TheNewWorld.us: Eye-witness Accounts of Ancient America

Instances & Rumors of Gold in the De Soto Expedition Chronicles

The surviving narratives of Hernando de Soto’s 1539–1542 expedition record several moments when Native Americans mentioned gold (or the Spaniards believed gold was present). Below are all instances found in the primary chronicles of Garcilaso de la Vega, the anonymous “Gentleman of Elvas,” and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (based on Rodrigo Ranjel’s diary). Each entry describes what […]

Princess Ulele Statue Returns

Princess Ulele, known a Florida’s Pocahontas, is a local legend in Tampa, Florida thus it was quite the surprise when a statue of her was removed from the Tampa riverwalk in the dead of night back in 2018. (This was the same year I published my first children’s book, Uleyli- The Princess & Pirate: Based […]

Juan Ortiz and Princess Uleleh Hirrihigua

The following article was written by F. P. Fleming and appeared in Publications of the Florida Historical Society, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jul., 1908), pp. 42-47. It recounts the true story of a Spaniard named Juan Ortiz who was rescued by a Native American princess named Uleleh Hirrihigua. A modern retelling of this story can be […]

Unknown Spanish-Timucua book discovered

The Timucua were the Native American tribe living in northeast Florida and southeast Georgia at the time of first contact with Europeans. A few books written in the Timucuan language were created for the Spanish religious authorities as a way to convert the natives to Catholicism in their native language. Now a Florida professor has […]

Ulele statue at Ulele restaurant in Tampa, Florida. Also known as Princess Uleyli

Princess Ulele is a Tampa History Mystery

Editor’s Note: While writing my new book Uleyli- The Princess & Pirate: The True Story of Florida’s Pocahontas I did a lot of research about her origins. One question I always had was where did the name “Ulele” come from. In reading the original Spanish source materials I never found that name mentioned anywhere. This […]

Tampa rips out Ulele statue in the dark of night

Editor’s Note: Ulele was a Native American princess who rescued a Spanish captive named Juan Ortiz from execution by her father, Chief Ucita. These events are believed to have taken place in Tampa, Florida. Tampa has repaid this kindness by removing a beautiful statue of Ulele from its riverwalk erected by a local business owner […]

Typical 16th-Century Florida Native American Village

Editor’s Note: The Spanish chroniclers of the Hernando de Soto expedition give us the first European eyewitness accounts of the architecture and town planning of Native American villages in Florida in the 1500s. By the time the British arrived two hundred years later, these civilizations were destroyed, their inhabitants dead from warfare and disease, and […]

Florida’s Native American Archers

Editor’s Note: The Spanish chroniclers of the first European expeditions in Florida and the southeast made constant mention of the skill and accuracy of Native American archers. It’s clear from their writings that they both feared and greatly respected these expert marksmen and warriors. The following account comes from Florida of the Inca by Garcilaso […]

Merchant-Traders of Florida

Editor’s Note: This Spanish eyewitness account from Garcilaso de la Vega’s Florida of the Inca reveals two different types of Native American traders that existed in Florida in 1539. The first was a more localized merchant who traded for everyday goods. The second was a more long-distance merchant who traded in high-value goods including precious […]

New Book About Princess Ulele and Juan Ortiz

Uleyli: The Princess & Pirate is a new book about Ulele (respelled Uleyli) known as Florida’s Pocahontas because of her rescue of a Spanish captive, Juan Ortiz, from execution by her father, Chief Ucita of Hirrihigua province in modern-day Tampa Bay, Florida. Juan Ortiz was captured in 1528 and eventually rescued by the Hernando de […]

Fort Caroline at Evelyn Plantation in GA?

In the mid 1700s English naturalist William Bartram described visiting the ruins of an old French or Spanish fort along the Altamaha River in Georgia. He described these ruins as a “tetragon terrace” surrounded by a moat. Could these ruins be the remains of the French Fort Caroline later renamed San Matteo by the Spanish […]

Utina Lost, Now Found Proves Fort Caroline in GA

Three Indian tribes that the French interacted with on the May River provide further evidence that the Altamaha River in Georgia, not the St. John’s River in Florida, was one-in-the-same as the May. These villages were Utina, Patica, and Alecamani. All are shown on maps dating back to at least 1591 as being on the […]