By Bob Davidsson
On May 8, 1513, two sturdy U-shaped Spanish naos (ships), the flagship "Santa Maria de la Consolacion" and the "Santiago," with their accompanying shallow-draft brigantine, the "Cristobal," briefly anchored at the "Cabo de Corrientes" (Cape of Currents) near an island which nearly 400 years later would be called Palm Beach.
Juan Ponce de Leon, the new adelantado or proprietary governor of "Bimini and the Northern Isles," was making his fourth landing along the east coast of what he had recently christened as the island of "La Florida" on April 3. The voyage of discovery was hard on both ships and men.
After making an initial landfall on an uninhabited beach somewhere between modern Daytona and St. Augustine, he sailed north to the mouth of the St John's River, then reversed course and battled the contrary currents of the Gulf Stream for nearly three weeks.
His landing parties were attacked by hostile Ais Indians north of the St. Lucie Inlet on April 21, and again by the Jeaga Indians when the Spanish attempted to force a landfall near their main village of Hobe at Jupiter Inlet. In his "General History," the 16th century Spanish court historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesilla recorded an earlier account of the voyage of Ponce de Leon and his encounters with the native peoples of Palm Beach County.
"He went out from there to a river (the Loxahatchee) where they gathered water and firewood," Herrera reported, "waiting for the brigantine 'Cristobal'. Sixty Indians (Jeaga) went there to hinder him. One of them was taken for a pilot so he might learn their language."
"He (Ponce de Leon) gave to this river the name 'La Cruz' (the cross); and he left by it a cross of stone with an inscription on it; and they left off taking on water because it was brackish."
Ponce de Leon was forced to anchor the naos "Santa Maria and "Santiago" at Jupiter Inlet for nearly a week as he waited for the missing brigantine "Cristobal" to join his fleet. The small lateen-rigged vessel was swept north by contrary currents and wind prior to reaching the inlet.
The total complement of his fleet consisted of 64 men and one woman, Juana Jimenez (Ruiz), the sister-in-law of one of the admiral's gentlemen-soldiers, Francisco de Ortega. She became the first European woman to explore North America since of demise of the ill-fated Norse colony of Freydis Ericsdottir in Newfoundland (circa 1013).
Ponce de Leon's crew included only 25 "gente de tierra" (gentlemen-of-the-land) who were trained soldiers. Of this small military force, 20 were stationed on "Santa Maria," a ship under the ownership and command of the notorious Basque mariner Juan Bono de Quejo.
Juan Bono was a maritime trader who like a bad penny always seemed to appear and profit from new Spanish colonization ventures in Hispanola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Florida, Cuba and Mexico. Prior to Ponce de Leon's expedition, Bono raided the Bahamas in search of human cargo - Taino Indian slaves.
Later in his career, Bono would earn the epitaph of "Juan the Bad" from the Catholic Church for engaging in slave raids on the island of Trinidad. Aware of his reputation, conquistador Hernando Cortes once locked him chains in 1520 and sent him back to Cuba as a "troublemaker" in his own ship.
With his knowledge of these "Northern Islands," it was probably Bono, with master pilot Anton de Alaminos on the flagship "Santa Maria," that guided the fleet to the coast of Florida. By most 16th century accounts, Ponce de Leon had an affable, noble character, which won the loyalty of Bono, who by nature was the complete opposite.
Following the long-delayed rendezvous with the "Cristobal," the fleet set sail from the Jupiter Inlet on May 8. The three ships followed the coast of Singer Island and the island of Palm Beach. The two islands were not separated by an inlet in the early 1500's.
The Spanish historian Herrera reported, "They came upon and anchored behind a cape, close to a village named 'Abaioa'. All this coast from Punta de Arrafices until this Cabo de Corrientes, runs north-south to the southeast and the water is clear with a depth of six fathoms."
Ponce de Leon's "Cabo de Corrientes" (Cape of Currents) has been interpreted by many historians as the place where the Gulf Stream is closest to coast of Florida. The cape also was the easternmost point of the Florida peninsula. In both cases, this is the island of Palm Beach.
The expedition noted there were villages along the island and anchored for a short period to investigate before continuing south. The village of "Abaioa," like similar place names of Abacoa and Abaco Island, may be rooted in the Taino Indian dialect.
Some historians theorize the Jeaga, Ais and Tekesta tribes were at one time seafaring cultures, similar to the Taino. They crossed the Caribbean from South America and settled in southeast Florida about 5,000 B.C. During the early Spanish colonial period, Florida Indians were still making journeys to Cuba in large dugout canoes.
There were no reports of conflicts with the native Jeaga inhabitants of "Abaioa" during Ponce de Leon's short visit to Palm Beach. The villagers were certainly aware of the battle at the Jupiter Inlet with the strange iron-clad visitors and may have withdrew into the interior of the island. By the next day, the three ships had set sail and life returned to normal at "Abaioa."
Villages Along the Rio Jeaga
At the time of Ponce de Leon's voyage of discovery, the Jeaga tribe occupied villages from Jupiter Island in the north, west along the Loxahatchee River, and south on both shores of the Lake Worth Lagoon (called the "Rio Jeaga" on 17th century Spanish maps). The Boca Raton Inlet served as a natural dividing line between the Jeaga and the larger Tekesta (Tequesta) tribe centered in what is today Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
The Rio Jeaga, a freshwater lake during the Spanish colonial period, was vital to the scattered Jeaga villages as a food source, communications and transportation network. Heavy rains and hurricanes occasionally created lake flooding which breached the barrier island of Palm Beach with temporary inlets until new sandbars would close these outlets to the ocean.
Prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists at Jupiter Inlet (Rio Jobe), the Jeaga villages were decentralized with local towns ruled by their caciques or chieftains. The introduction of European trade goods and plunder from shipwrecks changed the dynamics of tribal alliances, with the caciques of Hobe gaining in stature.
The village of Hobe became the primary Jeaga center of trade due to its access to the Jupiter Inlet. The Jeaga in turn shared trade goods, captives and ship plunder with the more powerful Calusa tribe in the 16th century, and the neighboring Ais Indians to the north during the 17th century.
The town of Hobe, located on the south side of the inlet, was in the heart of what archaeologists call the Jupiter Mound Complex. Middens, ceremonial mounds and village sites were found along both sides of the inlet, as well as in the nearby Loxahatchee estuary.
South of Jupiter Inlet were several small villages collectively called the Singer Island Sites on the barrier island. Villages on both Singer Island and Palm Beach were built on the coastal ridge of the two islands. Both islands rest on a foundation of Anastasia rock and coquina limestone.
Southwest of Singer Island, on the mainland side of the Rio Jeaga, were three mound sites called the Riviera Complex by archaeologists. The village site was located near what is today the Port of Palm Beach.
The Riviera Complex consisted of the Palm Beach Inlet Midden and adjacent Palm Beach Inlet Burial Mound, as well the principal village site along the Rio Jeaga. Some documents even refer to the Riviera Complex as the town of "Jeaga"- the namesake for the entire tribe.
The Nebot Site was located southeast of the Riviera Complex on the Palm Beach barrier island. It was discovered in the 1980's at the 100 block of Everglades Avenue. The site included a sand burial mound and perhaps a small village along the lake. Skeletal remains were excavated from the site, as well as tool artifacts of bone and even European brass.
The Palm Beach Complex, located north of Sloan's Curve, once included both a burial mound and village midden, both destroyed by development, as is most the Patrician Site along the 3000 block of South Ocean Blvd.
'Abaioa' - The Guest Mound Complex
The Palm Beach "Guest Mound Complex" was by far the largest coastal village site on the island at the time of Ponce de Leon's voyage. The mound village was 18 feet high and extended 100-feet in width from north to south. The village's midden was immediately south of the mound.
A village on an 18-foot mound with 10-foot high bohio-style structures was clearly visible to the three ships anchored a short distance from shore in 1513. The town complex meets all the criteria of the "Abaioa" recorded in Spanish journals. What is less certain is if "Abaioa" is actually the native Jeaga name for their village.
The Guest Mound Complex, located at the 600 block of North County Road, was once part of the Otto Kahn estate. It was sold in 1941 and became the Graham-Eckes Academy. Expansion of the school resulted in the destruction of part of the burial mound. The site is named for Frederick Guest, the owner of property south the Graham-Eckes school.
Archeologists estimate between 100 and 150 Jeaga villagers were interred within the Guest Mound. Artifacts at the Guest Mound Complex and other sites on the island of Palm Beach predate 500 B.C.
Jeaga villages in Palm Beach County were destroyed or abandoned during the colonial Queen Anne's War (1702-13) between England and Spain. English slave traders from South Carolina, with Yemassee and Yuchi Indian allies armed with British muskets, began their South Florida raids in 1703.
By 1711, the last "Cacique of Jove (Jeaga)" and other surviving South Florida native leaders were seeking sanctuary in Cuba for the remnants of their tribes. Captain Luis Perdomo arrived with two ships on a rescue mission. He found nearly 2,000 desperate Indians in the Florida Keys, but was only able to transport 270 refugees. About 200 died of diseases in Cuba within a few years.
One of the early mysteries of Palm Beach is the unknown identity of a European buried among the native Jeaga Indians at the Waldron Site near Wideners Curve. The grave of the colonial period man, buried in a traditional Christian manner, was recovered in the Indian burial site. He was about 35 years of age, a pipe smoker, and apparently in good health prior to his death.
If one believes in the Fountain of Youth, then it is not a leap of faith to suggest perhaps the deceased man was a member of Ponce de Leon's crew, interred during their brief visit to the village of "Abaioa". Some mysteries and legends are best left unsolved.
(c.) 2015
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