Juan de Salinas was the governor of

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida ( es, La Florida) was the first major European land claim and attempted settlement in North America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, ...

from August 2, 1618 - October 28, 1624.Ben Cahoon
U.S. States F-K
Salinas arrived at

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

in 1618 to replace Juan Treviño de Guillamas as governor of the Spanish territory of ''La Florida''. Under his administration, living conditions for Christianized Native Americans living in the

Spanish missions The Spanish missions in the Americas were Catholic missions established by the Spanish Empire during the 16th to 19th centuries in the period of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. These missions were scattered throughout the entirety of ...

of the territory deteriorated. They retreated to the forests of Guale and San Pedro (now

Cumberland, Georgia Cumberland is an edge city in Cobb County located in an unincorporated area of the northwest Atlanta metropolitan area, Georgia, United States. It is situated northwest of downtown Atlanta. With approximately 122,000 workers and 103,000 residents ...

) to escape near slavery. Salinas's unsympathetic policy in dealing with the Natives caused problems in Spanish relations with the tribes. According to a later report by a Spanish soldier,

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

Adrián de Cañizares y Osorio, Salinas dispatched him more than sixty leagues into the interior in Florida to punish the

Chisca The Chisca were a tribe of Native Americans living in present-day eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia in the 16th century, and in present day Alabama, Georgia, and Florida in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries, by which time they ...

and Chichimeco peoples, "who were disturbing and robbing and killing the Christian Indians of the provinces of Timicua and Apalachee...". In 1623, Salinas received reports of an expedition of "blond men on horseback" (probably groups of English settlers from the area that later became the

Province of Carolina Province of Carolina was a province of England (1663–1707) and Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until partitioned into North and South on January 24, 1712. It is part of present-day Alaba ...

) exploring inland La Florida, territory claimed by the Spanish. Salinas sent two ''entradas'' (reconnaissance expeditions) of twenty soldiers and sixty Guale Native Americans led by a

Timucuan 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 var ...

chief, in search of them. His successor, Luis de Rojas y Borja, sent a third ''entrada'' of 10 soldiers and 60 Guale for the same purpose. It is not known if they ever found them.

References

{{Florida-bio-stub Royal Governors of La Florida