1565 - The Spanish Take Back Control of Florida
[Pedro Menéndez de Avilés]
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was a Spanish admiral and explorer from the region of Asturias, Spain.
He is remembered for planning the first regular
trans-oceanic convoys.
When he came to La Florida, he was welcomed by the chief of the Timucua village of Seloy, where he stayed for a year.
In 1565, the Spaniards under the command of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés caught the Huguenots in a surprise attack and ransacked Fort Caroline, killing everyone but 50 women and children and 26 escapees.
The Spanish killed everyone there who did not swear they were Catholic.
Despite their peaceful relations, the Timucuan were persuaded to join in the Spanish attack upon the Huguenots at Fort Caroline.
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 all French settlements in Florida to an abrupt end.
With the French presence in Florida destroyed, the Spanish soon established the city of St. Augustine.
[St. Augustine]
In 1565, after defeating the French Huguenots at Fort Caroline and exterminating most of them from La Florida, the Catholic Spanish, under Avilés' leadership then founded
St. Augustine as their Spanish Presidio, or capital, and began the oldest continuously inhabited European established settlement in North America.
In 1566, the last remaining French Huguenot colony at Astor was wiped out by the Spanish.
After eliminating the French settlements in Florida, the Spanish established a system of Catholic Missions throughout the area, including modern Lake County, in efforts to convert the pagan Native Americans to Catholicism.
A major change to the Timucua religion was an end to human and child sacrifices.
The history of the Timucua changed forever after the Spanish city of St. Augustine became the principal center of the Spanish Catholic mission system that spread mostly through the land of the Timucua throughout Northeastern and Central Florida.
The Spanish continued their enslavement, along with the missionization of the cultures of Florida.
The Timucua’s history changed even more dramatically after the establishment of St. Augustine in 1565 as a Spanish Presidio.
Today, St. Augustine is still the longest continuously inhabited town in North America.
Since there were often more European men than women coming to Americas, Spanish colonization often relied on "intermarriage" with local populations, this caused many of the surviving Timucuans to become the mestizo, or “mixed blood”, colonial culture.
Within a few years, the Spanish garrisons were established and missionaries founded missions in each main town of the Timucuan chiefdoms, first under the Jesuits and later under the Franciscans.
The missionaries Christianized and Hispanized some of the Timicua willingly.
However, many of the indigenous peoples were forced into the system of
Spanish Catholic Missions in Florida.
Those that would not convert and join the system "willingly" were usually murdered or taken as slaves by the Spanish.
However, through their scholarship, the friars did preserve some of the Timucuan language, which is one of the few eastern tribal languages to have survived.
Our knowledge of the Timucua language is derived mainly from the religious works by the missionaries Pareja and Mouilla and a grammar that was compiled by Pareja.
In the early 1570s, the early Jesuits Priests withdrew and were quickly replaced by Franciscans Monks, who took over the missionary efforts.
The Timucua allied themselves with the Spanish and in 1576 or 1577 the Timucua sent a body of soldiers to support them against several neighboring tribes.
This ally group was missionized at a comparatively early date, but afterward followed the fortunes of the rest of the Timucua.
By the 1590s, Franciscan activity intensified, establishing dozens of missions (doctrinas) across northern Florida and into parts of Georgia and South Carolina.
These missions targeted Indigenous groups such as the Timucua (along the northeast coast and St. Johns River area), Apalachee (in the Panhandle region, around modern Tallahassee), and Guale (coastal Georgia).
At their peak in the mid-17th century, over 70 Franciscan friars operated in about 40 missions, serving an estimated 25,000 Indigenous converts.
Missions were self-sufficient settlements combining religious instruction, agriculture, and labor systems, often built near or within existing Native villages to facilitate conversion and control.
The most noted of the missionaries was Father Francisco Pareja, who arrived in 1594.
After 16 years of successful work, he retired to the City of Mexico, where he wrote a Timucua grammar, dictionary, and several devotional works.
These, along with earlier French narratives, are the source of practically all that is known of the language, customs, beliefs, and organization of the Timucuan tribes.
The Timucua and other peoples living in mission villages along the road between St. Augustine and the western Timucuan and Apalachee Provinces, were enslaved and and forced to carry produce from the western provinces to St. Augustine, and also to perform work in the town.
Other indigenous groups had sporadic contact with the Spanish without being brought into the mission system, but many of the peoples are known only from mention of their names in historical accounts.
Residents of those villages, escaping Spanish slavery, fled southward into the Acuera, Agua Dulce, and Mayaca provinces.
During this period the Acuera chiefdom was subject to or associated with the Utina chiefdom, but became independent of Utina as that chiefdom declined in power.
[1591 Map of Florida by Jacques Le Moyne,
engraved by Theodore de Bry]
During the early half of the 1600s, the missions were in a flourishing condition.
However, news of the Spanish had spread and the Natives were now smarter and they were now trading with the Spanish much more.
Gonzalez de Barcia reported they were selling cardinals (red birds) to the Spanish crews for $6 and $10 each.
Spanish fishermen from Cuba began to fish cooperatively with the Native Floridians.
The Timucuans continued hunting deer and other game which they traded with the Spanish, and the produce of the Timucuans plantings, especially of maize (corn), sustained St. Augustine.
After the establishment of Spanish missions between 1595–1620, the Timucua were introduced to cattle, chickens, and hogs that were brought over by early Spanish exlporers.
A sizable trade industry soon existed between the two cultures.
In the late 1620s, the Spanish resettled the people of Utiaca at the mission of San Diego de Helaca (or Laca) on the east side of the St. Johns River, where the route from St. Augustine to the western Timucuan missions crossed the river. They were probably needed there to serve the river crossing, as the original inhabitants, the Agua Dulce people, were greatly reduced in numbers.
In a letter dated February 2, 1635, it is asserted that 30,000 Christian Natives were connected with the 44 Spanish missions that were maintained in the Guale and Timucua provinces. While this figure is might be too high, it tends to confirm Mooney’s later proposed estimates (in 1928) to have numbered 13,000 in 1650, including 3,000 Potano, 1,000 Hostaqua, 8,000 Timucua proper and their allies, and 1,000 Tocobaga.
However, the missions suffered severely from pestilences in 1613-17, 1649-50, and 1672.
Timucuans had lived for centuries without contact with livestock and the diseases that livestock shared with their Europeans owners, so the Timucuans had no immunity to European diseases, especially measles, which killed many Timucuans.
By the 1640s, the Spanish referred to the Central Florida provinces as a single group called the Diminiyuti or Ibiniyuti Province [ibiniuti was Timucuan for "water land"].
In 1648, the cacique [chief] of the Utiaca fled, with part of his people, from San Diege de Helaca and returned to the Acuera Province.
1656 - The Timucuan Rebellion
The Timucuan Rebellion of 1656 was an uprising by the Timucua Indians against Spanish colonial rule, primarily in response to mistreatment and forced labor policies imposed by the Spanish governor. Led by chief Lucas Menendez, the rebellion resulted in the murder of several Spaniards and marked a significant moment in the conflict between the Timucua and Spanish authorities. This brought an end to much of the cooperation of the central and western tribes, as well as the Missions.
The Timucuan Rebellion occurred primarily as a result of the mistreatment of the Timucua people by Spanish authorities.
The imposition of forced labor policies by the Spanish was a primary grievance.
The harsh methods used by the governor exacerbated existing tensions.
The rebellion was a response to forced labor policies imposed by Spanish Governor, Diego de Rebolledo, which the Timucua found intolerable.
The rebellion was led by Lucas Menendez, the principal chief of the Timucua at the time.
Menendez ordered the initial attack for the murder of all secular Spaniards in the province, resulting in the deaths of seven individuals.
This marked a significant escalation in tensions between the Timucua and the Spanish.
In another notable incident, Menendez led a group of Timucua to attack the La Chua cattle ranch, killing a Spanish soldier, two African slaves, and cattle.
The ranch owner was ordered to leave Florida.
In spite of one or two revolts, in which several missionaries lost their lives, the Timucuan tribes in general, particularly along the Eastern coast, accepted Christianity and civilization and became the allies of the Spaniards.
The rebellions from the central and northern groups disrupted the Spanish mission system in Florida and highlighted the growing discontent within the indigenous populations.
It also marked a significant moment in the oncoming end of Spanish colonialism in La Florida.
The Acuera of Central Florida
Later, as the Spanish expanded its settlements, the Acuera came under their authority.
By 1595, the Timucua population was estimated to have been greatly reduced from 200,000 to 50,000 and only thirteen of the 35 chiefdoms remained.
Due to the impact of Spanish colonizers, along with the immigration of new peoples from the North, such as the Creek, not much of the original culture survived among the Timucuan people.
A rebellion by the Timucua in Guale (North Florida) resulted in almost all Spanish missionaries being withdrawn from Spanish Florida.
Soon the Timucua caciques (chiefs) of Tucuru and Eloquale, among others, visited St. Augustine and had requested missionaries be sent to their provinces.
In 1597, the cacica (female chief) of Acuera, along with a number of her principal leaders, went to the Spanish governor of Florida in St. Augustine in order to submit to the obedience of Spain.
The Acuera sent laborers to St. Augustine during the period from 1597 to 1602.
People from Acuera also went to St. Augustine to trade deer skins, chestnuts, and pots.
[Missions of the Southeast]
All of the known Eastern Timucua tribes were eventually incorporated into the Spanish mission system.
In spite of one or two revolts, in which several missionaries lost their lives, the Timucuan tribes in general, particularly along the Eastern coast, accepted Christianity and civilization and became the allies of the Spaniards.
However, even during their time in the mission system, the Acuera appear to have maintained a "parallel" religious system, with their traditional shamans practicing openly among their Christianized tribesmen.
The Acuera lived along the Ocklawaha River.
After the Timucuan Rebellion of 1656, the Acuera left the mission system and appear to have remained in their traditional territory, as they maintained their traditional religious and cultural practices.
They are the only known Timucuan chiefdom to have successfully avoid the mission system, remain in their original territory, and retain much of their traditional culture and religious practices.
Even at the height of the Spanish founding missions in Acuera province, the Acuera were virtually unique among the Timucua peoples in that they appear to have created a "parallel" system of religious authority to that of the missionaries.
Their traditional religious leaders, who had substantial followings, openly practiced their beliefs.
Historical and recent archaeological evidence suggests that conversion to Catholicism may have been limited to either the chiefly class or to refugees from other Timucuan groups forced into missions.
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 the mission system, and to have remained in their original territory with much of their traditional culture and religious practices intact despite missionization.
1600s - The Three Spanish Missions of the Acuera
[Ocklawaha River Basin, Lake County]
During the late 1600s, Spanish records indicate the Acuera maintained a traditional religious and political system, with multiple towns and villages.
The Acuera lived along the Ocklawaha River, and spoke the Acuera dialect.
[Map of Oklawaha River showing Acuera village sites
where 1600s Spanish artifacts have been found.]
[Diagram of a Spanish Mission]
Three Spanish missions were founded in the Acuera province in the 1600s.
The mission of San Blas de Habino was established after 1610 to serve the towns of Avino, Tucuru and Utiaca, which were on the lower to middle Oklawaha River, at intervals of one-and-a-half to two leagues apart.
The Spanish may have regarded this area as part of the Acuera province, or Avino may have been an alternate name for Acuera.
The mission of San Blas de Habino probably was abandoned by the late 1620s.
By 1627, the mission of Santa Lucia de Acuera had been established in the principal town of the Acuera chiefdom.
The Spanish missions of Santa Lucia de Acuera and San Luis de Acuera were reported to be at distances from St. Augustine that are consistent with the missions being located near the Oklawaha River and Lake Weir.
Mission Santa Lucia de Acuera was occupied from roughly 1627 to 1656.
Father Pareja named one of the dialects of the Timucua language after this mission.
After the mission's establishment, the Acuera appear to have maintained much more of their cultural and religious traditions and beliefs than most of the other Timucua chiefdoms missionized by the Spanish, and Santa Lucia de Acuera appears to have been a haven for fugitives from the Spanish labor draft as well as non-Catholic peoples from outside Florida.
The mission of San Luis de Eloquale, located north of Santa Lucia, already existed, when it was noted in a Spanish report in 1630.
The Ending of Spanish Rule
In spite of one or two revolts, in which several missionaries lost their lives, the Timucuan tribes in general, particularly along the Eastern coast, accepted Christianity and civilization and became the allies of the Spaniards.
However, the Timucuan rebellions occurred primarily as a result of the mistreatment and forced labor policies of the Timucua people by Spanish authorities.
The harsh methods imposed by Spanish Governor, Diego de Rebolledo, exacerbated existing tensions.
The rebellion was led by Lucas Menendez, the principal chief of the Timucua at the time that led to escalated tensions between the Timucua and the Spanish.
The rebellions from the central and northern groups disrupted the Spanish mission system in Florida and highlighted the growing discontent within the indigenous populations.
It also marked a significant moment in the oncoming end of Spanish colonialism in La Florida.
The Spanish government was also experiencing problems throughout its empire at this time.
The Spanish were spread to thin throughout the Americas and other colonies.
They were more focused on their other more productive colonies, so Florida was not a priority.
When native rebellions, and later invasions by other tribal nations and the British, occurred, the Spanish did not have the strength to deal with them.
The attacks on their missions and colonialist settlements, forced the Spanish to pull everyone back to the protective domain around St. Augustine.
Spanish governor Diego de Rebolledo ordered all Spanish peoples, missionaries, and Timucua allies to consolidate along the Camino Real, the road connecting St. Augustine to the Apalachee Province.
This opened up the areas of Northern Florida for Creek, Gullah, and British immigrants from the Georgia and Carolina Territtories.
Fate of the Timucua
Epidemics of new infectious diseases from Europeans, caused high mortality rates and severely affected Timucua mission communities in the 1650s.
After the Timucuan Rebellion of 1656, the Acuera left the mission system and appear to have remained in their traditional territory, as they maintained their traditional religious and cultural practices.
They are the only known Timucuan chiefdom to have successfully escaped the mission system.
Following the Timucua rebellion of 1656, the missions in Acuera territory were abandoned and no longer appeared in Spanish records, as the Spanish consolidated their missions closer to the road connecting St. Augustine to the Apalachee Province.
Their efforts to maintain missions in Acuera province stopped after the rebellion.
The rebellion caused more losses to the Timucua by death and exile.
Most of the remaining Timucua were then concentrated into missions near St. Augustine, but this did not secure immunity against further attacks by the English and their tribal allies.
In 1675, Bishop Calderón of Cuba stated that he confirmed 13,152 Natives in the four provinces of Timucua, Guale, Apalache, and Apalachicoli.
However, Governor Salazar estimated only 1,400 in the Timucua missions that year.
The Acuera seem to have either defied or not been subject to the order of Spanish governor Diego de Rebolledo to consolidate along the Camino Real. Though the Acuera appear to have remained in their traditional territory and maintained a relationship with the Spanish colonial government through at least the remainder of the 1600s.
Calesa, nephew of the Acuera chief Jabahica, was tried in 1678 by the Governor of Florida for multiple murders (he was accused of six, and admitted in court to three).
The Acuera last appeared in Spanish records in 1697, in a report that (non-Christian) Acuera living in a village with the Ayapaja, under a single chief, had left the village to "live in the woods".
Due to the impact of Spanish colonizers, along with the immigration of new peoples from the North, such as the Creek, not much of the original culture survived among the Timucuan people.
In the early 1600s, Spanish explorers led by Alvaro Mexia encountered the Timucuan village of Nocoroco (now known as Tomoka State Park, in Ormond Beach).
The village was located along the river, making it a prime spot for fishing, which was the Timucuan’s main source of food.
In 1696, Jonathan Dickinson, a Quaker, wrote of when he, his wife, their infant son, and a party of about 20 were shipwrecked on the Florida East Coast. He recounts their harrowing journey travelling from one Native village to another in order to reach the city of St. Augustine. He visited several of the mission settlements and noted the great contrast between the Christian Indians and the savage tribes of the southern peninsula among whom he had been a captive and still practiced human sacrifice.
[Ocklawaha River Basin, Lake County]
[Map of Oklawaha River showing Acuera village sites
where 1600s Spanish artifacts have been found.]
In 1836, Lake Weir was identified on an Anglo-American map as "Lake Ware".
Milanich and Hudson speculate that "Ware" was derived from "A-cuer-a", while the mainstream claim that it was named after Nathaniel Ware, an early Commissioner of the Florida Territory.
Survey of the Ocklawaha River Valley during Dr. Willet Boyer III's initial fieldwork along the Ocklawaha River in 2006-2007 indicated that numerous sites associated with the later St. Johns archaeological culture appeared to date to the later pre-contact period, and were likely associated with the Acuera chiefdom.
During the course of this fieldwork, one such site was located which had both Acuera and colonial Spanish artifacts present, near the town of Moss Bluff.
Boyer has identified the Hutto/Martin Site, 8MR3447, (north of Lake Griffin along the Ocklawaha River of Lake, near today's Moss Bluff) as being the site of the mission of Santa Lucia de Acuera and the likely site of the town of Acuera recorded in the Ranjel account of the Hernando de Soto entrada.
Excavations at the site by Dr. Boyer, between 2006 and 2012, have led archaeologists to believe that it is the location of both a past town and Spanish mission, associated with the Timucuan chiefdom of Acuera described in early contact and mission-era Spanish accounts.
Excavations uncovered mission-era Spanish structures as well as Native American residential structures, further suggesting it was the location of the Acuera chiefdom and Santa Lucia de Acuera mission.
While they provided evidence that it was the site of Acuera, early excavations did not locate a mission church at the site, although they did uncover Spanish structural materials, including forged nails.
However, evidence of missionary construction led Boyer's team to continue excavations and unearth the complete footprint of a large building that seems to have been the church.
As well as the corner of a nearby smaller structure that was likely either the mission's cocina (kitchen) or friary, along with burial pit features with associated human remains.
While arrowheads can be found at the riverside dig, the beads, metal pieces and pottery buried within three trash pits adjacent to the newly unearthed structure are what led Boyer to suspect he has found the friary, although bits of animal bone within the pits may be indicative of kitchen scraps.
Other artifacts were recovered, included Acuera and Spanish artifacts dating to both the 1500s and 1600s.
They also found differences in ceramic styles found within the vicinity of the mission structure compared to the rest of the site.
Throughout the rest of the site, St. Johns II style ceramics were found, which are associated with Native American assemblages.
But in areas near the church, archaeologists uncovered Leon/Jefferson wares, which are tied to missionized Timucua groups.
Archaeologists proposed this may have suggested traces of people not from Acuera, or fugitives, whose past presence was known to have been within the town.
Other aspects, such as the low burial population densities that were measured in association to the mission structure, were said to be indications of resistance to Catholic religion.
This was also known of the Acuera people.
Based on Spanish records and the archaeological evidence and 2012 excavations at the Hutto/Martin site, archaeologists determined that the site was indeed the location of the Santa Lucia de Acuera Spanish mission in the Acuera town.
The Hutto/Martin site ultimately provides an understanding of the Acuera cultures in this Florida region during the Spanish contact era.
Many Timucua artifacts are stored at the Florida Museum of Natural History, at the University of Florida, and other museums.
More Information:
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve
12713 Fort Caroline Road, Jacksonville, Florida 32225