Spanish missions in Georgia

The Spanish missions in Georgia comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholics in order to spread the Christian doctrine among the local Native Americans. The Spanish chapter of Georgia's earliest colonial history is dominated by the lengthy mission era, extending from 1568 through 1684. Catholic missions were the primary means by which Georgia's indigenous Native American chiefdoms were assimilated into the Spanish colonial system along the northern frontier of greater Spanish Florida.

A plaque showing the locations of a third of the missions between 1565 and 1763

The early missions in present-day Georgia were established to serve the Guale and various Timucua peoples, including the Mocama. Later the missions served other peoples who had entered the region, including the Yamassee.

Missions

• Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de de Puturibato (1595–1597), on Cumberland Island
• San Buenaventura de Guadalquini (1605–1684), on St. Simons Island
• Mission San Diego de Satuache (ca. 1610-1663), on the mouth of the Ogeechee River
• Mission San Joseph de Sapala (ca. 1605-1684), on Sapelo Island
• San Lorenzo de Ibihica (ca. 1620-1656), near Folkston
• San Pedro de Mocama (1587-ca. 1660), on Cumberland Island
• Mission San Phelipe de Alave (ca. 1610-ca. 1670), on the North Newport River
• Mission San Phelipe II (ca. 1670-1684), on Cumberland Island
• Santa Catalina de Guale (1602–1702), on St. Catherines Island, Sapelo Island, and Amelia Island
• Mission Santa Clara de Tupiqui/Espogache (1595-ca. 1670), on the Sapelo River
• Mission Santa Cruz de Cachipile (ca. 1625-1657), near Lake Park, Georgia
• Santa Isabel de Utinahica (ca. 1610-ca. 1640), at the forks of the Altamaha River
• Mission Santa Maria de los Angeles de Arapaja (ca. 1625-1657), on the Alapaha River
• Mission Santiago de Oconi (ca. 1620-1656), on the Okefenokee Swamp
• Mission Santo Domingo de Asao/Talaje (1595–1661), at the mouth of the Altamaha River
• Mission Santo Domingo de Asao/Talaje II (1661–1684), on St. Simons Island
• Mission Talapo (1595–1597), on the mainland near Sapelo Island
• Mission Tolomato (1595–1597), on the mainland near St. Catherines Island

See also

• History of Georgia
• Spanish Florida — colonial region
• Spanish missions in Florida
• Viceroyalty of New Spain — Spanish colonial North America
• Spanish Louisiana — colonial region

References

• The New Georgia Encyclopedia