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.
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