Ais people facts for kids
The Ais (pronounced "ice") were a group of Native American people. They lived in eastern Florida, along the coast and on islands. Their land stretched from around Cape Canaveral down to the Indian River. The Spanish called the Indian River the "River of Ais."
The Ais had many towns, and each town had its own chief. These local chiefs reported to a main chief, known as the paramount chief, who led all the Ais people. A language expert named Julian Granberry thinks the Ais language might be connected to the Chitimacha language. In Chitimacha, "Ais" means "the people."
Most of what we know about the Ais from the late 1600s comes from a book called Journal by Jonathan Dickinson. He wrote about their looks, what they ate, and their customs. Dickinson and his group were shipwrecked in 1696. They spent several weeks living among the Ais. Dickinson wrote that the chief of Jece, a town near what is now Sebastian, was the most important leader. He ruled over all the coastal towns from Jobe (near Jupiter Inlet) in the south to Cape Canaveral in the north. This whole area was the "River of Ais."
The Ais had met Europeans many times before Dickinson arrived. The Spanish first learned about the Ais in the mid-1500s. In 1566, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, who founded St. Augustine, Florida, built a fort and a mission in an Ais town. The Spanish called this place Santa Lucía. But the Ais attacked the fort, and 23 Spanish soldiers were killed. So, the Spanish left the fort and mission.
Later, Spain gained some control over the coast. At that time, the Ais saw the Spanish as friends. They called them comerradoes. Other Europeans were seen as enemies. Some Ais men learned a bit of Spanish. Spanish soldiers from St. Augustine even visited Jece while Dickinson was there. One Ais man in Jece had been taken by the English to work as a diver on a shipwreck. He escaped in Cuba and found his way back home through Havana and St. Augustine.
Contents
A Brave Escape
In December 1571, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was sailing from Florida to Havana. He had two ships. A storm hit them near Cape Canaveral. Menéndez later said that his ship was wrecked. The other ship was lost further away, in a river the Spanish called the Ais River. This was because the local chief was named Ais.
Menéndez managed to reach the fort of St. Augustine. He had 17 people with him. He said it was a miracle. The Native Americans tried to attack him three times. He escaped by being clever and making them afraid. He told them that many more Spanish soldiers were coming behind him. He said these soldiers would kill them if they found them.
Times of Friendship and Trade
In 1605, Governor Pedro de Ibarra sent a soldier named Álvaro Mexía to meet with the Ais people. This meeting went very well. The Ais agreed to help shipwrecked sailors in exchange for payment. Mexía also made a map of the Indian River area with their help.
Many European items from shipwrecks have been found in old Ais towns. When Dickinson's group arrived in Jece, another group of English shipwreck survivors was already there. It was common to find European and African survivors of shipwrecks along the coast. The Ais also traded with the Spanish in St. Augustine. Dickinson wrote that one Ais man in Jece had about five pounds of ambergris. This is a valuable waxy substance found in the ocean. The man "boasted that when he went for Augustine with that, he would purchase of the Spaniards a looking-glass, an axe, a knife or two, and three or four mannocoes (which is about five or six pounds) of tobacco."
It is believed that the Ais people did not last long after Dickinson's visit. Around 1700, settlers from the Province of Carolina and their Native American friends began attacking the Ais. They killed some and took others to Charles Town to be sold as slaves. In 1743, the Spanish started a short-lived mission in Biscayne Bay (near modern-day Miami). Priests there reported seeing people they called "Santa Luces." This might have been another name for the Ais. The Ais are no longer mentioned in records after 1760.
What the Ais Ate
Dickinson wrote that the Ais "neither sow nor plant any manner of thing whatsoever." This means they did not farm. Instead, they caught fish and gathered wild plants. They ate palmetto, cocoplum, and seagrape berries.
Dickinson described how the neighboring Jaega people of Jobe caught fish:
- The chief of Jobe sent his son to catch fish for them.
- The son used a special "striking staff."
- He was very skilled. Even though others watched closely, they could not see the fish he aimed for.
- He would run fast to chase a fish and rarely missed when he threw his staff.
- In just two hours, he caught enough fish for 20 people.
The Ais boiled their fish. They ate them from plates made of palmetto leaves. Dickinson said the fish were boiled "with scales, head and gills, and nothing taken from then but the gut."
Dickinson also wrote about a gift of clams to his wife:
- The chief of Jece gave his wife some clams.
- He roasted one or two for her.
- He showed her how to cook the rest and eat them.
The Ais also dried some of the berries they gathered. This was so they could eat them later. Dickinson saw "great baskets of dried berries" brought to the chief from different towns.
Dickinson did not mention the Ais hunting. But they did use deer skins. The nearby Jaega people of Jobe gave Dickinson's group a hog they had killed.
Ais Clothing
Ais men wore a "loincloth" made of woven palm leaves. Dickinson described it in detail:
- It was a piece of woven work made of straw in different colors.
- It was shaped like a triangle.
- A belt, about four fingers wide, was made of the same woven material. This belt went around the waist.
- The pointed part of the triangle went between the legs.
- Strings from the end of the belt and the triangle met at the back.
- They were fastened behind with something that looked like a horse's tail or a bunch of flax-colored silkgrass.
- This was all the clothing the men wore.
Dickinson did not say much about how the women dressed. He only wrote that his wife and female slaves were given "raw deer skins" to cover themselves. This was after their European clothes were taken away. Women of the Tequesta tribe, who lived south of the Ais, wore "shawls" made of woven palm leaves. They also wore "skirts" made from fibers of the Spanish dagger plant (yucca). These were similar to the "grass" skirts seen in Hawai'i.
Ais Homes
Dickinson said that the town of Jece was "about half a mile from the seashore." It was located inland on a sound. The town was surrounded by a swamp. In the swamp grew white mangrove trees. These trees hid the town from the sea.
Dickinson described the chief's house in Santa Lucea. It was "about forty foot long and twenty-five foot wide." The house was covered with palmetto leaves on both the top and sides. Inside, there was a row of sleeping areas, or "cabins," along one side and at both ends. At the entrance, there was a path made of benches on each side that led to the cabins.
Neighboring Tribes
The Mayaca lived along the upper St. Johns River, south of Lake George. Their language seems to have been related to the Ais language. The Surruque people to the north and the Jaega people to the south were under the rule of the Ais.
See also
In Spanish: Ais para niños
