In this compelling full-color volume, authors John Hann, a historian, and Bonnie McEwan, an archaeologist, bring alive the story of the Apalachee people of northern Florida and their Spanish conquerors.
A powerful tribe centered near present-day Tallahassee, the Apalachee were one of the first American tribes to come in contact with European explorers. The first Spaniards arrived in 1519, and Hernando de Soto spend the winter of 1539-40 at the village of Anhaica (today known as the Martin site), discovered in 1988 a mile from the Florida capitol. While the Apalachee and their powerful chiefs has a reputation for “bellicosity and military prowess”- to the point that their province was largely without fortification- they were no match for the unfamiliar and powerful weapons of their invaders.
Almost a century passed before the spaniards came to stay among a very different Apalachee people, weakened by European diseases. In 1633 the Spanish founded Mission San Luis i what is now Tallahassee. With its mix of friars, soldiers, civilians, and natives, the authors’ colorful account reveals both the rich historical record and the extraordinary archaeological remains of this early mission from 1633 to its abandonment in 1704. Today the mission survives as a Florida archaeological park and an outdoor museum.
Also new from the University Press of Florida is Hernando de Soto Among the Apalachee: The Archaeology of the First Winter Encampment, by Charles R. Ewen and John H. Hann (1998; 256 pgs., illus.; $30 paper).
