New Ways, New Faces

Apalachee rulers requested Spanish friars as early as 1607, when epidemics and the threat of foreign attacks brought about a loss of faith in traditional customs and leadership. From 1633 to 1635, at least 5,000 Apalachee were baptized by two friars, Pedro Muñoz and Francisco Martínez. Both Spaniards and the Apalachee were forced to alter some of their customs in order to coexist, though some traditions were more easily changed than others. A quartz crystal cross found in the church at San Luis, apparently made by a native artisan, may be evidence of Apalachee religious conversion and their adoption of Christian symbols.

Tallahassee, Florida · United States