W e have also investigated the key role native women played in the formation of Hispanic American culture. The predominance of Apalachee pottery (manufactured by women and used in female-dominated tasks) from every Spanish residence at San Luis underscores the integral role of Indian women as servants, wives and concubines in shaping domestic life. Unlike native men who tended to work as laborers on the margins of Spanish society, women were integrated into Hispanic households and became significant cultural brokers. Mestizaje, or intermarriage and interbreeding, was a distinctive aspect of Spanish colonization that was encouraged by the Spanish Crown and Church to “civilize” the native population. From the Indian perspective, native women viewed marriage to Spaniards as a form of upward mobility for them and their children since, unlike Indians, mestizos were exempt from manual labor. The agency of indigenous women in households is expressed in the development of a distinctive cuisine consisting of imported foods and local staples, new ceramic forms that combine both European and Indian elements, and the large-scale replacement of European food preparation methods with Indian cooking technology. And in new generations of Spanish-Indian progeny, these women created the new social, political, and ideological order of Hispanic America.

Mission San Luis provides a unique perspective on Spaniards’ moderate settlement principles and practices as expressed in the context of a powerful southeastern chiefdom, and the reasoned responses of Native Americans who were drawn into the European orbit under rapidly changing geopolitical conditions. As the first European immigrants to settle in western Florida, the Spaniards’ adaptive strategies were shaped by the dominating Apalachee presence and the natural resources of the Florida frontier. Traditional native practices were tempered by Spain’s recognition of individual rights, state religion, moderate social and political practices, and integration and assimilation. The resulting pattern of cultural development incorporated indigenous and European forms of government, deeply held belief systems, and a highly adaptable material and social order. Although these legal and social ideals were not uniformly expressed throughout Spanish America, the findings at Mission San Luis provide an important case study. The site also presents a significant counterpoint to Anglo-American perspectives on colonial history, and a 17th century preview of inclusion evident in American society today.