Ais people

For other uses, see AIS (disambiguation).
Approximate territory of the Ais tribe in the late 17th century

The Ais or Ays were a Native American people of eastern Florida. Their territory included coastal areas and islands from approximately Cape Canaveral to the Indian River.[1] The Ais chiefdom consisted of a number of towns, each led by a chief who was subordinate to the paramount chief of Ais; the Indian River was known as the "River of Ais" to the Spanish.[2] The Ais language has been linked to the Chitimacha language by linguist Julian Granberry, who points out that "Ais" means "the people" in the Chitimacha language.[3] The Ais were hunter-gatherers and food was plentiful. They ate fish, turtle, shellfish, cocoplums, sabal palm berries and other gathered fruits.[4] Prior to contact with European colonizers, the Ais population had grown to several hundred thousand and may have flourished for over 10,000 years.[5]

A burial mound, used by the Ais tribe for 500 to 1,000 years rises about twenty feet in Old Fort Park on Indian River Drive in Fort Pierce. This location later became an Army fort used during the Second Seminole War (1838–1842) and it may be the location of a Spanish settlement, mission and military outpost dating back to 1567. The burial mound is several hundred feet around. The Indian River (called the "Rio de Ais" by the Spanish colonizers) flows by within sight.[5]

The best single source for information on the Ais at the end of the 17th century is Jonathan Dickinson's Journal, in which he makes observations on their appearance, diet, and customs. Dickinson and his party were shipwrecked, and spent several weeks among the Ais in 1696. By Dickinson's account, the chief of the town of Jece, near present-day Sebastian,[6] was paramount to all of the coastal towns from the Jaega town of Jobe (at Jupiter Inlet) in the south to approximately Cape Canaveral in the north (that is, the length of the River of Ais).[7]

The Ais had already had considerable contact with Europeans by this time. The Spanish became acquainted with the Ais in middle of the 16th century. In 1566 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, founder of St. Augustine, Florida, established a fort and mission at an Ais town, which the Spanish called Santa Lucía.[8] After the Ais attacked the fort, killing 23 of the soldiers, the Spanish abandoned the fort and mission.[9] Oathaqua was a major chief of the Ais. Governor Mendez de Canco reported in 1597 that this chief led more people than any other tribe.[4]

Spain eventually established some control over the coast; at first, the Ais considered them friends (comerradoes) and non-Spanish Europeans as enemies. A number of Ais men learned some Spanish, and a patrol of Spanish soldiers from St. Augustine arrived in Jece while the Dickinson party was there. One Ais man in Jece had been taken away by the English to work as a diver on a wreck east of Cuba. He got away when the ship put in for water in Cuba, and made his way back to his home via Havana and St. Augustine.

  1. ^ Donald B. Ricky (1 January 1998). The Encyclopedia of Florida Indians: Tribes, Nations, and People of the Woodlands Area. North American Book Dist LLC. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-0-403-09952-8. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  2. ^ Survey of Indian River Archaeology, Yale University Publications in Anthropology : No. 45, Irving Rouse. ISBN 978-0-404-15668-8
  3. ^ Granberry, Julian (2011). The Calusa: Linguistic and Cultural Relationships. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-8173-1751-5.
  4. ^ a b "Early Native Americans | St. Lucie Historical Society". Retrieved 2023-01-22.
  5. ^ a b "Ais Indians Tribe: Explore the native Americans of Florida". www.floridiannature.com. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
  6. ^ "Florida anthropologist". ufdc.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  7. ^ Andrews and Andrews:29, 31, 34
  8. ^ Milanich:156
  9. ^ Gannon:44