Following the 7 Years War, the Treaty of Paris was signed, and upon its ratification, returned Cuba to Spain, and gave Florida to the English. This began a 20-year British Colonial Period in Florida during which Black history continued.
When the Spanish finally removed from Florida to Cuba in 1763 with Africans in tow, they also took the last few remaining converted northern, and some of the southern Natives with them. That left room for an influx of Creeks and other tribes from Georgia and Alabama into the areas of Tallahassee and Alachua (“sinkhole”) Co. The Oconee had split about 1750 with some moving south into Florida near Micanopy where they became known as Seminoles. They grew corn and herded cattle. (Natives had acquired both from the Spanish in trade.)
You may have noticed the continual use of the appellations “African” and “Black”; that has been because there was no America, yet, to make the term “African-American” nor “Native American” appropriate. You might argue that they were inhabitants of North America (named after explorer Amerigo Vespucci), and this reporter wouldn’t create a dispute over such a moot point. Let us suffice it to say use of the terms does not suit the objective purposes of this series. We will, however, find use of these terms after Florida becomes the 27th State of the Union in 1845.
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At this point, other people of color deserve some space in the narrative of the grand scheme of things.
Just to recap and lay down some foundational history of the region of the St. Johns River valley:
The French took part in intertribal conflicts prior to 1565, and the Timucuans were often robbed and mistreated by lawless soldiers. For these reasons, the French were no longer able to get supplies from the Natives and were on the verge of starvation when Sir John Hawkins sailed into the River for fresh water.
Hawkins sold Laudonniere and his people a a ship and necessary provisions for a return trip to France. Shortly thereafter, Jean Ribault arrived with supplies and reinforcements. Laudonniere stuck to his plan to return to France, and a good thing, too, because he would have been killed by the Spanish upon the arrival of the forces of Admiral Pedro Menendez in 1565.
The Spanish (Catholics) removed the French Huguenot (Protestant / Lutherans) military presence at the mouth of the River by taking Fort Caroline and renaming it San Mateo. White men had discovered the River by 1521 and has been successively named: Welaka, or Ylaceo (meaning “chain of lakes”); Rio de Corrientes (Spanish “river of currents”); Riviere de Mai (French “river of May”)); Rio de San Mateo (Spanish “river of St. Matthew”); which it remained into the 18th century.
A Spanish mission had been established at the mouth of the River and was called San Juan del Puerto (St. John of the Harbor); the river became St. John’s during the British Colonial Period; the apostrophe was eventually dropped after continued use.
Much of our information is available due to the work of Wm. Gerard Brahm, who was Surveyor General of the Southern District; and the Earl of Dartmouth, the Principal Secretary of State of the Colonies. He wrote about the climate, citrus, seafood, turpentine, pitch, and lumber.
We also have information about life along the Highway to the Interior from Rene Laudonniere and Jacques Le Moyne. It is from them we gather information about the Timucuans as far north as the mouth of the River making them prominent people of color on the First coast. There were more Timucuans west of the River (those people were called the Potano).
Up the River, in what is now Putnam Co., lived the Thimagoas in 40 separate villages.
By 1659 there were 39 Catholic missions established by, first, the Jesuits, then the Franciscans in North Florida and the area which was to be come Georgia, and including the First Coast.
Anglo-Spanish rivalry (Catholics vs. Protestants) on the Southern Frontier resulted in the destruction of the missions by the early 1700′s. Warfare and slave raids originating in Charles Towne decimated the Native population from 15,000 to a few hundred in less than a century. This was possible because the Spanish primary concern focused on maintaining their military outpost at St. Augustine.
The Natives had been surviving on agriculture, husbandry, hunting, and the River also provided an abundance of foodstuffs.
Once the British were exploring and establishing farms and plantations along the River, they were anxious to attract settlers to occupy, defend, and eventually support the government of the newly created Province of East Florida.
At this point I must note that by 1720, interior Florida was virtually deserted after two centuries of enslavement, warfare, and diseases, to which the Europeans had developed immunities, wiped out the original Native tribes. Even measles and the common cold were deadly. There are no living descendants of the Timucuans, Thimagoas, or the Guale.
There were 67 Native cultural mounds (to avoid saying “Indian mounds”) described by William Bartram within what is now Putnam Co. One of the mounds was located at Palatka. Another was located at what is known as “The Devi’s Elbow” on the River. Another was just north of the City of Palatka; and 8 were in the vicinity of East Palatka. Skeletons and artifacts have been discovered at these sites.
Unlike the hunters and gatherers of South Florida, the Native inhabitants of North Florida were farmers. The Apalachee; 14 tribes of Timucua; the Tocobaga, and other smaller tribes cultivated corn, squash, beans, . Though they were farmers, they were not vegetarians. Wild plants and animals (native deer, turtles, wild turkeys), and fish were also staples of their diet.
And they grew tobacco. John Hawkins took back a packet of the leaf to England. In hindsight, we now know what a market that created that remains even unto this present time.
By 1776, sixteen large land grants had been settled. There were also numerous smaller holdings granted by the Council in St. Augustine. Many were not settled; or if settled, were abandoned after a short time.
The Natives were obviously displeased by whites so near to the land reserved for them by the Treaty of 1765. (See: THE RIVER FLOWS NORTH: A HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY for details of the Treaty.) Natives were to the point of being irate on the West Bank which William Bartram called the “Indian Shore” (his term”). Holdings on the West Bank were a house and 1500 acres belonging to Josiah Gray. The property was found abandoned and a large Native village on the site when Bartram visited in 1774.
The 5th article in this series will take up where this 4th leaves off. The history of the First Coast is very exciting and describes interaction between diverse peoples and cultures.
Stay with Examiner.com as the series continues.