What is Apalachee?
[[File:Apalachee Nation flag.svg|thumb|right|250px|{{Center|Flag of the Apalachee [[Nation]]}}]] The '''Apalachee''' were a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] people who historically lived in the [[Florida]] [[Florida Panhandle|Panhandle]].<ref>Adam Wasserman, ''A People's History of Florida, 1513-1876'' (Sarasota, FL: A. Wasserman], 2009), p. 65</ref> == History == The Apalachee occupied the site of [[Velda Mound]] starting about 1450 [[CE]]. They had left the area before the [[Spain|Spanish]] came in the [[17th century]]. They first saw Spanish [[explorer]]s in the 16th century. This is when the [[Hernando de Soto]] [[expedition]] arrived. They lived between the [[Aucilla River]] and [[Ochlockonee River]], at the head of [[Apalachee Bay]]. This was an area known to Europeans as the [[Apalachee Province]].<ref>''Mississippian Communities and Households'', eds. J. Daniel Rogers; Bruce D. Smith (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1995), p. 222</ref> The Spaniards had created [[Catholic]] [[Mission (Christianity)|missions]] throughout their province by the early 1600s. The Apalachee were [[farmer]]s and noted [[warrior]]s.<ref name=Luebering68.69>''Native American History'', ed. J. E. Luebering (New York: Britannica Educational Pub./Rosen Education Services, 2011), pp. 68–69</ref> By 1655 there were eight [[town]]s, each with a mission. In addition to the Spanish, each town had an Apalachee population of between 6,000–8000.<ref name=Luebering68.69/> The [[British]] with their [[Muscogee|Creek]] [[Alliance|allies]] often raided the Apalachee and Spanish towns. In 1703 a British army and hundreds of Creek warriors attacked the territory. The Apalachee were nearly destroyed.<ref name=Luebering68.69/> The survivors, who numbered about 1400, [[wikt:disperse|disperse]]d.<ref name=Luebering68.69/> Over time many Apalachee mixed in with other groups, particularly the [[Creek Confederacy]]. Others found protection with the [[France|French]] in what is now [[Alabama]] and [[Louisanna]].<ref n