The Tequesta (tuh-KES-tuh) people were a small, peaceful Native American tribe on the Southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida. Also known as the Tekesta, Tegesta, Chequesta, and Vizcayno, they were among the first tribes to settle near Biscayne Bay in the present-day Miami area. Living in the region since the 3rd century B.C. in the late Archaic period, they remained there for about 2,000 years. The archaeological record of the Glades culture, which included the area occupied by the Tequesta, indicates a continuous development of an indigenous ceramics tradition from about 700 B.C. until after European contact.

Like all of Florida’s original inhabitants, the Tequesta derived from Mound-building ancestors that populated the east coast. One of the first tribes in South Florida, they lived on Biscayne Bay in what is now Miami-Dade County and further north in Broward County, at least as far as Pompano Beach. Sometimes, they occupied the Florida Keys and may have had a village on Cape Sable, at the southern end of the Florida peninsula.

Their central town, called “Tequesta by the Spaniards, in honor of the chief, was on the north bank of the Miami River. The Tequesta lived in “huts” and established their villages at the mouths of rivers and streams, inlets from the Atlantic Ocean to inland waters, and barrier islands and keys. The chief lived in the main village at the mouth of the Miami River. The Tequesta changed their habitation during the year. Most of the inhabitants of the main village relocated to barrier islands or the Florida Keys during the worst of the mosquito season, which lasted about three months.

The Tequesta were expert wood carvers who made dugout canoes used along the coast and deep into the Everglades. Marriages often sealed alliances to maintain political relationships with neighboring tribes.

Clothing was minimal. The men wore loincloths made from deer hide, while the women wore skirts of Spanish moss or plant fibers hanging from belts.

Villareal felt he had been winning converts until the Spaniards accidentally killed the chief’s uncle, who then burned the settlement and fled to the Everglades. The Indians returned to attack the garrison, but most soldiers escaped and retreated to St. Augustine.  Brother Francisco was forced to abandon the mission but returned when the chief’s brother returned from Spain. The mission was abandoned in 1570.

Estimates of the number of Tequesta at the time of initial European contact range from 800 to 10,000, while estimates of the number of Calusa on the southwest coast of Florida ranged from 2,000 to 20,000. Occupation of the Florida Keys may have swung back and forth between the two tribes. Although Spanish records note a Tequesta village on Cape Sable, Calusa artifacts outnumber Tequesta artifacts by four to one at its archaeological sites.

During the years that followed, the name Tequesta disappeared. What happened to them is a matter of conjecture. In 1743, Francisco Javier Alegre said that these islands were inhabited by Indians who had Calusa and Tequesta as ancestors.

The Tequesta left behind an archaeological site called the Miami Circle. Dr. Robert S. Carr discovered the site on the south bank of the Miami River’s mouth in 1998. The 38-foot diameter ring of post holes carved into bedrock is believed to be somewhere between 1,700 and 2,000 years old. The circle is the foundation of a wooden structure built by the ancestors of the Tequesta people in what was possibly their capital. On February 5, 2002, the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on January 16, 2009. The site’s well-preserved outline of American Indian architecture, artifacts indicating regional and long-distance trade, ceremonial use of animals, and association with the Tequesta people contribute to its national significance.