Spanish colonies in area that becomes Georgia

1. Spain in Georgia
Michael Gagnon, Phd
Assistant Professor of History
Originally presented for
Gwinnett Reads
Noble Village
September 29, 2009

2. Spanish Georgia
• Ayllon established briefly in 1526
• DeSoto in 1540
• Permanent Missions by 1580s
• Guale & Mocomo Peoples
• Missions Abandoned by 1686 due to slaving
attacks from British.

3. 1526 Map Showing Land of Ayllon

4. 1529 Map
of both
Americas
Showing
Land
of Ayllon

5. Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón
• Became wealthy after
arriving in Hispaniola in
1503
• Landed at Santee River to
enslave Indians in 1521
• Surveyed coast of Georgia
and Carolinas in 1523
• 600 Colonists at San
Miguel de Gualdape on
Sapelo Sound in 1526
• Died October 1526

6. DeSoto in 1540

7. De Soto
• Mostly important for the
diseases he brought that
destroyed much of
Native American culture
for the foreseeable
future.
• Known for his brutality

8. European Brutality

9. Permanent Missions by 1580s
• St. Augustine in Florida found 1565
• Franciscan monks found missions in Guale and
Mocama starting in 1587
• After 1604, Mission system extends up
Altamaha River and west of Okeefenokee
• Priests and Monks serve as intermediaries
between Native Chiefs and Spanish military
• Interior missions abandoned by 1560s due to
depopulation from disease

10. Spanish
Missions
On
Georgia’s
Coast
1526-1686
Sapelo
Sound

11. Spanish
Missions
On
Georgia’s
Coast
1526-1686
Capital
of
Guale

12. Spanish
Missions
On
Georgia’s
Coast
1526-1686
Capital of
Mocama

13. Spain Eventually Abandons Georgia
• Natives allied with British in South Carolina start series of
slaving raids on mission towns of the interior starting in 1660s
• Mission Indians retreat to Georgia’s barrier islands by 1685
• Final pirate raid by South Carolina destroys last Mission
town on St. Catherine’s island
• Last Mission Indians retreat to Florida in 1705 to avoid
contact with encroaching British and British allied Indians,
only about 25 years before Oglethorpe settles Georgia as
British colony.
• Mocama Indians evacuated from Florida to Cuba when
Spain relinquished Florida following Peace treaty ending
French and Indian War in 1763.