There were colonists from South America, Mesoamerica, the Caribbean Basin and Polynesia living in the coastal plain, when 16th century French and Spanish explorers arrived.
Excerpt from The Sea Peoples of the South Atlantic Coast
by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner
Downtown Savannah = Yamakora (Chontal Maya word for ““Coastal Plain Tribe”) Yama was the name of the region of Mexico, where the “Olmec” Civilization arose.
Irene Island = Apalachicola < Aparashikora (Panoan [Peru] words “From Ocean-Descendants of – Tribe)
Tybee Island = Taube (Itza and Chontal Maya word for “salt”)
Ossabaw Island = Asébo (Panoan word for “Yaupon Holly-lLving place”)
Wassaw Island = Wasaw (Austronesian, Samoan and Fijian word for “Ocean”)
Blackbeard Island = Otapára (Arawak word meaning “People from Upper Amazon Basin”)
St. Catherines Island = Kurapára (Panoan words for “Tribe-Upper Amazon Basin”)
Sapelo Island = Sapele (Panoan word for “flat island”)
St. Simons Island = Aséo (Peruvian Arawak word for “Yaupon Holly-Principal place”)
Jekyll Island = Guadalquini SP = Wadalquini (Taino word for a ceremonial center ~ regional dancing and ceremonial space
Cumberland Island = Anikura (Peruvian Arawak word meaning “Principal Tribe”)
St. Marys Island* = Tlatloti-akuapa (Mexica [Aztec] words for “Mound [or pyramid] surrounded by water & marsh”)
*St. Marys was surrounded by the St. Marys River Estuary, tidal creeks and tidal marshes until the 1800s, when an earthen causeway was constructed to connect it with the mainland. Most of the newer residential neighborhoods were built on former marshes.
The Americas Revealed 