Timucua

Near the mouth of the St Johns River lived the Saturiwa, a powerful chiefdom of the Timucua-speaking Mocama people. Their villages lay among tidal creeks and coastal islands, where fishing and shellfish gathering supplemented cultivated crops. The river opened onto the Atlantic and linked the coastal communities with the interior of Florida. The Saturiwa were one of several independent chiefdoms in the wider Timucua-speaking region.

French explorers reached the river in 1562, and René de Laudonnière returned in 1564 to establish Fort Caroline. Chief Saturiwa helped the newcomers build their fort, although relations later became strained. Spain challenged the French presence: in 1565 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St Augustine and marched north to capture Fort Caroline. Three years later Dominique de Gourgues led a French expedition back to the river and attacked the Spanish forts with Native assistance.

Spanish missions subsequently drew the Mocama into the colonial system centred on St Augustine. Epidemics and warfare reduced their communities, and raids by English colonists and their Native allies brought further losses. The old chiefdoms of the St Johns mouth were profoundly changed as their surviving people moved and joined other settlements. Franciscan friars recorded the Timucua language in religious works, leaving a written record of the speech of the people among whom they preached.

The later city of Jacksonville lies here.