Description
The Ibi, also known as the Yui or Ibihica, were a Timucua chiefdom in the present-day U.S. state of Georgia during the 16th and 17th centuries. They lived in southeastern Georgia, about 50 miles from the coast. The chief's main village was Ibihica, and he controlled four other villages in the area. The Ibi first encountered Spanish friars in 1597, and soon became integrated into the Spanish mission system. A mission, San Lorenzo de Ibihica, was founded after 1616. The town and mission appear to have been destroyed by the Spanish following the Timucua Rebellion of 1656, and the people relocated.
Language
Timucua language called Itafi
Culture
Little is known of the native population of southern Georgia in prehistory. Archaeological study of the region has been limited and the ceramic chronology is not well established, but the area as a whole appears to have been a "transitory zone" between the Savannah and St. Johns culture regions. While oyster, clam and mussel shells dominate the middens, bones found in the middens indicate that catfish were a much larger component of the St. Johns people's diet than were shellfish. The St. Johns diet consisted of a wide variety of fish, shellfish, reptiles, mammals and birds. Investigation of a site at Hontoon Island indicated that fresh water snails, fish and turtles provided most of the meat consumed at the site, and that those resources were exploited year-round.