Jeaga Indians

Jeaga Tribe – Meaning unknown.

Connections. The Jeaga are classed on the basis of place names and location with the tribes of south Florida, which were perhaps of the Muskhogean division proper.

Location. On the present Jupiter Inlet, on the east coast of Florida.

Villages. Between this tribe and the Tequesta the names of several settlements are given which may have belonged to one or both of them, viz: Cabista, Custegiyo, Janar, Tavuacio.

History. The Jeaga tribe is mentioned by Fontaneda (1854) and by many later Spanish writers but it was of minor importance. Near Jupiter Inlet the Quaker Dickenson (1803), one of our best informants regarding the ancient people of the east coast of Florida, was cast ashore in 1699. In the eighteenth century, this tribe was probably merged with the Ais, Tequesta, and other tribes of this coast, and removed with them to Cuba.

Population. No separate enumeration is known.

Mooney (1928) estimates the number of Indians on the southeastern coast of Florida in 1650, including this tribe, the Tekesta, Guacata, and Ais, to have been 1,000. As noted in their description, the Ais were the most important of these and undoubtedly the largest. We have no other estimates of population applying to the seventeenth century. In 1726, 88 “Costa” Indians were reported in a mission farther north and these may have been drawn from the southeast coast. In 1728, 52 “Costa” Indians were reported.


Topics:
Jeaga, Muskogean,

Collection:
Swanton, John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office. 1953.

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