Tocobaga

The scant historical records come exclusively from the journals and other documents made by members of several Spanish expeditions that traversed the area in the 1500s.

The Tocobaga and their neighbors disappeared from the historical record by the early 1700s, as endemic diseases carried by European explorers decimated the local population.

In 1528, an expedition led by Pánfilo de Narváez landed near Tampa Bay and soon skirmished with the indigenous population, probably at the principal town of the Tocobaga at the Safety Harbor site.

Several years later, the Hernando de Soto Expedition likely landed on the southern shore of Tampa Bay in 1539,[a] and passed through the eastern part of Safety Harbor territory after occupying the village of Uzita.

Neither Narvaez nor de Soto remained in the area for long, as they each traveled north in search of gold after several violent encounters with the Tocobaga and their neighbors.

The missionary expedition of Father Luis de Cancer visited the Tampa Bay area in 1549 to attempt to peacefully convert the locals to Christianity.

Despite being cautioned to avoid the Gulf Coast, Father Cancer's expedition came ashore just south of the mouth of Bahia Espiritu Santo (Tampa Bay) in May 1549.

In 1611 a raiding party from the two chiefdoms killed several Christianized Natives carrying supplies to the Spanish mission (Cofa) at the mouth of the Suwannee River.

In 1612, the Spanish launched a punitive expedition down the Suwannee River and along the Gulf coast, attacking Tocobaga and Pohoy, and killing many of their people, including both chiefs.

[14] The population of Tocobaga declined severely in the 17th century, due mostly to the spread of infectious diseases brought by the Europeans, to which the native people had little resistance, as they had no acquired immunity.

As Florida transitioned to British rule in 1763 following its defeat of France in the Seven Years' War, the Calusa emigrated with the evacuating Spanish, resettling with them in Cuba, possibly along with the remnants of the Tocobaga.