Description
The Amacanos were a native American people who lived in the vicinity of Apalachee Province in Spanish Florida during the 17th century. They are believed to have been related to, and spoken the same language as, the Chacato, Chine, Pacara and Pensacola peoples. The Amacano were served, together with other peoples, by a series of Spanish missions during the last quarter of the 17th century. The Amacanos may have moved closer to Apalachee Province when Spanish missionaries first arrived to establish missions in 1633, although Hall thinks they were always close to the province. The Amacanos contacted the Spanish missionaries shortly after missions were first established in Apalachee Province. They requested a mission, but the Spanish missionaries were short-handed.
Language
The Amacano language is believed to be the same as, or closely related to, the Chacato language, as are the languages of other peoples that lived in the Florida Panhandle west of Apalachee Province in the 17th century, including the Chine, Pacara, and Pensacola people.
Culture
Approximately 1000 to 1200 CE began adapting and adopting intensive maize agriculture, the building of platform mounds for ceremonial, political and religious purposes and making a new variety of ceramics, changes likely influenced by contact with the major Mississippian culture centers to the north and west. Layouts are similar to other Mississippian culture sites, with the exception of sites in the Tallahassee Hills area which because of the local geography are located around lakes and swamps instead of rivers. Settlement types include single family homesteads, multi family hamlets, small single mound centers, and large multimound centers. The hierarchical settlement patterns suggests the area may have had one or more paramount chiefdoms.