Santa Isabel de Utinahica (ca. 1610 – ca. 1640) was a 17th-century
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
mission
Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to:
Geography Australia
*Mission River (Queensland)
Canada
*Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality
* Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood
* ...
Telfair County, Georgia
Telfair County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,477. The largest city and county seat is McRae-Helena.
In 2009, researchers from the Fernbank Museum of N ...
, near
Jacksonville
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
. It served the Utinahica tribe, who lived in the area. The small mission was a part of a series of missions set up in what was then the northern reaches of the Spanish
colony
A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...
of
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida () was the first major European land-claim and attempted settlement-area in northern America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and th ...
, similar to the
Spanish Missions in California
The Spanish missions in California () formed a List of Spanish missions in California, series of 21 religious outposts or missions established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the U.S. state of California. The missions were established by ...
or
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.
Operating for approximately two decades in the early 17th century, the mission was a religious outpost consisting of one
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...
sent out to convert and monitor the native people at the edges of the colony. The name Utinahica was taken from the local Native American
chiefdom
A chiefdom is a political organization of people representation (politics), represented or government, governed by a tribal chief, chief. Chiefdoms have been discussed, depending on their scope, as a stateless society, stateless, state (polity) ...
, themselves a part of the
Timucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The va ...
people and possibly ancestors of the current
Creek people
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsFernbank Museum of Natural History and
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Georgia.
Structure
The agency has statewide responsibilities for managing and conserving Georgia’s natural, cultural, and historical resource ...
began three summer seasons of archeological excavation where the Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers converge to form the
Altamaha River
The Altamaha River is a major river in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It flows generally eastward for from its Source (river or stream), origin at the confluence of the Oconee River and Ocmulgee River towards the Atlantic Oce ...
. No evidence of the mission was found, and only Muskogean (proto-Creek) architecture and artifacts were uncovered, plus some trade items of probable Spanish origin. In the 17th century the Spanish referred to the Altamaha River as the Rio de Santa Isabel, after the short-lived mission.
See also
*
Spanish missions in Georgia
The Spanish missions in Georgia comprised a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholics in order to spread the Christian doctrine among the Guale and various Timucua peoples in what is now southeastern Georgia.
Beginning in ...