Santa Isabel de Utinahica (ca. 1610 – ca. 1640) was a 17th-century

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 ...

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

believed by the

Fernbank Museum of Natural History Fernbank Museum of Natural History, in Atlanta, Georgia, is a museum that presents exhibitions and programming about natural history. Fernbank Museum has a number of permanent exhibitions and regularly hosts temporary exhibitions in its expansi ...

to be located in modern-day

Telfair County, Georgia Telfair County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 16,500. The largest city and county seat is McRae-Helena. In 2009, researchers from the Fernbank Museum of Nat ...

, near

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. It served the

Utinahica The Utinahica were a Timucua tribe and chiefdom in the 17th century. They lived in what is now the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. Their descendants may include the Creek Indians. A Spanish mission, Santa Isabel de Utinahica, was e ...

tribe, who lived in the area. The small mission was a part of a series of missions set up in what was then the northern reaches of the Spanish

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

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, ...

, similar to the

Spanish Missions in California The Spanish missions in California ( es, Misiones españolas en California) comprise a series of 21 religious outposts or missions established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the U.S. state of California. Founded by Catholic priests o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Operating for approximately two decades in the early 17th century, the mission was a religious outpost consisting of one

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

sent out to convert and monitor the native people at the edges of the colony. The name Utinahica was taken from the local Native American

chiefdom A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...

, themselves a part of the

Timucua 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 ...

people and possibly ancestors of the current

Creek people The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsFernbank Museum of Natural History Fernbank Museum of Natural History, in Atlanta, Georgia, is a museum that presents exhibitions and programming about natural history. Fernbank Museum has a number of permanent exhibitions and regularly hosts temporary exhibitions in its expansi ...

and

Georgia Department of Natural Resources The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Georgia. The agency has statewide responsibilities for managing and conserving Georgia’s natural, cultural, and historical resources, and has five ...

began three summer seasons of archeological excavation where the Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers converge to form the

Altamaha River The Altamaha River is a major river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It flows generally eastward for 137 miles (220 km) from its origin at the confluence of the Oconee River and Ocmulgee River towards the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties ...

. No evidence of the mission was found, and only Muskogean (proto-Creek) architecture and artifacts were uncovered, plus some trade items of probable Spanish origin. In the 17th century the Spanish referred to the Altamaha River as the Rio de Santa Isabel, after the short-lived mission.

References

*Elliott Minor
Archeologists to Search for Lost Mission
''Associated Press'', May 23, 2006, ''Accessed May 24, 2006''

''The Weekly'', May 24, 2006, ''Accessed May 24, 2006''
List of Spanish Missions
, ''New Georgia Encyclopedia'', ''Accessed May 24, 2006'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Isabel De Utinahica Archaeological sites in Georgia (U.S. state) Geography of Telfair County, Georgia Spanish missions in Georgia (U.S. state) Timucua 1610 establishments in the Spanish Empire

See also

References