"Long before the settlers, long before the Spanish, the Ais people lived on the Indian River Lagoon. For at least 4,000 years, they fished, gathered, and built their lives on these waters. They gave the lagoon its first name — and their story is written in the shells they left behind."
Who Were the Ais?
The Ais (pronounced 'Ays' or 'Eyes') were the indigenous people who inhabited the central and southern Indian River Lagoon region for at least 4,000 years before European contact. Their territory stretched roughly from Cape Canaveral south to the St. Lucie Inlet, and they were closely related to the Timucua people to the north and the Tequesta to the south. The Ais were a fishing, gathering, and hunting people who relied on the lagoon for nearly everything: food, tools, shelter, and transportation. They lived in villages along the lagoon shore, built dugout canoes for travel and fishing, and harvested oysters, clams, fish, crabs, sea turtles, and manatees. The shell middens they left behind — some used for over a thousand years — are the most visible record of their civilization. At their peak, the Ais numbered perhaps 2,000 people, organized into small villages led by chiefs. They were skilled fishers, expert canoe builders, and traders who exchanged goods with tribes across Florida.
