Acuera facts for kids
Acuera was the name of an ancient town and a region in central Florida. This was during the 1500s and 1600s. The people who lived in Acuera spoke a type of the Timucua language.
In 1539, the people of Acuera first met Europeans. Soldiers from Hernando de Soto's expedition raided their town. French explorers also knew about Acuera when they lived in northern Florida for a short time (1564–1565).
Later in the 1500s, Acuera came under Spanish influence. This happened as Spain built more settlements. In the 1600s, the Spanish started two or three Christian missions in the Acuera region.
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Where Was Acuera Located?
Experts believe the town of Acuera was in central Florida. It was likely near Lake Weir and Lake Griffin. This area is close to where the Oklawaha River begins. This river flows into the St. Johns River.
A map made by Jacques le Moyne in the late 1500s shows a town called Aquouena. This might be Acuera. It was shown east of Eloquale (Ocale) on a river that flows into the St. Johns River. The French also wrote about a chief named Acquera. This chief was connected to Chief Utina.
Spanish missions from the 1600s, like San Luis de Acuera and Santa Lucia de Acuera, were a certain distance from St. Augustine. These distances match locations near the Oklawaha River and Lake Weir.
In 1836, Lake Weir was called "Lake Ware" on a map. Some experts think "Ware" came from "Acuera." One archaeological site, the Hutto/Martin Site, is north of Lake Weir. It might be where the Santa Lucia de Acuera mission was. It could also be the original town of Acuera that de Soto's group found.
The Acuera people lived in an area that was part of the St. Johns culture. These people built large piles of shells, called shell middens, from their trash. They also built burial mounds for their dead. They made special "chalky" pottery. They used tiny pieces of freshwater sponge as a temper in their clay. Sometimes, they decorated their pottery with a checked pattern.
What Language Did They Speak?
"Santa Lucia de Acuera" was one of about ten different ways the Timucua language was spoken. A Franciscan missionary named Francisco Pareja wrote about these in the early 1600s. Pareja thought the Santa Lucia de Acuera and Tucururu ways of speaking were very different from the main Timucua language, called Mocama.
How Was Acuera Organized?
The Acuera region might have been made up of several smaller chiefdoms. These included Avino, Eloquale, and Acuera itself. Utiaca might have been under the chief of Avino. Piliuco, and maybe Mocoso, were towns under the chief of Acuera. Tucuru might have been under Avino, or it might have been independent. The caciques (chiefs) of Tucuru and Eloquale visited St. Augustine before the cacica (female chief) of Acuera did.
Eloquale was a town on the Oklawaha River. It might have been a new location for the town of Ocale. Ocale was near the Withlacoochee River when the de Soto expedition stayed there in 1539. Spanish writers also called Ocale "Cale" and "Etocale." After the de Soto expedition stayed in 1539 at the town of Mocoso on Tampa Bay, that town might have moved to the Acuera region.
How Did Europeans Affect Acuera?
In 1539, Hernando de Soto landed in Tampa Bay with over 600 men and 200 horses. His group planned to live off the land. They would take food from towns they found. De Soto heard about a large town called Acuera that had lots of maize (corn).
De Soto's main group moved north from Tampa Bay to Ocale. They stayed there for two weeks. While at Ocale, de Soto sent soldiers twice to take corn from Acuera. The Acuera people fought back strongly against the Spanish. Garcilaso de la Vega, a writer who later told the story of de Soto's trip, described the Acuera as proud and brave warriors.
When the French Huguenots built Fort Caroline in 1564, the Acuera people started to have more contact with Europeans. This fort was near the mouth of the St. Johns River. The Spanish forced the French out of Florida the next year and built St. Augustine. During this time, the Acuera chiefdom was connected to the Utina chiefdom. But as Utina's power weakened, Acuera became independent.
The cacica (female chief) of Acuera went to St. Augustine in 1597. She went to show that Acuera would obey Spain. Most other Timucua chiefdoms had already done this and asked for missionaries. However, a rebellion in Guale happened just before Acuera's visit. This caused almost all missionaries to leave Spanish Florida.
Acuera sent workers to St. Augustine between 1597 and 1602. People from Acuera also went to St. Augustine to trade deer skins, chestnuts, and pots.
Spanish Missions in Acuera
The mission of San Blas de Habino was started after 1610. It served the towns of Avino, Tucuru, and Utiaca. These towns were along the lower to middle Oklawaha River. The Spanish might have thought this area was part of Acuera. Or Avino might have been another name for Acuera. The San Blas de Habino mission was probably left empty by the late 1620s.
The mission of Santa Lucia de Acuera was built by 1627. That's when Father Pareja named a Timucua language dialect after it. The mission of San Luis de Eloquale was mentioned in a Spanish report in 1630. Both missions might have been built by the 1620s.
After the Timucuan Rebellion in 1656, Spanish records don't mention missions in Acuera anymore. But the Acuera people seem to have stayed in their traditional lands for the rest of the 1600s.
In the late 1620s, the Spanish moved the people of Utiaca to the San Diego de Helaca mission. This mission was on the east side of the St. Johns River. It was where the road from St. Augustine to the western Timucuan missions crossed the river. The Spanish likely needed them there to help with the river crossing. The original people, the Agua Dulce people, had become very few.
New diseases from Europeans caused many deaths among the Timucua mission communities in the 1650s. After the Timucua rebellion in 1656, the Spanish moved missions closer to the main road. This road connected St. Augustine to the Apalachee Province. Their efforts to keep missions in Acuera stopped after the 1656 rebellion.
Even when the Spanish had many missions in Acuera, the Acuera people were special. They seemed to have a "parallel" system of religious leaders. Their traditional religious leaders had many followers and openly practiced their beliefs. History and recent archaeological finds suggest that only the chiefs or people who had fled from other Timucuan groups became Catholic in the missions.
After the Timucuan Rebellion in 1656, the Acuera seemed to ignore or not be affected by the Spanish governor's order. Governor Diego de Rebolledo wanted people to move closer to the main road. In the second half of the 1600s, Spanish records show that the Acuera kept their traditional religious and political system. They had many towns and villages.
Calesa, who was the nephew of the Acuera chief Jabahica, was put on trial in 1678. The Governor of Florida tried him for several killings. Calesa was accused of six and said he did three. Some experts believe these killings had a religious and social meaning for the Acuera.
The Acuera last appeared in Spanish records in 1697. A report said that non-Christian Acuera people were living in a village with the Ayapaja. They had one chief. The report said they left the village to "live in the woods."
The native people living in mission villages along the road had to do forced labor. They had to carry goods from the western Timucuan provinces and Apalachee to St. Augustine. They also had to work in St. Augustine itself. People from these villages sometimes ran away to the south. They went to the Acuera, Agua Dulce, and Mayaca regions to escape these duties. By the 1640s, the Spanish called these areas the Diminiyuti or Ibiniyuti Province. In 1648, the cacique (chief) of the Utiaca people ran away with some of his people from San Diege de Helaca. They returned to the Acuera Province.
Images for kids
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Route of the de Soto Expedition.
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Red dots mark archaeological sites on the Oklawaha River that may have been Acuera missions.
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