spanish georgia presentation for gwinnett reads program

Spain in Georgia

Michael Gagnon, PhdAssistant Professor of History

Originally presented forGwinnett Reads

Noble VillageSeptember 29, 2009

Spanish Georgia

• Ayllon established briefly in 1526• DeSoto in 1540• Permanent Missions by 1580s• Guale & Mocomo Peoples• Missions Abandoned by 1686 due to slaving

attacks from British.

1526 Map Showing Land of Ayllon

1529 Map of both

AmericasShowing

Land of Ayllon

Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón• Became wealthy after

arriving in Hispaniola in 1503

• Landed at Santee River to enslave Indians in 1521

• Surveyed coast of Georgia and Carolinas in 1523

• 600 Colonists at San Miguel de Gualdape on Sapelo Sound in 1526

• Died October 1526

DeSoto in 1540

De Soto

• Mostly important for the diseases he brought that destroyed much of Native American culture for the foreseeable future.

• Known for his brutality

European Brutality

Permanent Missions by 1580s

• St. Augustine in Florida found 1565• Franciscan monks found missions in Guale and

Mocama starting in 1587• After 1604, Mission system extends up

Altamaha River and west of Okeefenokee• Priests and Monks serve as intermediaries

between Native Chiefs and Spanish military• Interior missions abandoned by 1560s due to

depopulation from disease

Spanish

Missions

On

Georgia’s

Coast

1526-1686

Sapelo Sound

Spanish

Missions

On

Georgia’s

Coast

1526-1686

Capital of

Guale

Spanish

Missions

On

Georgia’s

Coast

1526-1686

Capital of Mocama

Spain Eventually Abandons Georgia• Natives allied with British in South Carolina start series of slaving raids on mission towns of the interior starting in 1660s• Mission Indians retreat to Georgia’s barrier islands by 1685• Final pirate raid by South Carolina destroys last Mission town on St. Catherine’s island• Last Mission Indians retreat to Florida in 1705 to avoid contact with encroaching British and British allied Indians, only about 25 years before Oglethorpe settles Georgia as British colony.• Mocama Indians evacuated from Florida to Cuba when Spain relinquished Florida following Peace treaty ending French and Indian War in 1763.