Tequesta

Tequesta

Approximate territory of the Tequesta in the 16th century
Regions with significant populations
Present-day South Florida (from 3rd century BCE to mid-18th century)

The Tequesta (also Tekesta, Tegesta, Chequesta, Vizcaynos) Native American tribe, at the time of first European contact, occupied an area along the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida. They had infrequent contact with Europeans and had largely migrated by the middle of the 18th century.

The Tequesta lived in the southeastern parts of present-day Florida. They lived in that region since the 3rd century BCE (the late Archaic period of the continent), and remained for roughly 2,000 years, having disappeared by the time that Spanish Florida was traded to the British, who then established the area as the colony of East Florida.

The Tequesta tribe lived on Biscayne Bay in what is now Miami-Dade County and at least the southern half of Broward County. Their territory may have also included the northern half of Broward County and southern and central Palm Beach County. They also occupied the Florida Keys at times, and may have had a village on Cape Sable, at the southern end of the Florida peninsula, in the 16th century.

The central town (also called Tequesta) was probably at the mouth of the Miami River. A village had been at that site at least since 1200. The tribal chief was also called Tequesta. The Tequesta arrived in the Biscayne Bay area before the beginning of the Christian Era. The Tequesta situated their towns and camps at the mouths of rivers and streams, on inlets from the Atlantic Ocean to inland waters, and on barrier islands and keys.

The Tequesta were more or less dominated by the more numerous Calusa of the southwest coast of Florida. The Tequesta were closely allied to their immediate neighbors to the north, the Jaega. Estimates of the number of Tequesta at the time of initial European contact range from 800 to 10,000, while estimates of the number of Calusa on the southwest coast of Florida range from 2,000 to 20,000. Occupation of the Florida Keys may have swung back and forth between the two tribes. Although Spanish records note a Tequesta village on Cape Sable, Calusa artifacts outnumber Tequesta artifacts by four to one at its archaeological sites.