Uzita (Uçita) was the name of a 16th-century native
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 town and its chiefs. Part of 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 Ha ...
, it was located in present-day Florida on the south side of
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 ...
.
History
The chief town was near the mouth of the
Little Manatee River on the south side of
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 ...
,
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 ...
in the area of Hillsborough County that is now
Ruskin, Florida
Ruskin is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida. The area was part of the chiefdom of the Uzita at the time of the Hernando de Soto expedition in 1539. The community was founded August 7, 1908, on the shores of ...
. The territory of Uzita was said to extend from the
Little Manatee River to
Sarasota Bay
Sarasota Bay is a lagoon located off the central west coast of Florida in the United States. Though no significant single stream of freshwater enters the bay, with a drainage basin limited to 150 square miles in Manatee and Sarasota Counties, it ...
. The Uzita people were part of the Safety Harbor culture.
The people of Uzita were the first inhabitants of Florida to be encountered by both the
Narváez expedition
The Narváez expedition was a Spanish journey of exploration and colonization started in 1527 that intended to establish colonial settlements and garrisons in Florida. The expedition was initially led by Pánfilo de Narváez, who died in 1528. M ...
in 1528 and the
de Soto De Soto commonly refers to
* Hernando de Soto (c. 1495 – 1542), Spanish explorer
* DeSoto (automobile), an American automobile brand from 1928 to 1961
De Soto, DeSoto, Desoto, or de Soto may also refer to:
Places in the United States of Ameri ...
expedition in 1539. The town of Uzita was described as consisting of the chief's house on a
mound
A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically highe ...
, seven or eight other houses, and a "temple" (apparently a
charnel house
A charnel house is a vault or building where human skeletal remains are stored. They are often built near churches for depositing bones that are unearthed while digging graves. The term can also be used more generally as a description of a pl ...
). The houses were made of wood and palm
thatch
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
, and probably housed a large number of people each. The Uzitans used bows and arrows. The Spanish described the bows as being very long. Some arrows were sharpened reeds that could pierce a shield, or splinter and penetrate chain mail, while others had fish bone or stone points. The Uzitans practiced
human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherei ...
.
Juan Ortiz, who had been sent on a small boat to search for the missing Narvaez expedition, was captured by the Uzitans. For several years the Uzitan set him to guard the bodies in the charnel house from wild animals at night. Utiza, the chief, planned to roast Ortíz over a grill, but the chief's daughter asked her father to spare him from sacrifice. When the chief later planned again to sacrifice Ortíz, the chief's daughter helped the Spaniard to escape to the neighboring chiefdom of
Mocoso.
Uzita is not mentioned in Spanish records after the departure of the de Soto expedition. In the early 17th century the Spanish referred to the area where Uzita had been located as
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 ...
.
[Milanich, Jerald T. (2004). "Early Groups of Central and South Florida". In R. D. Fogelson (Ed.), ''Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast'' (Vol. 14, pp. 213-8). Smithsonian Institution.]
See also
*
References
Sources cited
*
*
*
External links
De Soto National Memorial - Camp Uzita- accessed July 18, 2009
Native American tribes in Florida
Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands
Former chiefdoms in North America
{{NorthAm-native-stub