Yamasee
The Yamasees (also spelled Yamassees, Yemasees or Yemassees) were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans who lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida. The Yamasees engaged in revolts and wars with other native groups and Europeans living in North America, specifically from Florida to North Carolina.
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Extinct as tribe | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States (Georgia, northern Florida, and South Carolina) | |
| Languages | |
| Yamasee language (extinct) | |
| Religion | |
| Yamasee tribal religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| La Tama, Guale, Seminole, Hitchiti, and other Muskogean tribes |
The Yamasees, along with the Guale, are considered from linguistic evidence by many scholars to have been a Muskogean language people. For instance, the Yamasee term "Mico", meaning chief, is also common in Muskogee.
After the Yamasees migrated to the Carolinas, they began participating in the Indian slave trade in the American Southeast. They raided other tribes to take captives for sale to European colonists. Captives from other Native American tribes were sold into slavery, with some being transported to West Indian plantations. Their enemies fought back, and slave trading was a large cause of the Yamasee War.