Jaega
The Jaega (also Jega, Xega, Geiga) were Native Americans living in a chiefdom of the same name, which included the coastal parts of present-day Martin County and northern Palm Beach County, Florida at the time of initial European contact, and until the 18th century. The name Jobé, or Jové [ˈxoβe], has been identified as a synonym of Jaega, a sub-group of the Jaega, or a town of the Jaega.
East Okeechobee culture region
The area occupied by the Jaega corresponds to the East Okeechobee culture region, an
History
The East Okeechobee Area has received relatively little attention from archaeologists, and little is known of the origins of the Jaega, who were also called "Gega", "Jeaga", "Jega", or "Xega". The earliest mention of the Jaega came from
Escalante Fontaneda also implied that the Jaega spoke the same language as the Ais, who lived along the Indian River Lagoon to the north of the Jaega. [7][8] The Jaega may have been related to the Ais people, who occupied the coast to their north. (The Ais language has been linked to the Chitimacha language by linguist Julian Granberry.[9]) The Jaega were linked to the Ais by marriage between chiefs and their relatives.[10]
In 1565, the Spanish built the Presidio of Santa Lucia at what is probably the present-day St. Lucie River in the territory of the Ais people.The Spanish were soon driven out of Ais territory and the captain Don Juan Velez de Medrano built a new fort called Santa Lucia at the Jupiter Inlet, in Jaega territory.[b] The Jaega were initially friendly towards the Spanish, but later attacked the presidio and forced the Spanish to withdraw less than a year later.[12][13] Jonathan Dickinson placed the Ais town he called Santa Lucea two days' travel north of the Jupiter Inlet.[14] The names Jaega and Jobé (or variants thereof) appear on 17th-century Spanish maps of Florida, and in Spanish reports.[15]
Jonathan Dickinson, who was part of a shipwrecked party detained in the town of Jobé for several days in 1696, wrote a Journal that contains descriptions of the people of Jobé (near present-day Jupiter Inlet). He wrote that Jobé was subject to the Ais chief who resided in Jece (near present-day Vero Beach).[16]
Manuel de Montiano, governor of Spanish Florida, in a 1738 letter to the King of Spain, mentioned Jaega in connection with a battle in central Florida involving the Amacapira, Bomto, Mayaca, and Pohoy peoples. The governor had sent a scout to investigate the battle, who reported meeting with Bomto, chief of the Bomto people, at the town of Jaega.[17]
Culture
There is little written history about the Jaega. They were likely similar in culture and custom to the surrounding
Although there are no deposits of flint in South Florida, flint dart points have been found at Jaega sites, indicating trade with northern tribes.[18] The people used wood, bone and shell to craft tools and weapons.
Spanish reports describe elaborate ceremonies involving an elite class of priests, hundreds of singers and dancers, and complex ritual practice.[19]
Later names
The geographic name "
Notes
- Santa Lucia), and Xega, with laguna meiymi (Lake Okeechobee) shown in the interior of the peninsula. The map is not dated, but Lowery argues that it may have been produced as early as 1595.[3] Seckinger argues that the map was produced in conjunction with a 1604 expibition searching for a navigable connection between the St. Johns River and the Gulf of Mexico via Lake Okeechobee[4]
- ^ In a footnote in The Enterprise of Florida, Eugene Lyon states: "... I believe that the beginning point of the mutineers’ southward journey was not far south of the Sebastian River in Indian River County. Their course, estimated at twelve to fifteen leagues in length, would have brought them to the north side of the wide St. Lucie River; from there, it is about eighteen miles, or six leagues to Jupiter Inlet," where, he states, Velez de Medrano established Santa Lucia.[11]
References
- ^ Wheeler, Kennedy & Pepe 2002, p. 121.
- ^ Carr 2012, p. 66, 69.
- ^ Lowery, Woodbury (1912). The Lowery Collection: A Descriptive List of Maps of the Spanish Possessions Within the Present Limits of the United States, 1502-1820. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 100–101.
- ^ Seckinger, Ron L. (1964). "Observations on the Origin and Date of a Seventeenthe Century Florida Map". Florida Historical Quarterly. 43 (4): 385–387 – via University of Central Florida Libraries.
- ^ Hann 1995, p. 190.
- ^ Wheeler & Pepe 2002, p. 234.
- ^ Hann 2003, p. 62.
- ^ Austin 1997, p. 2.
- ISBN 978-0-8173-1751-5.
- ^ Brech 2004, p. 125.
- ISBN 0-8130-0777-1.
- ^ Wheeler & Pepe 2002, pp. 224, 233.
- ^ Hann 2003, p. 78.
- ^ Dickinson 1700, pp. 16, 24.
- ^ Wheeler & Pepe 2002, pp. 224–225.
- ^ Dickinson 1700, pp. 34, 38.
- ^ Hann 1995, pp. 185, 195.
- ^ a b c Early Tribes: Jaega and Jobe, Palm Beach County History Online
- ^ Jonathan W. Koontz, Lake Worth: Jewel of the Gold Coast, Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce, 1997, pp. 41-46.
- ^ "Hobe Sound History". hobesound.org. The Hobe Sound Chamber of Commerce, Inc. Archived from the original on February 7, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
- ^ Wheeler & Pepe 2002, p. 221.
Sources
- Austin, Daniel W. (Summer–Fall 1997). "The Glades Indians and the Plants they Used. Ethnobotany of an Extinct Culture" (PDF). The Palmetto. 17 (2): 7–11.
- Brech, Alan (2004). Neither Ocean nor Continent: Correlating the Archeology and Geomorphology of the Barrier Islands of East Central Florida (PDF) (MA thesis). University of Florida. Retrieved November 27, 2005.
- Carr, Robert S. (2012). "Mississippian Influence in the Glades, Belle Glade and East Okeechobee Area of South Florida". In Ashley, Keith; White, Nancy Marie (eds.). Late Prehistoric Florida: Archaeology at the Edge of the Mississippian World. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. pp. 62–80. ISBN 978-0-8130-4014-1.
- Dickinson, Jonathan (1700). God's protecting providence, man's surest help and defence, in times of the greatest difficulty, and most eminent danger. Evidenced in the remarkable deliverance of Robert Barrow, with divers other persons, from the devouring waves of the sea; amongst which they suffered shipwrack: and also, from the cruel, devouring jaws of the inhumane canibals of Florida (2nd ed.). London. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
- Hann, John H. (1995). "Demise of the Pojoy and Bomto". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 74 (2): 184–200. JSTOR 30148820.
- Hann, John H. (2003). Indians of Central and South Florida: 1513-1763. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-2645-8.
- Wheeler, Ryan J.; Kennedy, William Jerald; Pepe, James P. (September–December 2002). "The Archaeology of Coastal Palm Beach County". The Florida Anthropologist. 55 (3–4): 119–156 – via University of Florida Digital Collections.
- Wheeler, Ryan J.; Pepe, James P. (September–December 2002). "The Jobé and Jaega of the Palm Beach County Area". The Florida Anthropologist. 55 (3–4): 221–241 – via University of Florida Digital Collections.
Further reading
- Wheeler, Ryan J. (September–December 2002). "Editors Introduction: Archaeology Jupiter Inlet and Coastal Palm Beach County". The Florida Anthropologist. 55 (3–4): 113–117 – via University of Florida Digital Collections.
- Wheeler, Ryan J.; Pepe, James P.; Kennedy, William Jerald (September–December 2002). "The Archaeology of Jupiter Inlet 1 (8PB34)". The Florida Anthropologist. 55 (3–4): 157–196 – via University of Florida Digital Collections.
- Winland, Kenneth J. (September–December 2002). "Disease and Population Ecology in the East Okeechobee Area". The Florida Anthropologist. 55 (3–4): 199–220 – via University of Florida Digital Collections.