The Chatot (also Chacato or Chactoo) were a Native American tribe who lived in the upper Apalachicola River and

Chipola River The Chipola River is a tributary of the Apalachicola River in western Florida. It is part of the ACF River Basin watershed. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1 ...

basins in what is now

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. They spoke a

Muskogean language Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States. Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing, the Muskogean languages are generally div ...

, which may have been the same as that of several other peoples in western Florida, including the Amacano,

Chine A chine () is a steep-sided coastal gorge where a river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word is still in use in central Southern England—notably in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Is ...

, Pacara, and

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...

. Patricia Galloway, author of ''Choctaw Genesis, 1500–1700'', posited that the Chatot were connected with the Choctaw. The Chatot were involved in a war with the

Apalachee The Apalachee were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, specifically an Indigenous people of Florida, who lived in the Florida Panhandle until the early 18th century. They lived between the Aucilla River and Ochlockonee River,B ...

and Amacano people in 1639. The

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

established three or four missions to the Chatot by 1675; ''Asunción/Asumpción del Puerto'', ''la Encarnación'' (also called ''Santa Cruz de Sábacola el menor''), ''San Nicolás de Tolentino'' (listed only in Geiger, 1940) and '' San Carlos de los Chacatos''. These missions were located near the upper Apalachicola River. The historian John Hann places the missions of ''Asunción'', ''la Encarnatión'' and ''San Carlos'' in the

Apalachee Province Apalachee Province was the area in the Panhandle of the present-day U.S. state of Florida inhabited by the Native American peoples known as the Apalachee at the time of European contact. The southernmost extent of the Mississippian culture, th ...

of the Spanish mission system in Florida. The historian Maynard Geiger also places ''Asunción'' in Apalachee Province, but he places ''la Encarnación'', ''San Nicolás'' and ''San Carlos'' in the

Apalachicola Province Apalachicola (sometimes Palachacola) was the name of a Native American tribal town, and of a group of towns associated with it, which the Spanish called Apalachicola Province, located along the lower part of the Chattahoochee River in present-da ...

. Milanich places San Carlos de Chacatos in Apalachee Province, serving Chacatos who had moved into the province.

Notes

References

* * * * * * Extinct Native American peoples Native American tribes in Florida {{florida-stub