Tocobaga
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Tocobaga (occasionally Tocopaca) was the name of a
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 ...
, its chief, and its principal town during the 16th century. The chiefdom was centered around the northern end of Old
Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...
, the arm of Tampa Bay that extends between the present-day city of
Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
and northern
Pinellas County Pinellas County (, ) is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107. The county is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg– Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical ...
. The exact location of the principal town is believed to be the archeological
Safety Harbor site The Safety Harbor site is an archaeological site in Philippe Park at 2525 Philippe Parkway in Safety Harbor, Florida, United States. It is the type site for the Safety Harbor culture, and includes the largest remaining mound in the Tampa Bay a ...
, which gives its name to the
Safety Harbor culture The Safety Harbor culture was an archaeological culture practiced by Native Americans living on the central Gulf coast of the Florida peninsula, from about 900 CE until after 1700. The Safety Harbor culture is defined by the presence of Safety H ...
, of which the Tocobaga are the most well-known group. The name "Tocobaga" is often applied to all of the native peoples of the immediate Tampa Bay area during the first Spanish colonial period (1513-1763). While they were culturally very similar, most of the villages on the eastern and southern shores of Tampa Bay were likely affiliated with other chiefdoms, such as the
Pohoy Pohoy (also Pojoy, Pojoi, Pooy, Posoy, Pujoy) was a chiefdom on the shores of Tampa Bay in present-day Florida in the late sixteenth century and all of the seventeenth century. Following slave-taking raids by people from the Lower Towns of the Musc ...
, Uzita, and
Mocoso Mocoso (or Mocoço) was the name of a 16th-century chiefdom located on the east side of Tampa Bay, Florida near the mouth of the Alafia River, of its chief town and of its chief. Mocoso was also the name of a 17th-century village in the province o ...
. Study of
archaeological artifacts An artifact, or artefact (see American and British English spelling differences), is a general term for an item made or given shape by humans, such as a tool or a work of art, especially an object of archaeological interest. In archaeology, the ...
has provided insight into the everyday life of the Safety Harbor culture. However, little is known about the political organization of the early peoples of the Tampa Bay area. The scant historical records come exclusively from the journals and other documents made by members of several Spanish expeditions that traversed the area in the 1500s. The Tocobaga and their neighbors disappeared from the historical record by the early 1700s, as diseases brought by European explorers decimated the local population and survivors were displaced by the raids and incursions of other indigenous groups from the north. The Tampa Bay area was virtually uninhabited for over a century.


Encounters with Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century

The
Tampa Bay area The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the United St ...
was visited by Spanish explorers during Florida's early Spanish period. In 1528, an expedition led by
Pánfilo de Narváez Pánfilo de Narváez (; 147?–1528) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' and soldier in the Americas. Born in Spain, he first embarked to Jamaica in 1510 as a soldier. He came to participate in the conquest of Cuba and led an expedition to Camagüey ...
landed near
Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...
and soon skirmished with the indigenous population, probably at the principal town of the Tocobaga at the
Safety Harbor site The Safety Harbor site is an archaeological site in Philippe Park at 2525 Philippe Parkway in Safety Harbor, Florida, United States. It is the type site for the Safety Harbor culture, and includes the largest remaining mound in the Tampa Bay a ...
. The
Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...
Expedition likely landed on the southern shore of Tampa Bay in 1539,The exact place(s) at which Narváez and de Soto landed is disputed. Bullen (51) and Hann (2003: 12) place Narvaez's landing on the south side of Tampa Bay, with a route north around the east side of the bay, well away from Tocobaga. Milanich (1998: 120) suggests Narvaez landed on the Pinellas peninsula, and marched directly north through Tocobaga territory. The
De Soto National Memorial De Soto National Memorial, in Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County west of Bradenton, Florida, commemorates the 1539 landing of Hernando de Soto (explorer), Hernando de Soto and the first extensive organized exploration by Europeans of what is ...
marking de Soto's landing is on the south side of Tampa Bay. Bullen (51-3) and Milanich 1998 (107-8) argue that the descriptions of de Soto's initial travels fit that location better than proposed alternatives, such as Charlotte Harbor or the
Caloosahatchee River The Caloosahatchee River is a river on the southwest Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 It dr ...
. Hann (2003: 105) simply states that the landing was on the south side of Tampa Bay. Neither expedition recorded the name Tocobaga.
and passed through the eastern part of Safety Harbor territory after occupying the village of Uzita. Garcilaso de la Vega (known as ''el Inca''), in his history of de Soto's expedition, relates that Narváez had ordered that the nose of the chief of Uzita be cut off, indicating that the two explorers had passed through the same area. Another town near Uzita encountered by de Soto was
Mocoso Mocoso (or Mocoço) was the name of a 16th-century chiefdom located on the east side of Tampa Bay, Florida near the mouth of the Alafia River, of its chief town and of its chief. Mocoso was also the name of a 17th-century village in the province o ...
, but evidence suggests that, while Mocoso was in the Safety Harbor culture area together with Uzita and Tocobaga, the Mocoso people spoke a different language, possibly
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 ...
. Neither Narvaez nor de Soto remained in the area for long, as they each traveled north in search of gold after several violent encounters with the Tocobaga and their neighbors. The
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
expedition of Father
Luis de Cancer Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...
visited the Tampa Bay area in 1549 to attempt to peacefully convert the locals to Christianity and build a relationship between the Spanish and indigenous Floridians in the aftermath of earlier visits by aggressive conquistadors. Despite being cautioned to avoid the Gulf Coast, Father Cancer's expedition came ashore just south of the mouth of ''Bahia Espiritu Santo'' (Tampa Bay) in May 1549. There they encountered apparently peaceful and receptive Natives who told them of the many populous villages around Tampa Bay. Father Cancer decided to continue north to visit these towns and was met with violent resistance. Most members of the expedition were killed or captured, and Father Cancer was clubbed to death soon after reaching modern day Pinellas County.
Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda ( – after 1575, dates uncertain) was a Spanish shipwreck survivor who lived among the Native Americans of Florida for 17 years. His c. 1575 memoir, ''Memoria de las cosas y costa y indios de la Florida'', is one ...
, a shipwreck survivor who lived with the Natives of southern Florida from 1549–1566 and was rescued from the
Calusa The Calusa ( ) were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. At the time of ...
by
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (; ast, Pedro (Menéndez) d'Avilés; 15 February 1519 – 17 September 1574) was a Spanish admiral, explorer and conquistador from Avilés, in Asturias, Spain. He is notable for planning the first regular trans-oceani ...
, described Tocobaga, Abalachi (
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,Bobby ...
) and Mogoso (Mocoço) as "separate kingdoms" from the Calusa. Ucita and Mocoço at the time of de Soto's visit were subject to a chief named
Urriparacoxi Urriparacoxi, or Paracoxi, was the chief of a Native American group in central Florida at the time of Hernando de Soto's expedition through what is now the southeastern United States. "Urriparacoxi" was a title, meaning "war leader". There is no kn ...
or Paracoxi (also given as Urribarracuxi)."Paracoxi" ("Paracousi" in Laudonnière's account of the
Saturiwa The Saturiwa were a Timucua chiefdom centered on the mouth of the St. Johns River in what is now Jacksonville, Florida. They were the largest and best attested chiefdom of the Timucua subgroup known as the Mocama, who spoke the Mocama dialect of ...
) meant "war chief" in the
Timucuan language 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 ...
. (Milanich 1993: 205)
De Soto marched to the town of Paracoxi, which appears to have been inland from Tampa Bay, where he found
maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
under cultivation. (By contrast, the Safety Harbor people made little or no use of maize, and instead gathered most of their food and resources from the bountiful coastal waters.) The name "Tocobaga" first appears in Spanish documents in 1567, when
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (; ast, Pedro (Menéndez) d'Avilés; 15 February 1519 – 17 September 1574) was a Spanish admiral, explorer and conquistador from Avilés, in Asturias, Spain. He is notable for planning the first regular trans-oceani ...
visited what was almost certainly the Safety Harbor site. Menéndez had contacted the
Calusa The Calusa ( ) were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. At the time of ...
and reached an accommodation with
Carlos Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...
, the Calusa king, including a marriage with Carlos' sister. As Carlos was anxious to gain an advantage over his enemy Tocobaga, Menéndez took Carlos and 20 of his warriors to Tocobaga by ship. Menéndez persuaded Tocobaga and Carlos to make peace. He recovered several Europeans and a dozen Calusa being held as slaves by Tocobaga. Menéndez left a garrison of 30 men at Tocobaga to encourage the people of the town to convert to Christianity; he returned Carlos and the other Calusa to their town. In January 1568 boats taking supplies to the garrison at Tocobaga found the town deserted, and all the Spanish soldiers dead.


Later history

In 1608 an alliance of
Pohoy Pohoy (also Pojoy, Pojoi, Pooy, Posoy, Pujoy) was a chiefdom on the shores of Tampa Bay in present-day Florida in the late sixteenth century and all of the seventeenth century. Following slave-taking raids by people from the Lower Towns of the Musc ...
and Tocobaga may have threatened
Potano The Potano (also Potanou or Potavou) tribe lived in north-central Florida at the time of first European contact. Their territory included what is now Alachua County, the northern half of Marion County and the western part of Putnam County. This ...
people who had been converted to Christianity. In 1611 a raiding party from the two chiefdoms killed several Christianized Natives carrying supplies to the Spanish mission (Cofa) at the mouth of the
Suwannee River The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset hig ...
. In 1612, the Spanish launched a punitive expedition down the Suwannee River and along the Gulf coast, attacking Tocobaga and Pohoy, killing many of their people, including both chiefs. The Tocobaga were weakened by the Spanish attack, and the Pohoy became the dominant power in Tampa Bay for a while. In 1677 a Spanish official inspecting the missions in
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 ...
visited a village of Tocobaga people living on the
Wacissa River The Wacissa River is a large, spring-fed stream located in south-central Jefferson County, Florida. Its headwaters are located about a mile south of the town of Wacissa, where the river emerges crystal clear from a group of large limestone spri ...
one
league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...
from the mission of San Lorenzo de Ivitachuco. There is no record of when the Tocobaga settled on the Wacissa River, but they appear to have been there for a while. When the Spanish official criticized the Tocobaga for having lived in a Christian province "for many years" without having converted, they replied that no one had come to teach them about Christianity, but that some twenty of their people had converted on their death beds and been buried at the mission in Ivitachuco. The Tocobaga were engaged in transporting produce from Apalachee Province to
St. 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 Afri ...
, carrying it in canoes along the coast and up the
Suwannee River The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset hig ...
and, probably, the Santa Fe River. Other people carried it overland the rest of the way to St. Augustine. The village was listed again in 1683, but it is not clear what happened when Apalachee Province was overrun by Carolinan raiders and their Native allies in 1704.When the Spanish abandoned Apalachee province in 1704, some 800 surviving Indians, including Apalachee, Chatot and Yamasee, fled westward to
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 ...
, along with many of the Spanish in the province. Some moved further west to French-controlled
Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...
. A few Apalachee from the Pensacola area returned to Apalachee province around 1718, settling near a fort that the Spanish had just built at
St. Marks, Florida St. Marks is a city in Wakulla County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tallahassee metropolitan area. The population was 293 at the 2010 census. As of 2018, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 319. Geography St. Marks ...
. Many Apalachee from the village of Ivitachuco moved to a site in
Alachua County, Florida Alachua County ( ) is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus ope ...
, and then to a location south of St. Augustine, but within a year most of them had been killed in raids. (Milanich 2006:187-8, 191, 195
Tony Horwitz, "Apalachee Tribe, Missing for Centuries, Comes Out of Hiding
", ''The Wall Street Journal'', 9 Mar 2005; Page A1, on Weyanoke Association Website, accessed 29 Apr 2010) Some Tocobaga may have left with either group. In 1719, two Tocobaga men returned to San Marcos from
Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...
, as they were unhappy with the treatment they had received from the French. (Hann 1988: 282)
When the Spanish returned to San Marcos de Apalachee in 1718, they found a few Tocobaga living along the Wacissa River. The Spanish commander persuaded the Tocobaga to move to the mouth of the St. Marks River under the protection of a
battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
. In August that year 25 to 30
Pohoy Pohoy (also Pojoy, Pojoi, Pooy, Posoy, Pujoy) was a chiefdom on the shores of Tampa Bay in present-day Florida in the late sixteenth century and all of the seventeenth century. Following slave-taking raids by people from the Lower Towns of the Musc ...
attacked the Tocobaga settlement, killing eight and taking three away as captives. A small number of Tocobaga continued to live in the vicinity of San Marcos through the 1720s and 1730s. The population of Tocobaga declined severely in the 17th century, due mostly to the spread of infectious diseases brought by the Europeans, to which the native people had little resistance, as they had no acquired immunity. In addition, all of the Florida tribes lost population due to the raids by the
Creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...
and
Yamasee The Yamasees (also spelled Yamassees or Yemassees) were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans who lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida. The Yamas ...
around the end of the 17th century. Remnants of the Calusa, who lived to the south of the Tocobaga, were forced into extreme southern Florida. As Florida transitioned to
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
rule in 1763 following its defeat of France in the Seven Years' War, the Calusa emigrated with the evacuating Spanish, resettling with them in
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, possibly along with the remnants of the Tocobaga. In any case, the Tocobaga disappeared from historical records in the early 18th century.Sturtevant. 147.


Notes


Citations


References

*Bullen, Ripley P. (1978). "Tocobaga Indians and the Safety Harbor Culture". In Milanich and Procter. * Gannon, Michael V. (1965) ''The Cross in the Sand: The Early Catholic Church in Florida, 1513- 1870''. Gainesville, FL. University of Florida Press. . * * * *Milanich, Jerald T. (1994). ''Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida''. University Press of Florida. . * *Milanich, Jerald T. (1998). ''Florida's Indians from Ancient Times to the Present''. University Press of Florida. *Milanich, Jerald T. (2006). ''Laboring in the Fields of the Lord: Spanish Missions and Southeastern Indians.'' University Press of Florida. *Milanich, Jerald T. and Samuel Procter, Eds. (1978). ''Tacachale: Essays on the Indians of Florida and Southeastern Georgia during the Historic Period''. The University Presses of Florida. . *Sturtevant, William C. (1978). "The Last of the South Florida Aborigines". In Milanich and Procter.


External links


Who Were the Tocobaga Indians?
{{authority control Post-Archaic period in North America Native American history of Florida History of Tampa, Florida Mound builders (people) Native American tribes in Florida Spanish Florida Former chiefdoms in North America