King Datha


In today's post, I wanted to share an excerpt from my book Giants: Men of Renown, published by Adventures Unlimited Press. This is the tale of a red-haired giant king, named Datha, that ruled in the present-day southeastern United States:

Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón (1475–1526) set up the first Spanish colony on the North American mainland. The location of the colony is disputed; some believe that from his starting point in present-day South Carolina, Ayllón headed north and possibly went as far as Virginia. Others think that Ayllón may have headed southwest into Georgia to establish the colony. Regardless of its location, the colony, named San Miguel de Guadalupe, became the site of the first slave rebellion in North America. The slaves that were brought to the colony and forced to clear land for crops and housing rose up and revolted against their cruel taskmasters.

San Miguel de Guadalupe ended up a complete failure and lasted only three months. A harsh winter, lack of supplies, disease, and hostile natives forced the Spanish to abandon the colony. Ayllón fell ill died in the arms of a friar in the ill-fated colony.

Ayllón had an Indian servant named Francisco de Chicora who was probably from a Catawban group. Rogue Spanish slave traders captured Chicora, along with seventy others, during  a slave raid at the mouth of the Pee Dee River in 1521. The captives were taken to Hispaniola, but the Spanish crown freed them because they had not officially sanctioned the raid. Chicora was baptized and learned to speak Spanish; he became a servant to Ayllón and supplied a wealth of ethnological information about his homeland and the surrounding area. Of note was a place called Duhare that was ruled by red-haired giant king named Datha. Datha was married to a woman of nearly equal size and the couple had five large-statured sons. Interestingly, the people of Duhare were described as light-skinned with long red hair.  It is also noteworthy that according to the writings of court recorder Peter Martyr, the seventy captives mentioned earlier were fair-skinned and much taller than the Spanish.

Denver Michaels, Giants: Men of Renown

Who was King Datha? Though there is little more than anecdotal accounts of the giant king, these accounts fit with legends of such men in early America. You can read many of those stories in my book.


 

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