Mythologies of the Timucua Tribe

Timucua is a language isolate formerly spoken in northern and central Florida and southern Georgia by the Timucua peoples. Timucua was the primary language used in the area at the time of Spanish colonization in Florida. Differences among the nine or ten Timucua dialects were slight, and appeared to serve mostly to delineate band or tribal boundaries. Some linguists suggest that the Tawasa of what is now northern Alabama may have spoken Timucua, but this is disputed. Most of what is known of the language comes from the works of Francisco Pareja, a Franciscan missionary who came to St. Augustine in 1595. During his 31 years living with the Timucua, he developed a writing system for the language, the first for an indigenous language of the Americas. From 1612 to 1628, he published several Spanish–Timucua catechisms, as well as a grammar of the Timucua language. His 1612 work was the first to be published in an indigenous language in the Americas. Including his seven surviving works, only ten primary sources of information about the Timucua language survive, including two catechisms written in Timucua and Spanish by Gregorio de Movilla in 1635, and a Spanish-translated Timucuan letter to the Spanish Crown dated 1688.

The Timucua were a group of Native Americans who lived in current-day southern Georgia and northern Florida. The Timucua all spoke dialects of the same language, although they were not united politically, living in different tribes with their own territory and dialects. They would not have seen themselves as one people. The Timucua practiced agriculture for much of their food, but also hunted and gathered. They worshipped primarily the sun and the moon, but they had other gods of importance. When Europeans first arrived in Florida in the 1500s, the Timucua occupied over 19,000 square miles of land and their population was likely about 200,000. However, by 1800, there were no more Timucua left. They had been completely wiped out. It is one of the goals of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve to remember how the Timucua lived since there are no Timucua left to tell their own stories.

Timucua, North American Indian tribe that inhabited the northeast coast of what is now Florida. This name is also used for the language they spoke. The estimated population of Timucua speakers was 13,000 in 1650, with 8,000 speaking Timucua proper and the remainder speaking various sister tongues. Their first European contact was probably with the expedition of Ponce de León in the 16th century. They were later missionized by the Franciscans, who compiled a grammar of their language. In the early 1700s Timucua territory was invaded by the Creek Indians and the English. As a result of these incursions, many Timucua died in armed conflict, perished from deprivation, or succumbed to Old World diseases to which they had no immunity. Sometime after 1736 the remnants of the tribe moved to the area near the present Mosquito Lagoon in Florida. It is likely that the remaining Timucua were eventually absorbed into Seminole culture.

The Timucua grew much of their own food and stayed in relatively the same places from year to year. Important crops to Timucua farmers were pumpkins, cucumbers, peas, gourds, maize, and beans, as well as other fruits and starches. The Timucua primarily gathered hickory nuts, berries, and acorns, which grew plentifully on vines and trees. The French account of Timucua food is somewhat incomplete, as the French did not recognize some of the different foods that the Timucua grew and gathered. Every year during the growing season, the Timucua would only grow enough food for about six months of the year. The Timucua believed in omens, which meant they interpreted random events as having a deeper meaning about the future. For example, if someone saw a snake in the woods, something bad would happen. If they heard an owl hoot, that either meant something harmful was coming or that something bad would have happened, but the owl took pity on the person and they were safe. An owl totem found in the St. Johns River proves how important the owl was to the Timucua. The totem likely belonged to a group of Timucua likely called the “people of the owl.”

The Timucua were the Native American people living in the Northeast and North Central portions of Florida. Their name may derive from the Spanish pronunciation of the Timucuan word atimoqua, which means “lord” or “chief.” The Timucua probably numbered between 200,000 and 300,000 people organized into various chiefdoms speaking a common language. The earliest evidence of their presence dates from around 3000 BC. Semi-nomadic, during the mild Fall and Winter months, the Timucua lived in the inland forests. They planted maize, beans, squash, melons, and various root vegetables as part of their diet employing “slash and burn” technology. Large growth would be cut, and then the fields would be cleared with fire. The soil would be turned and broken utilizing the nitrates in the ash as an effective fertilizer. They would also collect wild fruits and berries and bake bread made from the root starch of the koonti plant. They cultivated tobacco and utilized a communal food storage system suggesting crop surpluses.

The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the Timucua. At the time of European first contact, the territory occupied by speakers of Timucuan dialects occupied about 19,200 square miles (50,000 km2), and was home to between 50,000 and 200,000 Timuacans. It stretched from the Altamaha River and Cumberland Island in present-day Georgia as far south as Lake George in central Florida, and from the Atlantic Ocean west to the Aucilla River in the Florida Panhandle, though it reached the golf of Mexico at no more than a couple of points. The name “Timucua” (from Thimogona) came from the exonvm used by the Saturiwa (of what is now Jacksonville) to refer to the Utina, a related people living to the west of the St. Johns River. The Spanish came to use the term more broadly for other peoples in the area. Eventually it became the common term for all peoples who spoke what is known as the Timucuan language. The word “Timucua” may derive from “Thimogona” or “Tymangoua”, an exonym used by the Saturiwa tribe for their enemies, the Utina. Both groups spoke dialects of the Timucua language. The French followed the Saturiwa in this usage, but the Spanish applied the term “Timucua” much more widely to groups within a wide section of interior North Florida. In the 16th century they designated the area north of the Santa Fe River between the St. Johns River and the Suwannee River (roughly the area of the group known as the Northern Utina) as the Timucua province, which they incorporated into the mission system. The dialect spoken in that province became known as “Timucua” (now usually known as “Timucua proper”). During the 17th century, the Province of Timucua was extended to include the area between the Suwannee River and the Aucilla River, thus extending its scope. Eventually, “Timucua” was applied to all speakers of the various dialects of the Timucua language.

The Timucua (tee-MOO-qua) settled in central and northeastern Florida. It is believed that the Timucua may have been the first Native Americans to see the Spanish explorers when they landed in Florida. Early explorers often used the language of the Timucua to communicate with other tribes. In Timucuan villages, there were usually two kinds of houses. One type of home, referred to as a long house, was built using poles for the frame, bark for the walls, and branches from palmetto palm trees for the roof. The other type of home was round and covered with leaves of palm trees. The Timucua were known to have more permanent villages than the other tribes. Each family had their own home but the cooking took place in the village and meals were held daily in a central location. They wore clothing made from deerskin and woven cloth. The men wore their hair long with a topknot. Timucua liked to hold ceremonies for planting, harvesting, and honoring leaders who died. A shaman, the religious leader of the tribe, conducted the ceremonies.

The Timucua Indians were spread across parts of northern Florida and southeastern Georgia. Their territory was large and consisted of many different environments. Beaches, salt marshes, and forests thrived near the Atlantic coast. Rivers, lakes, swamps, and woodlands covered inland areas. The Timucua were not a single tribe, but rather separate groups, who spoke dialects or types of the Timucua language. For example, the Mocama dialect was spoken by the coastal Timucua near Jacksonville, while the Potano dialect was spoken by the inland Timucua near Gainesville. Because of Florida’s hot climate, the Timucua wore little clothing. Men dressed only in deerskin breechcloths. Their long black hair was tied in topknots, and their faces and bodies were decorated in brightly colored markings. Some of these tattoos were permanent, while others could be washed away. Women wore skirts of Spanish moss. Their long hair hung loose down their backs. Some women also had tattoos. Both men and women wore bracelets and necklaces of animal bone, teeth, and shell. Colored bird feathers might be placed in their hair during special events. Animal fur capes or robes provided warmth in the winter.

Timucua Indians

In the sixteenth century, prior to contact with the Spanish, around 200,000 Timucuans lived in what is today northern Florida and southern Georgia. Approximately thirty-five distinct chiefdoms divided the area politically. Their language, Timucua, is so strikingly different from other southeastern languages that some linguists have argued that the Timucuans may have originated in Central or South America, but archaeological evidence, some of it 5,000 years old, seems to undermine these claims. Each of the chiefdoms consisted of two to ten villages, with lesser villages and leaders paying tribute to higher-status chiefs. Both men and women served as chiefs. Before contact with the Spanish, Timucuans lived in close proximity to wetlands, and supported themselves by hunting, fishing, and gathering. Because of their rapid demise after contact with the Spanish, little is known about Timucuan culture and lifeways. Archaeologists in recent decades have begun to fill in sorely needed details about diet, burial practices, and political structures.

As the 16th century Spanish explorers arrived off the Florida coast, it would signal an end for a powerful race of people, the Timucua Indians. The Timucua territory included parts of what is now known as Georgia, south from Tampa Bay to Orlando. It wasn’t such a headache to find parking in those days. Original sketches drawn in the Timucua’s time show a peaceful group of Indians living together, caring for one another, and the earth around them. They would soon be made slaves of, plagued with foreign diseases, and finally, completely wiped out of existence. These native Floridians were tall, muscular, and well built with light brown skin. The men wore their hair bundled on top which made them appear a head taller. A round plate of copper hung around their neck and was used as a sweat scraper. Timucua warriors decorated almost their entire body with tattoos. The women wore their hair long and looked very pretty in the pictures drawn of them. When a Timucua woman was widowed, she cut off her hair and wouldn’t remarry until it grew back to her shoulders. After the excursion, you could then unwind. The Timucua practiced in their culture what the Europeans considered witchcraft when it came to attracting the opposite sex. A woman would trick the man she desired by placing herbs in his mouth and making up a song. To win the attention back from a lost lover, or to make someone fall in love, you would bathe in a combination of herbs and sprinkle herb juice on your hut. Fasting was also tried as a last resort.