Guale

Guale was a historic Native American polity of located along the coast of present-day Georgia and the Sea Islands. Spanish Florida forced its Roman Catholic missionary system onto the locals in the late 16th century.

During the late 17th century and early 18th century, Guale society was shattered by colonialism, epidemics and warfare. Some of the survivors were forced to migrate to the mission areas of Spanish Florida, while others tried to remain near the Georgia coast. Joining with members of other tribes, those who remained became known as the Yamasee, an ethnically mixed group that emerged in a process of ethnogenesis. The Guale are recognized archaeologically as part of the Mississippian period and created a large country along what is now the Georgia coast in the early period of Spanish exploration.