Yamasee

Member of an American Indian people who inhabited Georgia before migrating to South Carolina in the late 17th century. Their language belonged to the Muskogean family. Predominantly maize-farmers, they lived in permanent thatched longhouses. After European contact, wars and disease reduced and impoverished the Yamasee population. Although friendly with the British in the early 18th century, they were cheated out of their land and forced into slavery. Efforts to fight back in the Yamasee War (1715) met with military defeat. The survivors fled south to join Muskogean peoples in Georgia and Florida, such as the Seminole, and lost their tribal identity.

The Yamasee moved to South Carolina in about 1687, as they were disenchanted with Spanish rule in Georgia. They became allies with the British, even fighting with them in the Tuscarora War of 1711–13, but were ultimately treated unjustly by the colonists. Having rallied neighbouring tribes against British and Spanish encroachment, they initiated the Yamasee War. Incidents such as the massacre of 90 traders and their families on 15 April 1715 led to fierce Spanish and British reprisals, and the remaining Yamasee were dispersed.