Approximate territory of the Jaega tribe in the late 17th Century

The Jaegas (also Jega, Xega, Jaece, Geigas, Jobe) were a tribe of Native Americans living along the coast of present-day Martin County and Palm Beach County, Florida at the time of initial European contact, and until sometime in the 18th Century. Little is known of the origins of the Jaegas, but they may have been a junior branch of the Ais tribe that occupied the coast to their north. Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, who was held captive by tribes in Florida for 17 years during the 16th century, implied that the Ais and the Jaega spoke the same language.^[1][2] The Jaega were linked to the Ais by marriage between chiefs and their relatives.^[3] The Ais and Jaega languages have been tentatively assigned by some authors to the Muskogean language family, and by others to the Arawakan language family.

Some information about the Jaegas of the town of Jobe (near present-day Jupiter Inlet, Florida) comes to us from the Journal of Jonathan Dickinson, who was part of a shipwrecked party detained by the Jaega of Jobe for several days in 1696. By Dickinson's account, Jobe was subject to the Ais chief who resided in Jece (near present-day Vero Beach, Florida).^[4] In the later part of the 16th century Spanish soldiers who had been driven out of Ais territory built a fort called St. Lucie at the Jupiter Inlet, but were soon forced to abandon it after relations with the Jaega turned sour.^[5][6]

The geographic name "Hobe Sound" comes from the name of the tribe. The Spanish pronounced the name "Ho-bay," which has evolved into the current name "Hobe" (which sounds like "robe").^[7]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Andrews, Charles Mclean and Andrews, Evangeline Walker (1945). Jonathan Dickinson's Journal or, God's Protecting Providence. Being the Narrative of a Journey from Port Royal in Jamaica to Philadelphia between August 23, 1696 to April 1, 1697. Yale University Press. Reprinted (1981) Florida Classics Library.
• Austin, Daniel W. (1997). "The Glades Indians and the Plants they Used. Ethnobotany of an Extinct Culture". The Palmetto, 17(2):7 -11. (14 September 2002). [1] - accessed November 27, 2005
• Brech, Alan (2004). Neither Ocean nor Continent: Correlating the Archeology and Geomorphology of the Barrier Islands of East Central Florida. Unpublished thesis, University of Florida. Found at [2] - accessed November 27, 2005
• Hann, John H. (2003). Indians of Central and South Florida: 1513-1763. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-2645-8

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