Princess Ulele Statue Returns

Ulele statue in Tampa
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 […]

Princess Ulele is a Tampa History Mystery

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

Ulele statue in Tampa
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 […]

New Book About Princess Ulele and Juan Ortiz

native american history for kids
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 […]

Archaeologists find elusive 16th-century Spanish Fort San Marcos

Nearly 40 years after finding the remains of the 16th-century town of Santa Elena on present-day Parris Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, archaeologists have discovered San Marcos, one of five Spanish forts that operated during the town’s 21-year history. University of South Carolina archaeologist Chester DePratter and anthropologist Victor Thompson of the University of Georgia have conducted research […]

UWF archaeology program discovers third shipwreck from Luna fleet

The University of West Florida archaeology program announced today the discovery of a third shipwreck from the Spanish fleet linked to Tristán de Luna y Arellano’s 16th century expedition to modern-day Pensacola. The discovery comes less than one year after UWF archaeologists identified the terrestrial site of Luna’s colony in a developed neighborhood in Pensacola, marking […]

Long-Lost Spanish Fort Found in St. Augustine

Editors Note: I just stumbled across this old New York Times article from 1993 about the possible rediscovery of the original Fort St. Augustine on the grounds of the Fountain of Youth Park. (Since 1993 they’ve built a reconstruction of a Spanish mission here.) The original fort was constructed by Pedro Menendez in an Indian […]

Yamassee War Ends Native Slave Trade

Few American Indian wars were more devastating to colonists and more influential on the development of the south than the Yamasee War of 1715. April 15, 2015 will mark the 300th anniversary of the start of that war, which ended with the death of 400 British. On April 16, the first conference to bring recognition […]

Researchers debate true location of Fort Caroline

On Saturday, September 20, two groups of scholars presented evidence for the true location of Fort Caroline, the first permanent settlement by Europeans in what would later become the United States. First settled 450 years ago, the location of the actual fort has been lost to the ravages of time. Tradition holds that Fort Caroline was located […]
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