San Buenaventura de Potano facts for kids
San Buenaventura de Potano was an old Spanish mission located in what is now Alachua County, near Orange Lake. It was built on the same spot where the Native American town of Potano once stood. This town was visited by the explorer Hernando de Soto way back in 1539. Today, archaeologists believe the mission and town were at a place called the Richardson/UF Village Site (8AL100).
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The Potano Town: A Native American Settlement
The town of Potano was named after the Potano people, who were a group within the larger Timucua tribe. In the mid-1500s, the town was located west of Orange Lake, close to where Evinston is today.
- Early Visits and Conflicts:
- In 1539, the famous Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his team visited the Potano town.
- Later, in 1564 and 1565, other Native American groups like the Utina, along with the French from Fort Caroline, attacked the Potano town. Many Potano people were harmed or taken captive during these raids.
- In 1584, Spanish soldiers attacked and burned the main Potano town. This was because the Potano people had raided Spanish settlements.
- After this, the Potano town was moved to a new location, northwest of what is now Gainesville.
Apalo: An Early Mission Site
There was also a place or small mission called Apalo or Apula connected to the original Potano site. The word Apula means "fort" or "stockade" in the Timucuan language.
- Historical Mentions:
- A town named Apalo is shown on an old map by Jacques le Moyne, located northeast of Potano.
- Around 1597, a priest named Fray Baltasár Lopéz started a visita called Apalo. A visita was a small mission that didn't have a priest living there all the time.
- Some experts believe this visita might have been at the Richardson site, where the main mission was later built.
- In 1616, another priest, Father Luís Jerónimo de Oré, visited a mission called Apalo.
In 1601, the new leader of the Potano people asked the Spanish governor for permission to move back to their original town site. The governor, Gonzalo Méndez de Canço, agreed.
- Mission Establishment:
- In 1608, the San Buenaventura de Potano mission was officially started by Fray Francisco Pareja. It was built right on the old town site.
- When it first opened, about 200 Potano people lived near the mission, and they were all baptized into the Christian faith.
- After 1613, the mission's name, San Buenaventura, stopped appearing in Spanish records. This was likely because diseases spread through the area, causing the population to shrink and scatter.
- Some historians think that San Buenaventura was the same mission as the Apalo mission that Father Oré visited in 1616.
Discovering the Mission's Location
As of 2016, archaeologists generally agree that the Richardson/UF Village Site (8AL100) is the true location of both the original Potano town visited by de Soto and the San Buenaventura de Potano mission. This important site is in Alachua County, west of Orange Lake.
