Tocobaga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tocobaga (also Tocopaca, Safety Harbor Culture) was a Native American civilization that existed in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida from approximately 900 AD to European contact in the 16th century. They are known for constructing various ceremonial and communal mounds, and often lived near water bodies, such as rivers or bayous. They lived in villages around Tampa Bay, which were situated around communal meeting areas.
The Tocobagans were skilled at many crafts, such as the making of pottery, which has been found at village sites. They ate a variety of foods, including shellfish harvested from the waters which they tended to live near, such as oysters, and fish, and other types of seafood. It is believed they also ate nuts, berries, and plants which were gathered from the wild, and they may have hunted wild animals which were plentiful in the area at that time. The Tocobaga also had acquired and were cultivating corn, so they had become agricultural as well.
[edit] History
The first humans entered Florida roughly 12,000 years ago, and the Tocobaga emerged around 900. The Tocobagans seem to have been mostly independent of other groups around Florida for much of their history, though is believed the Timucua chief Urriparacoxi for a brief period may have had influence over the group.
There were many Tocobaga villages located around the area. One of the most well known ones is the Safety Harbor village site located in present day Safety Harbor, Florida, which was visited by the Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.
[edit] European contact
The Tampa Bay area was visited by several Spanish explorers during the Spanish Florida period when Florida. In 1528, Pánfilo de Narváez visited the Tocobagan village at Safety Harbor during the disastrous Narváez expedition. Hernando de Soto visited the Tampa Bay area in 1539, though it is not believed that he scouted the northern areas and made contact with the Tocobaga. Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, a shipwreck survivor who lived with the Indians of southern Florida from 1549-1566, spoke of the Tocobaga in his account of his travails, and in 1567 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés visited the Safety Harbor site.
Eventually many of the Tocobagans were hit by plagues brought by the Europeans, to which they had little resistance. Though the culture was extinct by the close of the 17th century, some individuals may have survived; it is reported that many native Floridians moved to live near the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine, Florida. These people were evacuated to Cuba before Florida came under British rule.
