Timucua
The Timucua were an indigenous people whose traditional homeland was in the north of the Florida peninsula in North America . The settlement area reached from the southeast of today's US state Georgia to central Florida. They were the largest Indian people in this region with over 35 chiefdoms and an estimated 50,000 to 200,000 or even more people before the arrival of the Europeans. They spoke different dialects of a Muskogee- related language, also known as Timucua . Historians suggest that the Timucua were the first Indians to meet Spanish explorers around 1513.
Name and area of residence
The name may come from the Spanish pronunciation of the term Atimoqua from the Timucua language, which means chief or lord . Another theory suggests that the term was originally used by the Saturiwa , a people near present-day Jacksonville , Florida, who referred to people who lived north of them. The residential area of the Timucua extended at the time of the first European contact from the Altamaha River and Cumberland Island in what is now Georgia in the north to Lake George in central Florida in the south and from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Aucilla River in the west, reaching the Gulf of Mexico but only at a few points.
organization
The Timucua were not a political entity, but consisted of at least 35 chiefdoms . In 1981, the American ethnologist Robert L. Carneiro defined the chieftainship as "an autonomous political unit consisting of a number of villages or communities and which is under the control of a supreme chief". Each of these chiefdoms consisted of about two to ten villages, one of which assumed the leadership role. The villages were divided into family clans that had animal names such as panther, buzzard, quail or bear and had a fixed hierarchy. Membership in a clan was passed down through the maternal line and men had to marry outside of their own clan. The highest ranking village officials always belonged to the clan Weißer Hirsch .
There were nine to ten different dialects in the Timucua language in the 35 chiefdoms, which are divided into an eastern and a western group. The eastern Timucua lived on the Atlantic coast and on the Sea Islands of southeast Georgia and north Florida, on the St. Johns River and its tributaries, and the neighboring swamps and forests, including the Okefenokee Swamps in southeast Georgia. The western Timucua populated the interior of northern Florida, for example from the Aucilla River in the west to southeastern Georgia.
Culture
There were usually two different types of houses in the Timucua villages. The so-called long house had sturdy posts as a scaffolding, the spaces between the walls were covered with tree bark and the roof was covered with palm fronds and sealed. These houses were about 4.5 by 6 meters. The second, smaller type of house had a round floor plan and also posts as scaffolding, which was covered with a round roof made of palm branches. In the middle there was an opening for smoke extraction and ventilation. In the village there was at least one large meeting house where meetings took place and which provided space for all residents. If a village got too big, several families could jointly found a new village nearby, so that small village groups emerged. Each larger village or an association of smaller villages had its own chief. In times of war there were temporary alliances between the individual villages. They buried their dead in mounds , which, however, belonged to the clans rather than the villages.
The Timucua were a people who both farmed and gathered wild fruits and herbs from the northern Florida region. They grew corn, beans, pumpkin, melons and various other vegetables and tobacco. Archaeologists found that they operated a kind of three-field economy . For their plantings they used fire to clear the ground of weeds and bushes. They loosened the soil with hoes before the women brought the seeds into the ground with two sticks. The harvest was stored in granaries to protect them from pests and rain. For example, corn was ground to bake corn pancakes from it. The Timucua men hunted game including alligators, deer and bears in swamps and forests, as well as manatees and even whales on the coasts, and caught freshwater fish in many rivers and lakes. The women gathered wild fruits, acorns and nuts. They made bread from the flour from a root called koonti . Meat was boiled or cooked over an open fire, which was called barbacoa , the origin of the modern word barbecue .
After the establishment of Spanish missions between 1595 and 1620, the Timucua got to know the European cuisine and largely changed their diet. Maize was mainly grown for export and brought to other Spanish colonies. For ceremonial purposes there was a black tea called Black Drink , made from the leaves of the holly Ilex vomitoria . Only respected men of the tribe were allowed to drink this tea. The drink was said to have a special cleaning effect and often led to immediate vomiting of the consumer.
The Timucua were tall and towered over most Spaniards. In addition, they tied their hair up in a forelock that made them appear even bigger. All members of the Tiumcua were tattooed, often all over their bodies. These tattoos could be acquired through special achievements or deeds. Children got their first tattoos when they took on more responsibility. Members of a higher social class wore more elaborate decorations. A chief was easily recognized by his tattoos and insignia . These included copper breastplates, strings of pearls on wrists and ankles, and turkey spores on the earlobes. They often had several women who could also be recognized by their elaborate tattoos and their pearl jewelry. On ceremonial occasions, the chief and his family were carried in sedan chairs by ordinary members of the tribe.
history
In the first half, the Spaniards sent several expeditions through central Florida in search of gold and other usable mineral resources. During this time they had most of their contacts with members of the Timucua. Juan Ponce de León landed near today's St. Augustine in 1513 , declared all of eastern North America to be owned by the Spanish crown and gave it the name La Florida (Pascua Florida = Easter). In 1528 Pánfilo de Narváez reached Tampa Bay with his expedition and explored the western residential areas of the Timucua. In 1539, Hernando de Soto led an army of 500 men through central and northern Florida, confiscating Timucua food, raping women, and forcing men to serve as guides and porters. In two skirmishes against de Soto's army, the Timucua lost several hundred warriors. De Soto often had the villages burned down or placed a Christian cross on the holy places of the Indians as a sign of farewell. In addition, the Spaniards occasionally abducted the tribal chiefs in order to ensure safe conduct. De Soto released pigs from the herd in the woods so that subsequent expeditions could meet their meat needs. The Timucua also recognized the new source of meat and hunted animals that were unknown to them.
The Spanish explorers were surprised by the size of the Timucua, who were only sparsely clad in moss and animal fur and whose skin was covered with numerous tattoos. We owe most of our knowledge of the Timucua culture less to the Spanish than to the French. In 1564 French Huguenots under René Goulaine de Laudonnière came to what is now Jacksonville while fleeing persecution in France . They founded Fort Caroline and several settlements on the St. Johns River. After initial conflicts, they developed good relationships with the local Timucua people. Jaques le Moyne, one of the French settlers, wrote the first detailed reports on the native people of Florida.
After the establishment of St. Augustine as the Spanish capital in 1565, there were dramatic changes in the life of the Timucua. The Spaniards destroyed the French settlements and began setting up missions in the individual chiefs of Timucua. Here the indigenous people were introduced to Christianity and the Spanish way of life. The Spanish Franciscan missionaries had to learn the Timucua language, making it one of the few eastern tribal languages that has survived.
By 1595, the Timucua population had shrunk by 25%. The cause were permanent wars and European diseases, such as smallpox , which had been introduced by the Spaniards and against which they could not develop any resistance. At the beginning of the 18th century, the colonial war between the British and the Spanish escalated. The rival Europeans availed themselves of the help of their Indian allies. Allies of the English were, among others, the Creek, Catawba and Yuchi , while the Timucua fought on the side of the Spaniards. At the end of the Seven Years' War and the British takeover of Florida in 1763, only about 125 Timucua were still alive. The fact is that the Spaniards brought the few Indians who had survived their Catholic missions to safety in Cuba . During the 18th century, the peninsula was repopulated by parts of the Muskogee that began to pour in from the north. As a result of the Yamasee War , many Yuchi and Yamasee refugees also came to Florida. Despite their heterogeneous roots, these Indians were uniformly referred to as later the Seminoles . Some of the dispersed Timucua were also absorbed by the Seminoles around 1710 and the tribe has been considered extinct since then.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Southeast . In: Raymond D. Fogelson (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . tape 14 . Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 2004, ISBN 0-16-072300-0 , pp. 219-228 .
- ↑ a b Alvin M. Josephy: America 1492 The Indian peoples shortly before the discovery . S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 1992, ISBN 3-10-036712-X , pp. 176-179 .
- ↑ Spanish Missions. In: New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 22, 2016 .
literature
- Jerald T. Milanich: The Timucua. Blackwell Publications, 1996, Oxford, UK.
- John Hann: A History of the Timucua Indians and Missions. University Press of Florida, 1996.
- Jerald T. Milanich: Timucua. In Raymond D. Fogelson (Ed.): Southeast. Handbook of North American Indians , Volume 17, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004 pp. 219-228 ISBN 0-16-072300-0
- John Worth: The Timucuan Chiefdoms of Spanish Florida: Volume I: Assimilation, Volume II: Resistance and Destruction , University of Florida Press, 1998.
