Florr?Exploration and Coloniz

in the 16'h Cent rytion

Manie ANroxre SArxz Sesrn

-I'rrn Iulrrxsl,r'v on Fr.onroA; rTs Ih-rrABrTAN'|'S AS Se e N ny THE CONO('IS TADoRS

present-day F'lorida.'lhe Calusa were undoubtedly the firstto be met by the conquistadors.'fhcy arc the best knownthanks to the account of IIernando de Escalante F-ontaneda,who was their captive from 1551 to 1566. The Timucua, fortheir part, were made up of many tribes of differing sizes,

including thc Fresh Water, Mococo, Ocale, Ocita, Saturiba,'Ibcogaba and Utina, among others. [t was in their midst thatthe first mission \vas set up at the time of Pedro Men6ndezde Avil6s. Bcfore the end of the cenrury in 1594, there was

alrcady a dictionary of their language.'

WAY OF- l-IFll: AGRICULTURE,I{TJNTING AND I]ISHINGThese societies u'erc basically agricultural in spire ofF{erre ra's rcmark that '... neither bread or winc was produccdbecause the luxuriance of the land was not conducive tothe storing or rnatrrring process'.o The staple diet was maizervhich, after a drying process, was storcd in special barnscalled harbacoa.E'whcre it was thcn ground and used. T'heseltarbacoa.s were usually installed next to the house of theCacique or he ad of the tribe in a shady place, in order toavoid the damaging influence of the heat and the sun.Itlvas not only grain that lvas kept herc. 'lhere was also meat,fish and other foodstuffs. They enjoyed at least two harvestsa vear, one in Nlarch and another in June, even though itshould be emphasized that they did not reap very muchfiom cither. Whcn they had finished cating the produceh'arvcsted in Junc, they tendecl to move away from the area

until N'Iarch. 4aizc was therefore tlte Spaniard's basic foodin their journeys through Iilorida, togerher with the biscuitthe,v brought from Spain. This was perishable, hou'ever, andalu'ays in short supply.'l-hey did of course rry ro find otherfoods, but they were never able to move far from rhe maizeroute; had they found nothing they knew they would havebeen condemned to hunger and starvation.

It was a rudimentary sort of agriculture. Ir combined allsorts of different activities from the collection of raisins,

'Htndltool' of Nortl AneriranI nrlians. Chicago, ChicagrrLlnivcrsity Press, SmithsonianInstitution, 1978 (20 v), v It, pp7 52-7 53.

"Hcrrcra. Historia. v l. p 20.

' In other areas of theAmcrican continent, the rvordltailtacoa meant an adobe ovcn.A fire would be lit rvithin and,once the oven was hot. wouldbe taken out and meat placed

inside, wrapped or coveredwith sand, so that it could kcephot longcr.

'I:edcrico Dausl Frlncisco dcAprricitr. I n tror,hn i h gerytiJiat'y h.s ahotfgcnes de Anirira rhlNorte y Aniriru Cottral.lnRicrrrdo Lcvcne (dir.). IIistotiude :lmlica, Buenos Aires: W. \'1.

Jackson (l I v), v I, pp ?19-253.

l'trl llorr;t:xorrs \\'oxr-n o]. r (r " Clvrr,nt Fr.otttu-l

tiuit, peIrn nrArro\v, beans, pumpkins. \'egetables, clricdfruit rrnd sunllo$,cr. In addition the Indians grerv tobaccol'hich tl.rcr.smokcd, as evincecl b.v the startled obsen'irtionof one of thc chroniclers: 'all ovcr the arca people gctdrlrnk on smokc. ancl thev give rvhatever they have for it'.'1'hough the Spaniards suffercd from hungcr in Florida,it does not seeur that it was poor land. In fact, it offerecla varicty of agricultural products, and there rvas muchmeat irnd fish ar.'ailable. But their inabilitv co crcate anvpermanent settlclncnts, $,hich might have allolvecl thcmto crlltivatc thc lancl. and thcir scant knowledge of thcareas thcv \\,cre r-novirlg in, nlcant thac chc winter tookthcm bv surprisc in uncongenial arcas, and hungcr thussct in. He ncc thc dcsolarion that so often transpircs fiom

Florida: native ,,\me ricans tilling and planting. Linc engraving b-v Theodor de Br1',

1.591, aftcr a norv lost drau.ing b-v Jacques I-e N{oyne de }lorgucs

Tge Iltltc:.rst,ty on Fr-onrn,r; r'rs Ixtt.rur'r\NTS As SrEx nv'rlte Colgt'lsr.\DoRs

the chroniclers' accounts of the expcditions. 'I'his \{.'as not,however, the real lilorida.

The fields were sown by the \\'omcn. It rvas a tribalagriculture, in the sense thxt property \vas communal. Thelands next to the smrrll towns v'ere cultivared by all, menand rvomen, even though the latter had the more arduous

task. They rarely came away rvith a surplus and, in anycase, thcy never sold or exchanged it. When it came tothe distribution of grain, it scems that there never wcreany conflicts between members of the same tribc. On thecontrary, in fact, a grcat solidarity seemed to reign, and

everyone enjoyed a roughly sinrilar econornic status, rviththe exception of the Cacique and the shamans.

Their subsistencc agriculture compelled them to be

semi-nomadic. This \\'trs the case not only rvhen their lands'were exhausted and thev rvere forccd to scek a livclihoodelseu'here, for they also moved in accordance u'ith thcscasons. The-v gcnerallv'ivent inland for hunting or towardsthe coast to fish. Feu, could avoicl moving. It wars for thisreason that Florida had no stable population until vcrv lateon.

They sowed and ramblcd ir"r search of food; then, whenthev returned, the_v han'csted and stayed in the villageuntil supplies had been crhaustcd once again. This was

thc period when the most important social activitics r,vould

takc plircc. 'll-rcre rvere feasts, .qamcs and ritcs. It was theonlv tirnc u'hen they u,cre able to stav in their homcs, irndrvhen thev rvere cherefclre all togethcr. In adclition, it u'as thcrnoment rr'hen thcv had abLrndant supplies of food althoughthis rvas only tempol';111,, of course.

Their depcndencc on hunting in certain areas at specifictimes of thc year led them to track wild animals that also

moved according to the scasons, searching for rvarmerclimes. Cabeza de Vaca described them thus:

'Sometimes they have to carry water and wood with themin their pursuit of deer, since they are often in areas whichhave neither, and they must carry both with them...'.n

" Cabeza de Vaca. 'Naufragios(l 1537-40)'. In RobertoFerrando. Viajes I uiajeros,

z.tiajes p or Nortea ntiica. lrladrid:Qu6rum, 1987 (2 v), v I,pp 11-59.

r46 'I'Hn Ixort;u:qor.s \\'onlD or, r 6'" Ce:.ilt'nr l:Lonr o,r

It rvas a life of hard laboq to u'hich they u'ere forceclthrough hunger.

Nevertheless, e\/en though the majority of peoples had rolead a kind of nornadic life, they did so to cliffering extents.The Indians living in the peninsula had the sea surroundingthem and therefore had less need to go trekking afterthe hunt, contrary to those r.vho lived further inland. Theclimate gave them no motive for doing so; it was warm insumrner and cool in the u'inter and temperatures were nevcrextreme.

Such an unstablc life g'as inevitablv reflected in thetype of drvellings thev built, that u'ere never long-lasting.The houses of the Timucua u'ere irregularly laid out in thevillage. The_v u,ere rotrnd, rvith a single dooq lou'roof.s andno rn'indoq's, and surrounded bv a u,oodcn palisade. Thercwas only one gate to the r,illage, next to rvhich were twou,ooden huts covercd in branchcs, u,ith many gaps in ther,vall through rvhich to observe outside rvithout being seen.'fhis kind of protection shon's that there was a permanentpossibility of attack and frequent conflicrs be tlr.eenneighbouring villages.

The houses u'ere made of s,ood or mud and were coveredwith leaves and branches. The Cacique's house was thelargest and generall-v had balconies and u'indou's and \\'as

located in the centre of the village. Next to it u'ere theItailtacons for storing the grain paid as tribute by the othermembers of the cribe and bv other depcndcnt villages.

In the north there u'as a different kind of du'elling os'ingto the harshness of rhe climate. 'I'he summer houses u,ere

much the same, but thev built houscs out of cla-v for thewinter. \Vhen a fire s'as lit r.r'ithin thcv u'ould v'arm up likean oven. Another kind of house was made of matting boredthrough with rvooden stakes.'fhese could be moved fromplace to place and \r'ere thcrefore widely used rvhen theyroamed around in search of food.

The most outstanding aspect as far as the drvellings and

layout of the villages of Florida are concerned, however,were the mounds, which were found all over the region

Tr'rr Illlpssr-r'r'oF FLoRTDA: r'rs INrrARl'1,\N'r-s.\s Se ex By'rrrE CoNeurst'ADoRs

bctu'een the Atlantic to the Nlississippi, including part of rhepeninsula. 'I'hese werc rnan-made hills on rvhich drvellingsrvcre built, cither for defcnce or trgainst the flooding thatoccurred so regularlri The humps werc hcapcd up byhar-rd and then trodden dorvn so as to be flat on top. Herctl'rc1 built the ordinary houses and the Cacirluc's quarters.Sometimes che latter u'ere placcd on a second mound, closeto thc first, 'udrich was for the exclusive use of the chief andhis farnily.'u

Access to the drvellings was up some vertical steps, somefonr rnetres long, with cross-planks embcdded in rhe soillike stairs. 'Ihe rest of the mound u,as madc srcep to avoidit being clirnbed from another dircction, thcreby making itmore secure. Sometimes thc top of the mouncls r,vould besurroundecl by a r,vooden palisade."

'fheir shapc varied enormousll', brrt mostll'thcy u,erccircular. Sometimcs the-v rverc elongated, and in tlrese cases,

thev looliccl like rvalls six to 1Z mcters thicli'.rncl aboutone rneter high. Others had thc shape of lou'qrradrangularpyramids, frequently superimposed in thc form of terraces.On occasion thev rvere shaped like animals, lvhosesvmbolism is unknown but rvhich arc frequently foundamongst peoples drvclling ncar rivers."

Thc Crcek tribcs to the north locatcd their to\\/ns b_v

rivcrsidcs or on small islands. 'l'heir clu,ellings u,erc f-erv andscrtttercd. F r-rr firrniture thev uscd a kincl of bench rvhichscrvcd both as beds and seats ancl \\'cre arrlmgccl around thcfire in the rniddle of the abode. For rhe Indiirns, a house lvas

more than just a home, it rvas a ref'ugc against thc inclement\veather ancl a pl'.rce to sleep in. Lifc happcncd orrtsiclc andeven cooking and eating took place in the opcn rir."

'I'he villages wcre gencrall-v snrall; sometimes theycompriscd no more than 15 to 20 houses. Thc scttlementsrvere quite far apart from one anotheq as much as scveraldays' journeying, which madc communication or commercialrclations difficult. For this reason there rvere a largenumber of different dialects. Howevel in spite of chis, thechroniclers all agree that there u.as a certain similarity in

"'\legt. F loir/o, p 469.

" Daus: Aparicio. I nt ntrlunid n.'' Datrs; Aparicio. Intrudnrcii n.

Quoted by Cyrus'['homas.Thomas, WorI in I'lounrlIi.rplontion of the BureaaoJ E tlno/og. Washington:Smithsonian Institution,Bureau of Ethnologl', 1984.

''Cotterill. Soatlern, pp 8-10.

r.+8 Trlr Ixolc r::qot's \\''onr.l or r (r"' (lrx'rr:ny Florrr>e

the structure of these villagcs. And evcn with thc lack ofcontact betlveen them, rvhen strangers appcared (such as

the Spanish), they srviftlv alerted one anothcr by means ofa string of bonfires vvhich rvere lit from village to r.illage. Inthis way, the other indigenous communities were rvarned ofany impending danger.

Other important activities in the Indian economies werehunting and fishing, sincc their subsistence agriculturecould not gllarantee food throughout the year. 'fhey had no

dornestic livestock and meat, tha[ s.as so important a partof thcir diet, came exclusively fiorn hunting. Birds, rvhichwere frequentlv consumed, \l'ere shot from trecs with great

skill. They also made use of thc feathers. Hunting lvas

morc corrlmon amongst tlie Indians in the north, u'heretherc r'r,as little grain available, and rvhere thcv u,ere fararvav from the sea. In the south the.v werc alu'irys able torcly on fishing.

T'hc nost comn-ronly hunted animal u'as deer, rvhose

carcasses provided much more than just mcat: hides, u'interclothes, blankets, moccasins. bones for tilling the fields as

lvell as adornments for the haiq bracelcts and even leatherballs to pla.v with during their moments of lcisure. The horns

rvere boiled to make glue and, mixed u,ith pigrnents, wereused for painting the skins. The gut was used to rnake cord,but primaril.v for strings for thc Indians' main rveapon of rvar,

the bos'. 'I-hey evcn used the heads, suitablv emptied out.for hunting, placing them on top of their ou'n fr-rr carnouflagein the undergrorvth. In that wav they u'cre able to gct close

to the hcrd q,itl'rout the trick bcing noticed. Ijorvever, thisrvas not thc most rvidcl.v-used hunting mcthod, fbr thevrarel.v stalked the anirnals; they prcferred to use traps, solncof which rvere highly ingenious, such as this one described

by Ocampo:

'They prepare one of their strongest and most flexible poles

which they place in an arch between two trees, strapping itup with string and leaving a iose rope hanging. Then theyseek out a small animal like a bunny rabbit or a bird to serve

'l'rre llrrnrxsllv ol Fr,ontol: Irs INH,tlr'I',\NlS AS Sr u-- sy rHE CoNeLrtsrADoRs r49

" Juan dc Ocampo. 'l-a gran

Florida'. In Jrran dc Ocanrpo,Frar Srtlccdo v Ord6frcz ctDicgo '\lb6niz clc la (lerracla.

I n 3tnt l'-/orida ltor el narlre.laan rfu ()canptt; kts C/tiapas (rios

rlr La 1)hta 1 Pttngilll.r,),l0r F.

,fuhulo y 01116iir:: hts drsit'ttosr/t Aitaguns (llanos tlt li'nezutht)

1nr DirBu 'l/hinit r*'h (lutarh.\laclrid: Edici6n Amdrica

[19201, p 120.

' Robcrts Williarn.,laAcroart of tle First Discoz:ery,

anrl A'atural History of Floida.Gainesville: University Press

ol Florida, 1976 (1" e<1.1763),

pp 4-5.

'uCotterill. Soatlern, p 11.

as bait. As the u,ild anil-nal goes to take the little anirnal, hcmakes thc arch sl.rakc; the latter has a heavy rock placed or1

it u'hich then falls on thc animal and stuns it. 'l'he Indianthen jun.rps out and kills the beast...'."

'fliey also hunted bison, which was a source of muchthe same products as deer. Women used the hair to makeborvs for thcir or.vn hair and to make bracelets and <lther

ornaments. 'I'hey also hunted rabbits, snakes and birds,and duck end dovcs as wcll as tllrkeys which they greatlvaclmired fbr thcir beautiful feathers.

In lrlorida there r,verc many differenc kinds of animals.Among thc u,ild ones there were panthers, bears, rvildcats, goats, harcs, rabbits, bcar.crs, otters, foxes and a greatvarict_y of birds; partridge, cloves, turtledoves, ravens,

sparro\r'hawks, herons, crancs and ducks.'' Thcrc r.vere

thousands of insects, above all mosquitoes, l,vhich \\'cre thebugbear of thc Spanish explorers and u'hich the Indianscombatcd bv burning a particlllar lvood which thev usecl

solel-v ibr that purpose.

Hunting \vas a necessarv means of obcaining food forthe Indians. It rvas never a sport or a trading activity Theywere not trying to procrlre surpluses; they merell'u'antedto crlsure their food supply rvhen grain stocks \riere runninglovr'. It \1'as onl,v later that the Indians traded their pre-v

fbr thc products the liuropcans had brought u'ith them.ro

Ii u'irs an activity for rnen, and alu'avs collcctivel-r'. 'l'he

women ancl the men who dicl not knou'hou' tcl hur-tt stirved

in thc villagcs to \r,atcll over the fields, to weave lrasliets

or to prcparc the {irc for thc meirt that thc huntcrs $'oulcl

be bringing back. 'fhc men who did not hunt rvcre poorlyconsidored b-v tlic rest ()f thc group. The.v \vere thought tobe ef-feminate and wcrc often subject to cruel jolies.

Another staple in the Indian diet in Iilorida u'as fish.'lhiswas particularl-v the case with the Timucua Indians wholived on the peninsula and on the coast as far as Santa Elena.They were expert fishermen and obtained all kinds of fish,turtles, snails, tuna, seal, shellfish and whales, all in great

r.50 Ixotr;rs<lus \Vorrr.l> or- r6"' CnxruHl F-l,onroa

quantitics. 'liout, according to Hernando de Escalante, wt:re'as large as a man';r7 this, of coursc, is an exaggeradon, butthey must have becn of a considerable size all the same.

1'he_v also ate clams, mussels, crabs, sole, snails and oysters."I'hc boncs of some fish rverc used as fish hooks, darts, smallspears and ncedles. Otherwise, chey might be colored and

used as jcwellery b-v the women. The sea was the Indian'snatural environment. AII that he extracted from it, or from therivers, $'as u)^eful. Nothing was strange, even the roots on thecoast or the riverbanks lvere pulled out to rnake bread.

It is not cxactl_v knorvn how they fished but one rvouldsuppose they rvould have used hooks made from fishbone.'I'hey may even have done so by hand, for they wereexcellent srvimmers. Ocampo provides an example of this,though one cannot be surc that the practice was rn'idespread,fbr there is no othcr reference:

'... for fishing, thc1,- made use of a bittcr plant v,hich sent thefishes rvild. 1'he-v crush tl.re leavcs of the ,4,Ianu, they pull itout. ruffling the rvater rvith it while the fish begin to jumplike drunkards, and fall back on their backs in the water.That is s,hcn thev fish them...'.tt

Around the IVlississippi, they made use of the salt of theriver that rvas dcpositcd on the sand. It would, hou,cver, beinevitably mired up rvith the sand when they collected it so,

to sepirratc it, thev uscd speciirl baskets that they' attachedto il trec rvith a vessel beneath. They poured water over itri'hich drippcd into the vessel; the-v filtered it and put it toboil. rcducing the cluantit-v of water little by little until onh'salt r.r.as left at the bottorn of the pan.'n T'he fisli of this are a

v,ere obviouslv rather different from those found on thccoast. Fidalgo de Elvas describes them in this way:

'Tlrere rvas a fish u,hich the Indians called Bagres, lr,hose

head took up a third of its body and that had large sharp

spines on both sides of its gullet and gills. The re wereothers similar to a mullet and another like the Clopa with a

head like a sea-bream. Another was known as the Pez Pala

'' Escalante Fonmneda,'!lemoria',vV,p534.

'' Ocampo. 'Gran',pp 121-122.

'"Yega. Floida, p 445.

l-rrt; Irrrtrxst ly ol l:r.onru,\ r'r's I:rIteRt'r^N'Is As Srrs tlv rrrr OoxqltslAl)oRs

and had a snout a varcl long pointing up\rrards like a spade.'l'lrere was a fish tl're size of a pig which was knolvn as a

Perco, and it hacl tccth...'.tt'

'I-his latter dcscription is surprising because it comcs

from an author s'ho is not generall.v given to exaggeration,though such excesses are often founcl in thc pages ofotherchroniclers; it must have rcferred to an example rvhichdoubtlcss had impressed the Spaniards.

'fhe Indian peoples seemed to be absolutely fearless ofthe sea; thc-v rvere so at ease with it that they even capturedwhales. C)nce more, Flernando de Escalante described, inan account rcproduced by Jackson, the spectacular way inwhich whales \vere capturcd. 'fhe-v formed part of thcirusual dict:

"lhev u'ould close in on them in small canoes, and hurla sharp pole rvhich u,ould fit into one of their openings(the blowholc). The Indian then hits it repeatedly withanother pole, causing it to sink. 'l'he whale convulses halfmaddened. The lndian g'aits until it calms dorvn and r.vhen

it does, hc stabs another pole into the other cavitl', lcavingthe animal unable to breathe. He then returns to his canoe

and rvaits for thc rvhale to die. Once it is captured, it is cutup in picces'."

Both fish and meat werc laid out in thc sun to dry on

a kind of rvooden grid and finallv roasted or boiled, ncvereaten raw. If any u'as left oveq it rvoulcl be prcscrr.,cd saltcdor even pickled.'I'hcv had srnall dogs u'hich thev did not use

for hunting. On occasion, the Spaniards \:l'ould f'eed on tlrenlwhen hunger set in, but the Indians nevcr did so. '['hcv had

never set cycs on a horsc. 'fhis has often been rvritten about,and particular attcntion has been drawn to the fact that, at

the beginning, this animal inspired great fear amongst theIndians. 'I'hey had believed that the rider was joined to thebeast in a single body. Ddvila says it all in these few words: '...

the sight of a single horse brought more fear to the Indians,and indeed was better in war, than the hands of two men...'.22

"'Elvis. Expediridtt, p 106.

'' \YilIiam R..Jackson. Lzzrl1'

Florida rlrougA Sponisl Eyes.

lliami: University of NIiamiPress, 19.54, p 6.5.

" D6vila P adrlla. Hi s toi a,

p 206.

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