In 1733, General James Edward Oglethorpe officially established the colony of Georgia, and within three years had fortified the coast southward toward St. Augustine.  Although this region, originally known as the provinces of Guale and Mocama, had previously been under Spanish control for more than a century, territorial fighting had emptied the region of Spanish missionaries, soldiers, and their Indian allies.  Spanish officials maintained that the long history of Spanish authority over the territory guaranteed Spain the right to defy and repel the English intruders.  By 1739, with diplomatic negotiations failing and the potential for war imminent, King Philip V requested that Don Manuel de Montiano, Governor of Spanish Florida, provide him with every document from both governmental and ecclesiastical sources that would demonstrate prior Spanish presence and control over the region.  Original documents and translations were delivered within the year and safely filed for future use--then forgotten.  With the outbreak of open war six months earlier, the diplomatic utility of the documents had passed.

For over 250 years, the documents languished safely in the Archive of the Indies in Seville until recognized, recovered, translated, and published by John Worth.  Within this volume, Worth brings to light the history of the documents, provides complete translations and full explanations of their contents and a narrative exposition of the Spanish presence along the Atlantic coast never before fully understood.  David Hurst Thomas provides an introduction that places Worth's translations and his historical overview into the context of ongoing archaeological excavations on the Georgia coast.  With the publication of this volume, one of the least known chapters of Georgia history is finally examined in detail.

John E. Worth is Assistant Director and Archaeologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Randell Research Center in Pineland, Florida, and author ofThe Timucuan Chiefdoms of Spanish Florida.

“Worth concentrates on those passages from the Spanish documentation that [describe] the mission towns and populations, the Anglo-sponsored Indian aggression against them, and official Spanish reaction from the provincial capital of St. Augustine. Particularly interesting are his extracts and commentaries dealing with the little known Chichimeco, who were the first to attack the Guale islands in 1661.”—Journal of Southern History

“An excellent job of positioning documents in the context of other published primary source material on Florida. Annotations about the physical attributes of the original manuscripts, the identification of individuals and places, and notes on historical context are all excellent. . . . . Worth is to be commended for his overview, annotations, and maintenance of the integrity and context of this collection.”–Ethnohistory