The traditional Timucua territory in northern Florida extended from the Suwannee River to the St. Johns River. The Timucua were not a single political unit but a confederation of 150 villages with a common culture and language. (see Indians 101: A very short overview of the Timucua Indians for more background).
The Spanish invasion of Florida was driven by the desire to obtain wealth—in the form of precious metals and slaves—and personal glory. It was justified by the idea of obtaining converts to Christianity. In their chapter in North American Exploration. Volume 1: A New World Disclosed, Dennis Reinhartz and Oakah Jones write:
“Spanish explorers of the present-day southeastern United States were motivated largely by the search for mythical kingdoms and rich civilizations, as well as the quest to find a strait through the North American continent.”
The Spanish invasion of Florida began in 1513 when Juan Ponce de Leon (the conqueror of Puerto Rico) explored the coast of Florida. It was Easter Week – Pasqua Florida in Spanish— when he landed and so the land was called Florida. The primary goal of the Spanish expedition was to obtain slaves.
The first reported contact between the Timucua and the Spanish was in 1527. Pánfilio de Narváez, with a reputation for brutality and a strong desire to find gold and wealth, invaded Florida with a force of 600. Dennis Reinhartz and Oakah Jones report:
“Narváez was motivated primarily by the search for gold and for a passage to the Pacific Ocean.”
The Spanish landed somewhere near present-day Tampa. On a beach empty of any Indians, a monk read the requerimiento, and with this the Spanish felt that they had met the legal and religious obligations to take possession of the land and to wage war against the natives. The requerimiento was a legal document, read in Latin or in Spanish, which recited the Christian history of the world and declared that the Christian god had selected the Catholic pope to rule all peoples of the world. From the Spanish viewpoint, the reading of the requerimiento was the important action: it didn’t make any difference if anyone heard it or understood it.
With regard to the initial contact between the Spanish and the Indians, historians Robert Utley and Wilcomb Washburn, in their book Indian Wars, report:
“He opened negotiations with the natives around Tampa Bay by luring their chief and his family into the Spanish camp, cutting off the chief’s nose, and ordering the mother torn apart by dogs.”
The Timucua, hearing about Spanish brutality, left their village before the Spanish arrived, hoping to encourage the Spanish to leave by offering no hospitality. The Spanish entered the empty village and reported that it included one building which could hold 300 people. However, the Spanish found a gold rattle that ignited their gold-lust. Ignoring any possibility of Timucua sovereignty, the Spanish arrogantly claimed the country for Spain.
The Spanish continued their march north to Tampa Bay. At one village the Franciscan priests ordered that the revered remains of the Timucua ancestors be burned. The Spanish marched northward without seeing any natives. The Timucua considered their policy of avoidance to be successful.
Near the Apalachicola River, the Spanish were met by the Timucua chief Dulchanchellin who was carried on a man’s back and was accompanied by a group that included musicians playing reed flutes. The two groups exchanged gifts and the chief led them to his village where he fed them. In the morning, the Spanish found that they were alone.
In 1528, some Spanish explorers were taken to a Timucua village where they found many European goods. The Timucua explained that the goods had come from a ship which had wrecked in Tampa Bay.
As a result of their contact with the Spanish, an epidemic (possibly measles or typhoid fever) struck the Timucua and it is estimated that 180,500 died.
In 1539, Hernando de Soto began his exploration of the southeast. He landed in Tampa Bay, Florida with a force of 200 horsemen (with 223 horses), 400 foot-soldiers, some fighting dogs, and a small herd of hogs for food. As with other Spanish explorers, the Spanish Crown gave de Soto a license to plunder. The Spanish would seize local chiefs and hold them for a ransom of bearers, women, and corn. Historian Patricia Wickman, in her book The Tree that Bends: Discourse, Power, and the Survival of the Maskóki People, reports:
“Women of the various tribes were forced to serve the men as personal servants and as sex partners.”
In other words, the Spanish forced captured Indian women to become sex slaves.
The Timucua near Tampa Bay were the first to encounter de Soto. In his book The Long Hunt: Death of the Buffalo East of the Mississippi, historian Ted Franklin Belue reports:
“The conquistadors killed many Timucuans outright, tortured others, or tracked them down to be torn asunder by wolfhounds.”
While the Spanish had military superiority with their firearms, horses, and dogs of war, they found that their armor was not very effective. Anthropologist Colin Taylor, in his book Native American Weapons, reports:
“When the atlatl was first encountered by the Spanish under De Soto, its frightening effectiveness against mail-armored soldiers—due to a three to five times energy increase imported to the projectile—filled the Spaniards with consternation.”
Colin Taylor also writes of the atlatl:
“Not only was it a highly effective killing weapon but when used, it only required one hand.”
The Spanish reported that they passed by many great fields of corn, beans, squash, and other plants. In one instance they reported that the fields ran for two leagues (approximately 4-5 miles) and that they spread out for as far as the eye can see on either side of the roadway. It is estimated that the Timucua had 10,000 acres under cultivation.
The Spanish noted that the Timucua-speaking capital of the Ocali chiefdom had 600 dwellings. It is estimated that the Ocali population was about 60,000 at this time.
In 1647, the Apalachees and Chiscas rebelled against the Spanish because they were forced to work on the Spanish fort at St. Augustine. The revolt was led by traditional Apalachee who burn seven churches and kill three friars. The Spanish responded by sending a force of 31 soldiers and 500 Timucua warriors against the rebels. The Spanish and their Indian allies encountered a large rebel army—perhaps 8,000 warriors—and engaged them in a fierce, day-long battle. Archaeologist Jerald Milanich, in his book Laboring in the Fields of the Lord: Spanish Missions and Southeastern Indians, reports:
“The rebels had not expected the rapid and fierce response of the Spanish soldiers and Timucuan warriors and suffered heavy losses. As a result, the rebellion is quickly put down. The Spanish hang 12 of the leaders and sentence 26 to labor in St. Augustine.”
In 1656, the Spanish governor heard rumors of an impending English raid against St. Augustine. He ordered the Timucua, Apalachees, and Guales to assemble 500 warriors and to march to St. Augustine to help defend it. Archaeologist Jerald Milanich reports:
“Furthermore, the governor commanded the warriors and their chiefs to carry their own supplies, including the corn and food they would need for the overland trek to and from St. Augustine and for a stay of at least one month in town.”
Since chiefs did not traditionally carry their own burdens, some were insulted by this request. One Timucua chief, Lúcas Menéndez, flatly refused to obey the order. In addition to having to supply their own food for at least six weeks, the Indians were not to be paid for their service to the Spanish.
In rebelling against Spanish authority, Lúcas Menéndez ordered all of the Spaniards in his province, with the exception of the Franciscan friars, to be killed. Archaeologist Jerald Milanich reports:
“The rebellion was not against Catholicism, which had become now the Timucua’ own religion; it was against the military government and its mistreatment of the chiefs and their people.”
The Timucua rebels initially killed seven people.
The different Timucua chiefs communicated to each other by writing letters in the Timucua language. In one instance, they intercepted a Spanish dispatch written in Spanish which they were able to read.
The Spanish response to the rebellion was to send a detachment of 60 Spanish soldiers and 200 Apalachee warriors into Timucua territory. The rebels took refuge at a fort near Santa Elena de Machava. After extended talks, the Indians in the territory surrendered. The Spanish allowed most to go free, but they arrested the leaders.
Intending to punish the rebel Timucua further, the Spanish sent out a second expedition. They captured about two dozen Indians, including several chiefs, who were then tried. Half were sentenced to death and half to hard labor in St. Augustine. Those who were sentenced to death were hung at various locations in Timucua territory as a reminder of Spanish authority.
By 1680, the conflict between the Spanish and the English impacted the Timucua. With the encouragement and arms from the British traders in the Carolinas, the Yamasees attacked the Guales and the Timucua in Spanish Florida.
In 1688, Timucua leaders were writing to the King of Spain in their own language. By 1689, the Timucua population had declined to about 500, down from an estimated 770,000 when the Spanish arrived. The population decline has been attributed to European diseases. Major epidemics of European diseases struck the Timucua in 1613-1617, 1649-1650, and 1672. By the time Florida was transferred from Spain to England in 1763, the Timucua had disappeared from the historic record.
Indians 101
Twice each week—on Tuesdays and Thursdays—this series explores American Indian topics. More from this series:
Indians 101: The Search for Cibola
Indians 101: The Hopi and the Spanish
Indians 101: The Utes, the Spanish, and Silver
Indians 101: Choctaw Migrations
Indians 101: The Southeastern Ball Game
Indians 101: The Muskogean Language Family
Indians 101: 16th Spanish Religious Views of Indians
Indians 101: The Spanish and the Southeastern Indian nations 500 years ago, 1521