Native Peoples
Native Americans lived and farmed in the Tallahassee area for hundreds of years before the arrival of Europeans and Africans. Apalachee towns were mostly located in today’s Leon and Jefferson counties. A complex society characterized by agriculture, mound building, extensive trade networks, and sophisticated social hierarchies, their principal town, Anhaica, was located on the hill east of the State Capitol. An archaeological site, discovered in the 1980s, also produced evidence of sixteenth century Spanish conquistadors as well as eighteenth and nineteenth century Muscogee Creek and Seminole occupation.
By the 1700s, Native Americans participated in international trade, as both producers and consumers. Native communities supplied white-tailed deer hides for the market and provided between 50 to 75 percent of deerskins exported to England. In exchange, Native peoples acquired trade guns for hunting, beads and other goods for ornamentation, and novel items like English tea sets. Other popular products among Native peoples were metal tools, paint, cloth, and ceramics.
