TIMUACA INDIANS IN GEORGIA

THESE FOLKS WERE A NATIVE AMERICAN GROUP WHO LIVED IN THE NORTHEAST FLORIDA AND SOUTHEAST GEORGIA. THEY WERE THE LARGEST INDIGENOUS GROUP IN THAT AREA AND HAD 35 CHIEFDOMS! THE TRIBE SPOKE DIALECTS OF TIMUCUA LANGUAGE AT THE TIME OF FIRST CONTACT BY ANGLOS, THEIR TERRITORY OCCUPIED 20,000 SQUARE MILES AND WAS HOME TO 50,000 TO 200,000 TUMUACANS. IT OCCUPIED THE NORTHERN PART OF THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE.

THE NAME CAME FROM TIMUCUA FROM EXONYM USED BY THE SATURIVA TO REFER TO UTINA - A RELATED PEOPLE IN THE WEST OF ST. JOHN'S RIVER. THE SPANISH TERM UTICA REFERED TO PEOPLE KNOWN AS THE TIMUCUAN LANGUAGES.

WHILE ALLIANCES AND CONFLICT AROSE BETWEEN THESE GROUPS THE TIMUCUA NEVER ORGANIZED INTO POLITICAL UNITS. THEY SUFFERED SEVERELY FROM INFECTIOUS DISEASES. BY 1600 THEY HAD ONLY 50,000 IN 13 CHIEFDOMS. THE ENGLISH COMPLETELY EXTINGUISHED THEIR POPULATION.

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