Apalachee

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apalachee tribal area in the 17th century.

The Apalachee are a tribe Indians that are up to their widespread extinction in the 18th century in the Apalachee region in what is now the state of Florida in the Southeastern United States lived. They settled between the Aucilla River and the Ochlockonee River at the head of Apalachee Bay and were first described by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. According to documents from the time of Spanish colonization, the Indians spoke a language from the Muskogee family that no longer exists today.

A small remnant of the tribe after which the Appalachians were named live in Louisiana today .

Culture

Around 1100 agriculture became more important in the later Appalachian area, the region was part of the Fort Walton culture, which was influenced by the Mississippi culture . The capital of the Apalachee was at the time of the Hernando de Sotos expedition in the New World in the years 1539–1540, the place "Anhaica", today's Tallahassee . The tribe lived both in villages of various sizes and on individual farmsteads with an area of ​​up to 2000 square meters. Smaller settlements probably only comprised a few houses and an artificially created hill, the so-called mound . Larger towns with 50 to 100 houses had several mounds. Villages and towns were often located near a lake. The largest Apalachee community was on the shores of Lake Jackson on the north side of what is now Tallahassee. This place included over 200 houses and several mounds, which are now listed as part of the Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park .

The Apalachee grew corn , beans , squash , pumpkins and sunflowers , collected wild strawberries , the roots and sprouts of native wild vines , sedum hens , the roots of one or more aquatic plants for making flour, hickory nuts , acorns , the berries of the saw palmetto and the fruits of persimmon . They caught fish and turtles in the rivers and lakes, as well as fish and oysters on the Gulf Coast . They hunted white-tailed deer , black bears , rabbits and ducks.

The tribe was part of an extensive trade network that stretched from the Gulf Coast in the south to the Great Lakes in the north and stretched west into what is now the state of Oklahoma . The Apalachee used copper tools , mica , soapstone and galena and probably exchanged shells, pearls, shark teeth, preserved fish and sea turtles, salt and the leaves and branches of a special kind of holly ( Ilex vomitoria ), which was needed to make a ritual drink of various Indian tribes , the black drink

They made tools from stone, bones and shells, and the tribe also produced pottery , wove cloth and tanned suede . The houses of the Apalachee were covered with palm fronds , cypress or poplar bark . Food supplies were kept in pits lined with mats. They smoked or dried food on racks over fire pits. When Hernando de Soto occupied Anhaico in 1539, he found enough supplies to feed his 600-strong troop and 220 horses for five months.

The men of the tribe wore a loincloth made of deerskin, the women a skirt made of Louisiana moss and other vegetable fibers. The male members of the tribe smoked tobacco . Before a fight, the men would paint themselves with red ocher and put feathers in their hair. The Apalachee scalped their slain opponents and understood the display of the scalps as a sign of their skills as warriors. To take the scalp off an opponent meant acceptance into the ranks of the warriors and was celebrated in a scalp dance, in which the Indians adorned themselves with headdresses made of furs and bird skins . A village or family group was expected to avenge the death of a fallen warrior.

The Apalachee played a ball game described in detail by the Spanish in the 17th century: two teams kicked and hit a small ball made of deerskin-wrapped clay, always with the aim of hitting a mark. This consisted of a target post on which the nest of a bald eagle was attached. There was one point for hitting the post; if the ball landed in the nest, two points were awarded. Eleven points meant victory. The spectators placed ample bets on the games. Up to 50 men played in a team, the best players were highly rewarded, the villages gave them houses, tilled their fields and did their business in order to keep them on their team. The challenge to a game and the setting up of a striking mark followed certain rites and required a ceremony. The game had few rules and could become very violent, serious injuries and even deaths could occur in the course of the game.

history

Encounters with the Spaniards

De Soto route through the land of Apalachee

Two Spanish expeditions met the Apalachee in the first half of the 16th century. The Pánfilo de Narváez expedition entered the settlement area of ​​the Apalachee in 1528. Narváez and his troops had followed the rumors of the rich city of Apalache without any significant food supplies . When the Spaniards found only one Apalchee village after a long march, they took the Indians' supplies. The Indians met the cruelty of the Spaniards with resistance. The expedition had to withdraw with losses. She turned to the coast of Apalachee Bay, built five boats there, and left the area for Mexico. Only Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three of his companions survived the escape.

In 1539, in search of gold , Hernando de Soto landed with a large contingent of men and horses on the west coast of the Florida peninsula . The people he met there told him that he could find gold in the Apalachee . It is unclear whether this statement referred to the mountains in what is now the state of Georgia and the gold found there, or whether it referred to the copper tools exchanged by the Apalachee. At least this information caused de Soto to leave the coastal region.

Thanks to previous experiences with the Narváez expedition and reports of fighting between de Soto and other tribes, the Apalachee hated and feared the Spanish. The de Soto expedition eventually reached the Apalachee tribal area and it was described that the Spanish soldiers "stabbed every Indian they met on both sides of the road." De Soto and his men occupied the Apalachee city of Anhaica and spent the winter there 1539-1540.

The Apalachee defended themselves with small attacks and ambushes, their arrows could penetrate a double-layered chain mail. They quickly learned to aim at the Spaniards' horses, which gave the Spaniards a great advantage over the unridden Apalachee. It has been described that the Indians of the tribe are "more pleased about the death of a horse than about the killing of four Christians". In the spring of 1540 de Soto left the Apalachee settlement area and moved north to what is now Georgia.

Spanish Mission

Flag of the Apalachee Nation

Around 1600 the Spanish Franciscans (OFM) successfully founded a mission station with the Apalachee. However, during the Queen Anne's War of 1704, troops from Carolina Province , mostly Creek and Yamasee Indians, invaded the Florida area and attacked the Apalachee and the Spanish monks who lived among them. This attack is known today as the Apalachee Massacre . Some of the Apalachee were killed, others captured and sold into slavery were able to retain their tribal identity for some time. Many of the prisoners were taken as slaves by the Creek and Yamasee and later sold in the British slave trade . Others managed to flee west and accepted the offer to settle in the French-controlled Mobile in Alabama . In 1763 most of these Apalachee moved to Rapides Parish , Louisiana. The descendants of the tribe still live in this place today, under the direction of Chief Gilmer Bennett.

Apalachee today

Chief Gilmer Bennett, 2006

Today the tribal office is located in Libuse , Louisiana and has approximately 300 Apalachee available. The tribe has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and other news magazines. The Public Broadcasting Service showed a special about the tribe in 2006 as part of the History Detectives series. The Mission San Luis , a museum of living history in Tallahassee, Florida, is one of the Spanish missions of Apalachee. For this, the museum received the Preserve America Presidential Award in 2006 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: Shipwrecks , p. 37
  2. ↑ Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: Shipwrecks , p. 45
  3. ↑ The Talimali Band of Apalachee ( Memento from September 10, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ History Detectives: Mystery Crystal Cross
  5. ↑ Website of the Friends of Mission San Luis, Inc.
  6. ↑ Presentation of the Preserve America Award by President Bush

literature

See also

List of North American Indian tribes

Web links

Commons : Apalachee  - collection of images, videos and audio files