The Guale
During the period of the Spanish missionaries, Guale territory was divided into 40 or so villages, with each village ruled by a hereditary chief, the cacique. The highest-ranking head of a village cluster was known as the mico, and the highest-ranking mico in the region was known as the mico mayor – the head of the chiefdom. Villages usually had around 1,000 residents.
Chiefly office passed down matrilineal lines: Upon the death of the cacique, the chiefdom transferred to the son or daughter of the cacique’s eldest sister (or, on rare occasions, to the cacique’s eldest brother). Because this structure was built upon a system of inheritance through the female, it was common for chiefs to take more than one wife (polygyny) – often from the same family (sororal polygyny). The wives lived in houses separate from one another.
Guale chiefdoms consisted of two principal towns and several smaller subordinate communities, all functioning under a form of dual political leadership administered by the mico and mico mayor of the two principal towns. It is believed that the principal towns alternated as the local seat of power, possibly because of inheritance rights upon the death of a mico and the assumption of power by his heir. In some cases, these twin villages were situated across from each other, one on a barrier island and the other on the mainland.
Guale elites, including the local caciques, enjoyed privileged status within their villages, receiving labor and material tributes from their subjects. Access to and control over luxury items, either through tribute or trade, also contributed to their chiefly dominance.
Chiefly office was hereditary and passed along matrilineal lines: upon the death of the cacique, the chiefdom transferred to the son or daughter of the cacique’s eldest sister (or, on rare occasions, to the cacique’s eldest brother). Chiefly matrilineages tended to own the most productive land and would distribute resources, which required a tribute (goods & labor) from subordinate lineages. Because this structure was built upon a system of inheritance from the female, it was common for chiefs to take more than one wife (polygyny) – often sisters (sororal polygyny).
Guale Villages
In the central area of the principal dispersed towns were the households of the mico or other principal leaders, which included separate houses for their wives. In all probability, close kin of these chiefly individuals also resided in the town center. Towns sometimes contained secondary leaders of the chiefdom, and these may have occupied the central area.
Towns featured a town center with a large round community building or store house, a council house, a field for playing chunkey, and some residential structures. A mortuary was likely present. Economic exchanges and redistribution systems contributed toward a dependable food supply that allowed for permenent settlements rather than requiring seasonal migration.
The Guale built houses of wattle and daub (thin poles/saplings with woven palm fronds or thin sticks; coated with limestone or clay from local estuary), each having a small plot of land near it for cultivation. Villages were physically oriented around the community’s leadership, that of the cacique.
