Guale was a Native American chiefdom that became part of Spanish Florida's missionary system in the late 16th century. The Guale spoke a Muskogean language, unlike the many Timucuan speaking Native Americans in Spanish Florida. That the Guale spoke a Muskogean languaged has been questioned by the historian Sturtevant, who showed that vocabulary sources believed to be Guale were actually Creek. There are references to Guale grammar recorded in 1569 by Jesuit Brother Domingo Agustín Váez, but the documents have not been found. Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... A chiefdom is any community led by an individual known as a chief. ... Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish colony of Florida. ... Pre-contact distribution of Muskogean languages Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a language family of the U.S. Southeast. ... Pre-contact distribution of the Timucua language. ... The Creek are an American Indian people originally from the southeastern United States, also known by their original name Muscogee (or Muskogee), the name they use to identify themselves today. ...

The chiefdom disintegrated after the Guale Rebellion of 1597, after which the word "Guale" was generally used to refer to the missionary province of Spanish Florida where the chiefdom had been. The province of Guale was situated along the Atlantic coast and Sea Islands, north of the Altamaha River and south of the Savannah River, and including Sapelo Island, St. Catherines Island, Ossabaw Island, Wassaw Island, and Tybee Island, among others. St. Catherines Island seems to have been where the largest settlements were. The Sea Islands are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. ... The Altamaha River is a major river of the US state of Georgia, and its 37,600 km² (14,500 sq mi) watershed is the second largest in the eastern United States. ... For the Department of Energy facility, see Savannah River Site The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. ... Sapelo Island is a state-protected island off the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia. ... St. ...

During the 17th century, war, disease, slave raids, and other factors contributed to the general collapse of Native American chiefdoms and tribes in the region, with new tribes and confederations of survivors appearing. Migrations were common, and the province of Guale saw many groups come and go, such as the Yamasee. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Between 1675 and 1680, the Westo tribe, backed by the English colonies of South Carolina and Virginia, along with attacks by English-supported pirates, destroyed the Spanish mission system in Guale. The few "refugee missions" that continued to exist in Guale were destroyed during South Carolina's 1702 invasion of Spanish Florida. Guale became too depopulated and helpless to resist the establishment of the colony of Georgia by James Oglethorpe in 1733. The Carolina Colony grants of 1663 and 1665 The Province of Carolina from 1663 to 1729, was a North American British colony. ... John Smiths Map of Virginia (1612) The Colony of Virginia was the English colony in North America that existed briefly during the 16th century, and then continuously from 1607 until the American Revolution. ...

A similar missionary province called Mocama (also named for a chiefdom) was situated just south of Guale, on the coast between the Altamaha River and St. Johns River. Its history is similar to Guale, and its fate the same. St. ...