Guacata Tribe – Meaning unknown.
Guacata Connections. On the evidence furnished by place names in this section, the tribe is classified with the south Florida peoples.
Guacata Location. On or near Saint Lucie River in Saint Lucie and Palm Beach Counties.
Guacata History.-The Guacata are first mentioned by Fontaneda (1854), who in one place speaks of them as on Lake Mayaimi (Okeechobee), but this probably means only that they ranged across to the lake from the eastern seacoast. Shortly after his conquest of Florida Menendez left 200 men in the Ais country, but the Indians of that tribe soon rose against them and they moved to the neighborhood of the Guacata, where they were so well treated that they called the place Santa Lucia. Next year, however, these Indians rose against them and although they were at first defeated the Spaniards were so hard pressed that they abandoned the place in 1568. They were still an independent body in the time of Dickenson, in 1699, but not long afterward they evidently united with other east coast bands, and they were probably part of those who emigrated to Cuba in 1763.
Guacata Population. No separate estimate has ever been made. (See Ais Indians)