Anhaica: de Soto forces the Apalachee out of their capital (Tallahassee, Oct. 6, 1539–March 1540)

SUMMARYAnhaica: de Soto forces the Apalachee out of their capital (Tallahassee, Oct. 6, 1539–March 1540) [Connections: Tallahassee & Orlando, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDAnhaica was the principal town of the Apalachee, their capital from about 1500. Hernando de Soto set up camp there on October 6, 1539, "forcing the Apalachee to leave the village," and left in March 1540. FSU archaeologist B. Calvin Jones found the site in 1988 on the grounds of the Gov. John W. Martin House; it is now part of DeSoto Site Historic State Park. Tallahassee's own city history places it "about 0.5 miles east of the present Capitol" and notes the camp is "often cited as the first place that Christmas was celebrated in the continental United States."

PATTERNThe first European "first" claimed for Tallahassee happened inside an Apalachee capital whose people were pushed out

LENS (WW9)The first Christmas in Tallahassee was held in a house the Apalachee were forced to leave

OPENDe Soto chronicles (Elvas, Rangel, Biedma, Garcilaso) should be read directly for what they say about the Apalachee; Wikipedia gives 1988, not 1987, for the find

SOURCEAnhaica (Wikipedia), citing Charles Hudson, Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun (1998), 118–119; Tallahassee (Wikipedia).