#tocobaga

I’ve lived most of my life here in Tampa Bay. A lot of us know about the Tocobaga burial grounds. There’s a legend that they’re blessed and that blessing is what protects the Tampa Bay Area from direct hits by hurricanes.

Last year, some dumb fuck destroyed a mound to build a driveway. The four people living there before had never touched it. They respected it. Then this happens. The burial grounds have been disturbed before but unintentionally. This person intentionally disrespected a grave.

Now, there’s a Cat 5 hurricane, the fourth strongest in history, barreling towards Tampa for the first time since 1921. You cannot convince me that’s a coincidence. I am a reasonable woman and because of that I am superstitious. I have long been an advocate for Indigenous rights and the Land Back movement. I do my best to be as respectful as possible to earth and life around me. Never before have I found myself drawn to religion but, every time I find myself questioning my sanity or my beliefs, I find it has something to do with Indigenous Americans. That’s not coincidence, that’s a pattern. Patterns mean something. I think it’s time I learned more about the spiritual side of Native American history.

I kept this in drafts for after the hurricane but now there’s an update! The streak continues and the offerings worked! Tocobaga protects us yet again.

Humans have lived in the area for millennia, possibly as long as 12,000 to 14,000 years. The first local people to fully adapt to a sea-side lifestyle were those of the Manasota culture, a variant of the Weeden Island culture, who lived on the shores of Tampa Bay beginning around 5,000 - 6,000 years ago.[11] They were in turn replaced by the Safety Harbor culture approximately 800 AD.

The Safety Harbor culture was dominant in the area at the time of first contact with Europeans. The Tocobaga, who built their principal town near today's Safety Harbor in the northwest corner of Old Tampa Bay, are the best known group from that era, but there were many coastal villages organized into various small chiefdoms all around the bay.[12]

Spanish maps dated as early as 1584 identifies Tampa Bay as Baya de Spirito Santo ("Bay of the Holy Spirit").[13] A map dated 1695 identifies the area as Bahia Tampa.[14] Later maps dated 1794[15] and 1800[16] show the bay divided with three different names, Tampa Bay, Hillsboro Bay and the overall name of Bay of Spiritu(o) Santo.

The United States acquired Florida from Spain in 1819. The name Spirito Santo seems to have disappeared from maps of the region in favor of "Tampa Bay" (sometimes divided into Tampa and Hillsboro Bays) soon after the US established Fort Brooke at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in 1824.[17]