TIMCUA INDIANS OF GEORGIA

THESE NATIVE AMERICANS WERE IN NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA AND SOUTHEAST GEORGIA. THEY CONSISTED ABOUT 35 CHIEFDOMS AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE. THEY ALL DIALECTS. THEY HAD ABOUT 19,000 SQUARE MILES. IT STRETCHED FROM THE ALTAMAHA RIVER TO THE CUMBERLAND ISLAND.

THEIR GROUPS PRACTICED SEVERAL CULTURAL TRADITIONS. THEY SUFFERED FROM EUROPEAN DISEASES SEVERELY. BY 1600 THEIR POPULATION WENT FROM 200,000 TO 50,000. BY 1700 THEY WERE REDUCED TO 1000. WARFARE AGAINST THEM AND NATIVE ALLIES COMPLETED THEIR EXTINCTION AS A TRIBE.

THEIR PRECOLUMBIAN ERA HAD REGULAR SMALL TRIBAL WARS. THEY WERE A LARGE AND POWERFUL GROUP WITH 1000'S IN VILLAGES. THEY HAD LOOSE POLITICAL ALLIANCES. THEY PROBABLY SAW PONCE DE LEON IN ST. AUGUSTINE. BY 1539 DE SOTA HAD AN ARMY THROUGH THEIR TERRITORY. HIS ARMY SEIZED FOOD, TOOK WOMEN, AND FORCED MEN TO SERVE AS GUIDES.

THE WESTERN TIMUCUA LIVED IN THE INTERIOR FORESTS OF FLORIDA AND EXTENDED TO THE RIVER INTO GEORGIA. THE EASTERN TIMUCA ARE BEST KNOWN. THEY GAVE THEIR NAME TO MOCAMA PROVINCE. ONCE THE EUROPEANS CONTACTED THEM THERE WERE TWO MAJOR CHIEFDOMS. EACH HAD A NUMBER OF SMALLER VILLAGES. OTHER EASTERN TRIBES LIVED IN SOUTHEAST GEORGIA. IN THE 1560'S THE ULTINA WERE A POWERFUL CHIEFDOM OVER 40 VILLAGES. BY THE END OF THE 1500'S THEIR CONFEDERACY HAD CRUMBLED. THE DIMINISHED GROUP MOVED TO THE SOUTH OF ST. JOHN'S.

THE TIMUCUA WERE NOT POLITICALLY UNIFIED. EACH CHIEFDOM HAD OVER 40 VILLAGES. VILLAGES WERE DIVIDED INTO FAMILY CLANS. EACH VILLAGE HAD 30 HOUSES AND 300 PEOPLE. THEY WERE SEMI AGRICULTURALISTS AND ATE NATIVE FOODS. THEY PLANTED MAIZE, BEANS AND SQUASH. ARCHAEOLOGISTS BELIEVE THEY USED CROP ROTATION. THEY USED SLASH AND BURN AGRICULTURE. THEY PLANTED TOBACCO AS WELL. THEY GROUND CORN THAT WAS GROUND INTO FLOUR. THE MEN HUNTED GAME, FISHED, AND COLLECTED SHELLFISH. WOMEN GATHERED FRUITS, ACORNS, NUTS AND DUG ROOTS. AFTER 1600 THEY WERE INTRODUCED TO EUROPEAN FOODS. IN 2006 ARCHAEOLOGISTS DUG A SITE DATING TO 1100 TO 1300 AD. THEY HAD A HUGE TRADE NETWORK.

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