All about the ancient tribes
Like the other tribes in South Florida, the Tequesta were hunters and gatherers. They relied mainly on fish, shellfish, nuts, and berries for food.
They had lived in the region since the 3rd century BCE (the late Archaic period of the continent), and remained for roughly 2,000 years, having disappeared by the time that Spanish Florida was traded to the British, who then established the area as part of the province of East Florida.
The Tequesta Indians were a tribe of eastern Florida, closely connected with the Ais. Their language was never recorded. Like the Calusa, the Tequesta were devastated by European diseases.
Like other south Florida Indians, the Tequesta wore very little clothing, just breechcloths (loincloths), perhaps made of palmetto, for the men, and skirts of Spanish moss for the women.
Unfortunately, these food sources were not very plentiful along the southern coast, so the Tequesta never became a large or powerful tribe compared to their western neighbors, the Calusa. The Tequesta numbered about 800, but they started to die out as a result of settlement battles, slavery, and disease.
The Europeans brought diseases with them that the Timucua easily caught and died from, since their bodies did not have natural resistance to the diseases. The Spanish taught the Indians how to live like Spanish did.
The first European settlement in Florida was established by French Protestants in 1564. They were led by French explorer Rene de Laudonniere and built Fort Caroline near current day Jacksonville. A year later, in 1565, the Spanish built a fort at St. Augustine.
The Tocobaga Native Americans usually wore very simple clothing made of deerskin. Clothing did not play a big role in their culture. Instead, they preferred to decorate their bodies with tattoos and elaborate hand-crafted jewelry.
What kinds of games did Tequestas play? skit-ball, where you hit a ball and it bounces off a wall before you hit it! They also played a game with a stick called wee.
In North Florida lived two highly organized, farming tribes the Apalachee of the Tallahassee Hills and the Timucuans, located between the Aucilla River and the Atlantic Ocean as far south as Tampa Bay. These people were latecomers to Florida and brought with them farming skills beyond those tribes of the South.
The Tequesta, who had dugout canoes, were also known to trade with neighboring tribes for exotic materials. The Tequesta had no agriculture, but gathered fruit and plant roots. They also consumed venison, Caribbean monk seal, sea turtle, manatee, shark, fish and shellfish.
Sharks teeth were used to carve out logs and make canoes for hunting expeditions. Their houses were never permanent and were made similar to chickee huts. The homes were thatched together with palmetto leaves. They had a main kitchen area, known as the midden, which was used by everyone.
The houses were generally round and built with wooden poles holding up a roof of palm thatches. The Tocobaga Indians built mounds within their villages. A mound is a large pile of earth, shells, or stones. The chief’s home and the tribe’s temple were each built on a mound.
The Apalachee are a Native American people who historically lived in the Florida Panhandle. They lived between the Aucilla River and Ochlockonee River, at the head of Apalachee Bay, an area known to Europeans as the Apalachee Province.
The homes of the Native American tribes of Florida had similarities. All five tribes used wooden poles and branches for the frames of their homes. The Apalachee, Tequesta, Tocobaga, and Timucua all created walls and roofs from grass and palm leaves. The Timucua and Apalachee also used mud and clay in their walls.