TIMUCA INDIANS

THESE INDIANS LIVED IN NORTHEAST FLORIDA AND SOUTHEAST FLORIDA AND SOUTHEAST GEORGIA. THEY WERE THE LARGEST INDIGENOUS GROUP IN THAT REGION AND CONSISTED OF 35 CHIEFDOMS. THEY LEAD THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE. AT THE TIME OF EUROPEAN CONTACT THEY OCCUPIED 19,000 SQUARE MILES AND HAD 200,000 PEOPLE. THEY SPOKE TIMICUAN LANGUAGE. THEY BUILT HOUSES MADE OF UPRIGHT POLES AND WERE CIRCULAR IN SHAPE COVERED WITH PALM LEAF THATCHING WITH A HOLE IN THE CENTER THEY WERE ABOUT 20 FEET ACROSS. EACH VILLAGE HAD A COUNCIL HOUSE ABOUT 20' ACROSS WHICH COULD BE USED FOR SLEEPING. THESE FOLKS WERE SEMI-AGRICULTURAL AND ATE MANY TYPES OF FOOD THEY PLANTED CORN BEANS AND SQUASH AND PART OF THEIR DIET CAME FROM GATHERING FRUITS, ACORNS, NUTS, AND ROOTS. THE MEN HUNTED GAME INCLUDING ALLIGATORS MANATEES AND WHALES. THEY EXCHANGED FOOD ITEMS WITH SOME SPANISH AFTER 1590.

THEIR EARLIEST SITE DATED TO 1100 TO 1300 CE, WHICH PREDATED THE FOUNDING OF ST. AUGUSTINE BY 200 YEARS. THEY WERE NEVER ORGANIZED POLITICALLY. THEY SUFFERED LIKE OTHERS FROM EUROPEAN DISEASES. BY 1600 THERE POPULATION DROPPED TO 50,000 WITHIN 13 CHIEFDOMS. BY 1700 THE POPULATION HAD BEEN REDUCED TO 1000. THEY WERE EXTINCT AFTER 1800 BY THE ENGLISH COLONISTS WHO KILLED OR ENSLAVED THEM. THEIR NAME TEMUCA IS DERIVED FROM TYMANGOUA THAT WAS USED BY THE SATURIVA TRIBE. IN PREHISTORY THEY HAD SMALL TRIBAL WARS. THEY PROBABLY SAW JUAN PONCE DE LEON EXPEDITION IN ST. AUGUSTINE IN 1513. SPANISH MISSIONARIES ESTABLISHED MISSIONS IN EACH OF THEIR MAIN VILLAGES.

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