19 Facts About Apalachee

Apalachee were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, specifically an Indigenous people of Florida, who lived in the Florida Panhandle until the early 18th century.

Apalachee occupied the site of Velda Mound starting about 1450 CE, they but had mostly abandoned it when Spanish started settlements in the 17th century.

Apalachee language was a Muskogean language, about which little more is known.

The only surviving Apalachee document is a 1688 letter written by Apalachee chiefs to the Spanish king.

Apalachee are thought to be part of Fort Walton Culture, a Florida culture influenced by the Mississippian culture.

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Apalachee were horticulturalists with stratified chiefdoms and sedentary towns and villages.

The largest Apalachee community was at Lake Jackson, just north of present-day Tallahassee.

Apalachee cultivated maize, beans, and squash, as well as amaranth and sunflowers.

Apalachee were part of an expansive trade network that extended from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes, and westward to what is Oklahoma.

The Apalachee acquired copper artifacts, sheets of mica, greenstone, and galena from distant locations through this trade.

The Apalachee probably paid for such imports with shells, pearls, shark teeth, preserved fish and sea turtle meat, salt, and cassina leaves and twigs .

Apalachee scalped opponents whom they killed, exhibiting the scalps as signs of warrior ability.

Apalachee played a ball game, sometimes known as the "Apalachee ball game", described in detail by Spaniards in the 17th century.

Apalachee was concerned about the effect of community involvement in the games on the welfare of the villages and Spanish missions.

Goalposts similar to those used by the Apalachee were seen in the Coosa chiefdom of present-day in Alabama during the 16th century, suggesting that similar ball games were played across much of the region.

Densely populated Apalachee had a complex, highly stratified society of regional chiefdoms.

The Spanish subsequently adapted the Native American name as Apalachee and applied it to the coastal region bordering Apalachee Bay, as well as to the tribe which lived in it.

Apalachee resisted attacks by the Spanish, and the Narvaez expedition fled to Apalachee Bay, where they built five boats and attempted to sail to Mexico.

Many Apalachee converted to Catholicism, in the process creating a syncretic fashioning of their traditions and Christianity.