History
20
From ca. 1000-1700 CE, the Tocobaga people inhabited a village whose remnants survive at the Jungle Prada site, including a 12-foot-high platform mound overlooking a plaza that archaeologists hypothesize supported the dwelling of a micco, or chief, and a 900-foot-long midden mound holding fish and shellfish refuse from the bay along with other materials that illuminate indigenous life in Florida. Some historians also associate this vicinity with the April 12, 1528 landing of Pánfilio de Narváez's expedition to colonize Florida; Narváez and 300 men then began an ill-fated overland trek from which only four survived, and over the next 8 years those men walked to the Pacific Ocean seeking rescue, becoming the first Europeans and African to cross North America. Diseases introduced by Spanish expeditions eventually eliminated much of Florida's native population, likely leading to the village's abandonment, and although most former Tocobaga sites along Boca Ciega Bay were destroyed by urban development in the 20th century, Jungle Prada remains well preserved.
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St. Petersburg, Florida · United States
