At the time of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, they were living in Georgia and the future state of Alabama. However, Tennessee is named after them.
Taino descendants are eligible for Federal Recognition. After 1814, those Taino living in Georgia and Alabama were forcibly classified as Creek Indians, while those in Florida were classified as Seminole Indians.
The Sea Peoples of the South Atlantic Coast series
by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner
During the 1500s and early 1600s, the Gu’ahia Taino maintained a large ceremonial complex on Jekyll Island, GA, plus occupied villages on that island and the nearby mainland in the vicinity of present-day Brunswick, GA.
When the Hernando de Soto Expedition marched diagonally across Georgia in March 1540,the Toa Taino Tribe’s villages were located:
1. On the Lower Ocmulgee River in present-day Central Georgia
2. On the Chattahoochee River in present-day Southwest Metro Atlanta
3. On the east side of the “Fresh Water” portion of the St. Johns River in Florida
4. Near present-day Franklin, NC along the Little Tennessee River
5. In the Tennessee River Valley near present-day Dayton, TN
6. At scattered locations along the coast of present-day South Carolina
During the 1500s amd earkt 1600s. the Oconee Taino lived around the periphery of the Okeefenokee Swamp in Southeast Georgia. They then moved further north in Georgia and gave the Oconee River its name. Okani (Oconee) means “sacred” in English..
My soon-to-be -published book, The Sea Peoples of the South Atlantic Coast, will contain detailed etymologies, based on published dictionaries, to support these statements.
The Americas Revealed 