Koasati , and Mikasuki , as well as

800-542: 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

840-581: 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

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880-600: The Yamasee as an ethnically mixed group that included people from Muskogean-speaking regions, such as the early colonial-era native towns of Hitchiti , Coweta , and Cussita . The Amacano , Chacato , Chine , Pacara, and Pensacola people, who lived along the Gulf Coast of Florida from the Big Bend Coast to Pensacola Bay , are reported to have spoken the same Muskogean language, which may have been closely related to Choctaw. Sparse evidence indicates that

920-615: 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

960-486: 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 the largest slave raiding tribes in

1000-446: 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

1040-539: The black supremacist group Nuwaubian Nation associated with Dwight York has also used the name Yamassee Native American Moors of the Creek Nation . Muskogean language Muskogean (also Muskhogean , Muskogee ) is a Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States . Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing,

1080-564: 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

1120-682: The daughter languages except Muscogee for which it is /k/ initially and /p/ medially. The value of the proto-phoneme conventionally written ⟨θ⟩ (or ⟨N⟩ ) is unknown; it appears as /n/ in Western Muskogean languages and as /ɬ/ in Eastern Muskogean languages. Haas reconstructed it as a voiceless /n/ (that is, */n̥/ ), based partly on presumed cognates in Natchez . Proto-Muskogean lexical reconstructions by Booker (2005) are as follows. Charles Craven Charles Craven (1682 – 27 December 1754)

1160-766: The different forms are known as "grades". Verbs mark for first and second person, as well as agent and patient (Choctaw and Chickasaw also mark for dative). Third-persons (he, she, it) have a null-marker. Plurality of a noun agent is marked by either affixation on the verb or an innately plural verbal stem: Pluralization via affixation, Choctaw: ish-impa 2SG . NOM -eat ish-impa 2SG.NOM-eat "you [sg.] eat" hash-impa 2PL . NOM -eat hash-impa 2PL.NOM-eat "you [pl.] eat" Innately-numbered verbal stems, Mikasuki: łiniik run. SG łiniik run.SG "to run (singular)" palaak run. PAU palaak run.PAU "to run (several)" mataak run. PL mataak run.PL "to run (many)" Below

1200-547: The languages of the Yamasee and Guale were Muskogean. However, William Sturtevant argued that the "Yamasee" and "Guale" data were Muscogee and that the language(s) spoken by the Yamasee and Guale people remain unknown. It is possible that the Yamasee were an amalgamation of several different ethnic groups and did not speak a single language. Chester B. DePratter describes the Yamasee as consisting mainly of speakers of Hitchiti and Guale. The historian Steven Oatis also describes

1240-519: 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

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1280-561: The now-extinct Apalachee , Houma , and Hitchiti (the last is generally considered a dialect of Mikasuki). "Seminole" is listed as one of the Muskogean languages in Hardy's list, but it is generally considered a dialect of Muscogee rather than a separate language, as she comments. The major subdivisions of the family have long been controversial, but the following lower-level groups are universally accepted: Choctaw–Chickasaw, Alabama–Koasati, Hitchiti–Mikasuki, and Muscogee. Because Apalachee

1320-473: 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

1360-466: The proprietors, governor of the province. Under his administration the colony prospered, settlements extended, and the power of a dangerous Indian confederacy against the Carolinas was effectually broken. The proprietors appointed Charles Craven, who then held their commission as secretary, to be governor. He was proclaimed in form, and took upon him the administration. During his government, the province

1400-418: 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

1440-490: 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

1480-479: 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

1520-538: Was involved in two sharp contests with the Indians. One in North Carolina with the Tuscaroras, and another much more distressing with the Yamasee, which were ably and successfully conducted by the governor, as shall be related in its proper place. On his departure for England, in 1716, he appointed Robert Daniel, deputy governor. In the year following, Robert Johnson, son of Sir Nathaniel Johnson, succeeded to

1560-598: Was the son of Sir William Craven and Margaret Clapham. He held the office of Governor of Carolina between 1711 and 1716. He was secretary of the proprietors of Carolina Colony . In February 1711 he was appointed governor of the Colony, and in March 1712 arrived in Charleston to begin filling his charge, which he held until April 1716, when he returned to England. During 1712 he was ordered to sound Port Royal River, and it

1600-806: 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

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