The Timucua Text Corpus: Native Language Archives and Interdisciplinary Methodology

Timucua authors, who belonged to one the largest and most prominent Native nations in what is now Florida and Georgia, left many sources written in their language. They recorded their ideas and knowledge within colonial texts; they used the written word to protest Spanish abuses and make demands; they wrote about internal conflicts, local concerns, and one another. Though scholars have known about the robust Timucua corpus for centuries, they have almost exclusively worked with the Spanish translations rather than with the Native-language sources. Combining linguistic and historical methods, we have created a corpus of all known Timucua language material. We have translated and analyzed the documents to make them available for historical and linguistic study. We have also sought to work respectfully and responsibly with Native communities, centering Timucua voices and experiences.