Timucua Indian Tribe History

Timucua. The principal of the Timucuan tribes of Florida. The name is written Timucua or Timuqua by the Spaniards; Thimagoa by the French; Atimaco, Tomoco, etc., by the English. They seem to 1 e identical with the people called Nukfalalgi or Nukfila by the Creeks, described by the latter as having once occupied the upper portion of the peninsula and as having been conquered, together with the Apalachee, Yamasee, and Calusa, by the Creeks. When first known to the French and Spanish, about 1565, the Timucua occupied the territory along middle St John r. and about the present St Augustine. Their chief was known to the French as Olata Ouae Utina, abbreviated to Utina or Outina, which, however, is a title rather than a personal name, data (hoiceta) signifying `chief,' and utina `country.' His residence town on St John r. is believed to have been not far below L. George. He ruled a number of subchiefs or towns, among which are mentioned (Laudonniere) Acuera, Anacharaqua, Cadecha, Calany, Chilili, Eclaou, Enacappe, Mocoso, and Omitiaqua. Of these Acuera is evidently the coast town s. of C. Canaveral, where the Spaniards afterward established the mission of Santa Lucia de Acuera. The names Acuera, Mocoso, and Utina(ma) are duplicated in the w. part of the peninsula in the De Soto narratives. The Timucua were Christianized by Spanish Franciscans toward the close of the 16th century and brought to a high degree of civilization until the destruction of the missions about the y ear 1 705 (see Tom aril an 14unil?y). The retuuant of the tribe at first took refuge at St Augustine, and was afterward established in a new settlement called Pueblo de Atiniucas, on Tomoco r., near Mosquito lagoon, in the present Volusia co. A few of them seem to
have been in existence as late as the transfer of the territory to the United States in 1821.

Index of Tribes or Nations

Free Genealogy | Indian Genealogy | Index of Tribes or Nations