Coosa

Coosa was the centre of a powerful chiefdom in the river valleys of the southern Appalachians. Its principal town stood by the Coosawattee River, with three platform mounds and houses arranged around a broad plaza. Villages and cultivated fields extended along the valley, while the authority of Coosa's chief reached other communities across a much wider region.

In 1540 Hernando de Soto and his army entered Coosa. The chief came out to meet them, carried on a litter by his attendants and accompanied by musicians. The Spaniards stayed in the country for several weeks before moving south, taking the chief with them. In 1560 men from Tristán de Luna's struggling Gulf coast colony also travelled inland to Coosa in search of provisions. Disease and disruption accompanied these incursions, and the older chiefdom declined during the later sixteenth century. The name Coosa survived among the towns of the Muscogee Creek world.