Cowkeeper

Cowkeeper (= cowherd ; also Ahaya ; * 1710 ; † 1783 ) is the English name of the first recorded chief of the Alachua group of Seminole Indians.

When Cowkeeper was a child, his tribe, the Oconee, a group of the Hitchiti , who originally came from central Georgia , settled along the Chattahoochee River in northern Florida . By the time Ahaya was in his mid-twenties, he was now the chief of his village, he had developed a passionate hatred of the Spaniards , who owned Florida.

In 1740 he supported the unsuccessful siege of San Agustín by British forces under James Oglethorpe from Georgia with thirty warriors . Around 1750, Ahaya led his people south to the area of ​​the Alachua Prairie , possibly near the ruins of a village of the Potano, a group of the Timucua Indians. They found a lot of game and fish there as well as many wild cows. His people rounded up the cows in a large herd. Ahaya was then given the English name "Cowkeeper".

Around 1757 the Alachua lived in a thriving village called Cuscowilla on the northwestern shore of Lake Tuscawilla , where the present-day town of Micanopy is located. In the same year he visited the governor of Georgia and expressed his hatred of the Spaniards and the Indians allied with them. He explained that his hatred came from a vision in which he would not find peace in the afterlife until he killed a hundred Spaniards.

In 1763 Florida was handed over to Great Britain by the Spaniards, Ahaya was overjoyed. He traveled to St. Augustine (San Agustín) to attend the inauguration of the new British Governor Patrick Tonyn .

In 1774, the naturalist visited William Bartram of Philadelphia Ahaya in Cuscowilla. He was honored by the Alachua with a great festival. When Bertram said he was interested in studying local plants and animals, Cowkeeper was amused. He described the American scientists as "flower hunters". However, he gave him permission to explore his country.

When Florida returned under Spanish rule in 1783, Ahaya saw a chance to realize his vision of killing a hundred Spaniards before his death. He organized an attack on San Augustin, but fell ill. When he saw his end approaching, he gathered his sons Payne and Bowlegs around him. He confessed that he had only killed eighty-six Spaniards and asked his sons to kill the remaining fourteen Spaniards on his behalf.

literature

• Lars Andersen: Paynes Prairie. A History of the Great Savanna. Pineapple Press, Inc., Sarasota, Florida, 2001.

predecessor	Office	successor
-	Supreme Chief of the Seminoles ? –1783	King Payne