Cape Canaveral Florida

Where were Cape François and the May River?

Scholars have long assumed that Cape François was either present day Cape Canaveral They have also assumed that the May River was the St. Johns River.  However, the distances between these points and Beaufort, SC (Port Royal Sound) don’t seem to correlate with the time that French fleet spent to travel. De Laudonniére’s memoirs state that the fleet sailed directly from Cape François to the outlet of the May River in two weeks.  They spent two weeks more exploring a series of islands and rivers between the May River and Port Royal. They stopped to explore inlets and rivers. Late … Read more

Timucua Tribe

Timucua Tribe, Timucua Indians. The principal of the Timucuan tribes of Florida. The name is written Timucua or Timuqua by the Spaniards; Thimagoa by the French; Atimaco, Tomoco, etc., by the English. They seem to be identical with the people called Nukfalalgi or Nukfila by the Creeks, described by the latter as having once occupied the upper portion of the peninsula and as having been conquered, together with the Apalachee, Yamasee, and Calusa, by the Creeks. When first known to the French and Spanish, about 1565, the Timucua occupied the territory along middle St John River and about the present … Read more

Onathaqua Tribe

Onathaqua Indians (possibly intended for Ouathaqua). A tribe or village about Cape Cañaveral east coast of Florida, in constant alliance with the Calusa in 1564 (Laudionniére). Probably identical in whole or in part with the Ais tribe. Not to be confounded with Onatheaqua. Alternate Spellings: Oathkaqua – De Bry map (1591) in Le Moyne, Narr., Appleton trans., 1875. Onathqua – Laudionniére (1564) in French, Hist. Coll., Louisiana, n.s., 282, 1869 (possibly for Ouathaqua). Onothaca – Brackenridge, Louisiana, 84, 1814. Otchaqua – De l’Isle, map, 1700.