A Florida Native American Tribe, Who Were Named After The Aesir?

In the 1500 - 1700's AD, the Ais / Aes Nation were documented as being the largest unified "Native" tribe under one chief.

Everything About The Ais Was Different From Their Neighbors.

This large nation of tribes who were unique for several reasons, do not get the allotted research funding and attention that they deserve. They differed in many ways from their neighboring tribes, from their ceremonial dress, to their very physical description, they almost stood out like a sore thumb. Having lots of facial hair, was one of the first indicators I found that this tribe was just a bit different. They are described as having worn full beards. All of the tribal nations in the US were known to have had almost no facial hair, other than a few exceptions. The tribes that did naturally have facial hair are primarily along the Pacific Northwest, and their facial hair even when let to grow is thin and sparse. The Ais were among the only known tribe to wear full beards in the early 1500’s, before European immigrants began to integrate in.

The painting above shows a pole that was used ceremoniously among the Ais, as it was described in Johnathan Dickinson’s journal. The artist took a bit of liberty with the design. In the journal there is a symbol attached to the pole, that resembled a thigh, knee, and foot. To anyone with knowledge of ancient symbology, this could have been a sowilo rune.

Everything written about this tribe, tells us that they were not like the neighboring tribes. From their homes resembling a small palm, and frond thatched “long house,” to their dress, ceremony, and tradition of migrating to islands during the winter months, are all clues to just how very different the Ais / Aes really were. In the journal of the famous Johnathan Dickinson, there is a description of the Ais making a ceremonial drink. Quite similar to a Meade with psilocybin mushrooms, the then captive Dickinson described the sounds and smells of the brewing process, as it was happening inside the palm thatched miniature long house.

The Calusa and Timucua tribes who's territory nearly fully surrounded the territory of the Ais had reported to the first Spanish settlers, that the Ais spoke a completely different language. They did have their own dialect of the Timucua language, but the Ais also had use of what was quoted as being a foriegn “ancient” language. The neighboring tribes reported that the Ais only used the common Timucua tongue, when they were trading or negotiating with an outside tribe. Among their people, the Ais used this unfamiliar tongue, and it was one of the reasons that among the Florida Natives, the Ais were considered outsiders.

What happened to them ?

Long story short, the Spanish colonizers. In most cases though, the Spanish were not the group actually killing the Ais people. They hired a group of Rogue Creek Indians from Georgia and Alabama, a group who were paid in rifles and the promises to share the land once it was fully conquered. The Creek leadership did not exactly agree with the idea of natives hunting each other, at the best of European invaders. So they broke all ties with the Rogue group of Creek who agreed to help the Spanish. This Rogue Creek faction later became known as the Florida Seminole Indians.

The Ais nation that numbered in the hundreds of thousands in 1510 AD, had their people picked off in numbers so great, that they were depleted to a population of less than 100 by the year 1709 AD. If any of them survived past 1710, it is assumed that they were forced to integrate into the Calusa, and other Timicuan nations.

Conclusion :

There is more evidence suggesting that the Ais were not from the same lineage as the neighboring tribes, than there is suggesting that they were. The differences they had ranged from their appearance, to their rituals, and even the origin of their ancient native tongue. It also explains why the Seminole / Creek willingly hunted them to extinction, while leaving the Timucua and Calusa alive, and just forced them further south. This not be definite proof, but it certainly indicates that there are now more questions that need to be answered, before we can say they were or weren't descendants of the theorized Bering Strait Migrants.

All of the phonetic combinations of the known Ais words, like “Nickleer” used to describe the shipwrecked English folks, along with the English spelling of their tribal leaders titles Caseekey, come back as having Dutch, and Russian origins. That is they come back as Dutch or Russian when you run them through a phonetic interpreter.

I tend to lean more towards the Dutch / Norse interpretation of “no clothes” because, in the account of the English captives, the term Nickleer was used not only to describe the English, but also as they were stripped of their clothing. The term Caseekey in English, or Cacique in the Spanish interpretation, all come back with either Māori, or Indonesian phonetic interpretations. For a tribal leader, the interpretation “to seek” seems to make the most sense. There may be a Dutch, Norse, or Russian phonetic match, but if there was I have not yet found it.

So, were the Ais of Norse / Germanic descent, maybe? The one thing we know for certain, is that they were both genetically, and culturally different from their neighboring tribes.

Thank you greatly for reading, if this article made you think, or consider looking further into this topic, then it worked. You go and seek that knowledge, because you want to know more. Because you want to explore the real history, and not the one that the Rockefeller Foundation wrote for the schools to teach.

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Links and Sources :

https://www.losttribesflorida.com/ais--mayaimi.html

https://indianrivermagazine.com/ais-15000-year-natives-topic-of-saturdays-history-festival/

https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/dolores/ais.html

https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/dissertations/AAI3721473/#:~:text=The%20Ais%20were%20a%20Native,Americans%2C%20the%20Spaniards%20of%20St.