A Bishop's Description of the Christianized Indians of Spanish Florida, 1675

Peter A. Cowdrey Jr.

Reprinted from the OAH Magazine of History
14 (Summer 2000). ISSN 0882-228X
Copyright (c) 2000, Organization of American Historians
 

The following description of life in the Spanish Florida missions was written in 1675 to Queen Mariana of Spain by the bishop of Cuba, Gabriel Díaz Vara Calderón. The bishop had just returned from an arduous ten-month inspection of Florida's Franciscan missions, all of which fell under his jurisdiction. By his count, Bishop Calderón administered the rite of confirmation to 13,152 Indians, a ritual that only a bishop or his designee could perform. The bishop's lengthy tour took him to thirty-six churches in four areas that the Franciscans understood as distinctive zones of Indian culture: Guale, Timucua, Apalachee, and Apalachicola. Although the Indians in each of these Franciscan-named provinces spoke mutually unintelligible languages, they had much in common. Visiting their towns and eating their foods, the bishop probably considered them all the same people, and so he described them in homogeneous terms.

This letter is an extraordinary document. It is particularly valuable for shedding light on native life during the mission period, as well as for familiarizing students with primary source materials and the critical evaluation of documentary evidence. While the letter describes Florida mission Indians from the Atlantic coast to the banks of the Apalachicola River in the Florida panhandle, readers might compare it with the findings presented in Bonnie McEwan and John Hann, "Reconstructing a Spanish Mission: San Luis de Talimali" in this issue which focuses on the Apalachee Indians. Many of the details provided by Bishop Calderón (descriptions of round thatched houses, the large council house, foodways, trade items, and the religious fervor of the mission Indians) have been borne out by McEwan and Hann at Mission San Luis, as well as by archaeologists investigating other Florida missions. Students might be asked to evaluate how accurately the Calderón letter of 1675 describes certain features of San Luis discussed in McEwan and Hann's article.

1. To recognize the value of primary sources in illuminating the past.

2. To gain an understanding of mission life in La Florida as observed by a Spanish bishop who visited in the 1670s.

3. To consider factors such as bias and subjectivity that may affect this letter as well as other documentary records.

Suggest that students keep a dictionary handy in order to look up unfamiliar words. Also, ask them to take notes and perhaps supplement these with occasional sketches based on the bishop's descriptions. Before reading the piece, they might examine the "Questions to Consider" handout for clues regarding details contained in the letter itself.

After reading the excerpt from the bishop's letter, students might write a short essay assessing the value of the letter for understanding mission Indians in Florida. Which of the bishop's observations seem objective? Which of the bishop's observations seem subjective? What does he leave unsaid?

Peter A. Cowdrey Jr. teaches world history to honors and gifted tenth-grade students at Leon High School in Tallahassee, Florida, and Western civilization to seniors of the dual enrollment program sponsored jointly by Tallahassee Community College and Leon High School. Before beginning his teaching career in 1997, he spent thirteen years in the Education Section of the Museum of Florida History where he developed numerous programs based on the original historical and archaeological research conducted at Mission San Luis.