Chine People

The Chine people were a group of Native American people living in Apalachee Province in Spanish Florida from the early 1670s until the end of the 17th century. They are believed to have spoken the same language as the Chatot, Amacano, Pacara, and Pensacola people, and have been described as a band of the Chatot people. They were served by a series of Spanish missions in the last quarter of the 17th century.

Origins

The Chine may have migrated into Apalachee Province in the early 1670s. All of the peoples living beyond Apalachee Province in the 17th century, except for the Chiscas, spoke the same or a closely related language, as did the Chatot, but the Spanish viewed the Chatot and Chine peoples as separate bands. All of those people (Amacano, Chatot, Chine, Pacara, and Pensacola) were likely descended from people of the Fort Walton and, possibly, the Lamar cultures.

The Chine first appeared in Spanish records in 1674, when they were recorded living in association with Amacano and Pacara people in the town of Chaccabi in the southern part of Apalachee Province near Apalachee Bay. The three people were described as allies, speaking the same language, but as separate "nations". The Chine were probably the most numerous of the three peoples in Chaccabi.

Missions

Chaccabi had a mission founded in April, 1674, dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle (''San Pedro''), to serve the Chine, Amacano, and Pacara people of the town, who were gradually being converted to Christianity. The three peoples of Chaccabi had apparently moved to a new site known as "the place of the Chines" by the next year, when Gabriel Díaz Vara Calderón, bishop of Santiago de Cuba, founded the mission of Assumpcíon del Puerto on February 2, 1675 to serve them. That mission does not appear in Spanish records after 1675. The mission, identified as "Assumpcíon de Nuestra Señora", was reported to have 300 residents in 1675, which may be an undercount.

The Chines may have moved more than once after 1675. A mission of "San Pedro de los Chines" is on a mission list from 1680, and "San Pedro de Medellin" was reported in 1681 (Medellin was close to the headwaters of the Wakulla River on a 1683 map). A mission named "San Antonio de Chines" was listed in 1694, which Hann says may be the result of a move to a location closer to San Luis. A census in 1681 counted 158 adults. A list in 1689 gave the population as 30 families. Another list in 1697 stated the "Place of the Chines" was one league from the mission La Purificación de Tama, inland from the mission San Martín de Tomole.

Pilots and guides

The Chine were known to the Spanish for their experience in traveling along the Gulf of Mexico coast by canoe from Apalachee Bay to Pensacola Bay (the Spanish may have had contact with the Pensacola people through the Chine before 1677). The Spanish used Chines as pilots and guides for at least three expeditions west of Apalachee Province. In 1777, the Spanish and Apalachee sent 190 men to attack a Chisca town near the Choctawhatchee River in retaliation for Chisca attacks on the Apalchee and their neighbors. Chines and Chatots were drafted by the Spanish/Apalachee force to serve as guides to the Chisca town.

In 1685, the French explorer La Salle founded a settlement on the Texas coast. On receiving word of that settlement, the Viceroy of New Spain ordered a search for it. A search party, led by Juan Enríquez Barroto, left San Marcos in 1686, using Chine pilots because they were familiar with the coast as far west as Mobile Bay. In 1693, Laureano de Torres y Ayala, governor of Spanish Florida, led an expedition by boat along the coast from San Marcos to Mobile Bay. Chief Chine (who the Spanish identified as a Chatot) and his son served as pilots for the Spanish.

Fate

In 1702, the Chines were listed as heathens living in Apalachee Province, along with Amacano, Savacola, Chatot, Tabasa, and Catase (Ocatase) people. Native American people allied with the English of the Province of Carolina mounted a series of attacks on the Apalachee and other peoples associated with the Spanish, culminating in 1704 in what has been called the Apalachee massacre. The fate of the Chines in that event is not clear. Some Chines (identified as Ocatoses) may have been carried off by the raiders. Some may have been with the Chatots that went west with Apalachees to the coast between Pensacola Bay and Mobile Bay (people called Ocatoses lived next to the Presidio Santa Maria de Galve on Pensacola Bay in 1707).

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Sources

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*{{Cite book , last=Milanich , first=Jerald T. , year=1995 , title=Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe , publisher=University Press of Florida , edition=paperback , isbn=978-0-8130-1636-8

Extinct Native American peoples
Native American tribes in Florida