Tuskaloosa

Common card · No. 273298

Tuskaloosa (less commonly spelled as Tuskalusa, Tastaluca, Tuskaluza) (died 1540) was the leader of a polity bearing his name in what is now the U.S. state of Alabama. His people were ancestors to the several southern Native American confederacies (the Choctaw and Creek peoples) who later emerged in the region. The modern city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is named in his honor. Tuskaloosa is notable for leading the Battle of Mabila at his fortified village against the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto. After being taken hostage by the Spanish as they passed through his territory, Tuskaloosa organized a surprise attack on his captors at Mabila, but was ultimately defeated. Contemporary records describe him as being very tall and well built, with some of the chroniclers saying Tuskaloosa stood a foot and a half taller than the Spaniards, placing him at around 7 feet tall. His name, derived from the western Muskogean language elements tashka and losa, means "Black Warrior". [Tuskaloosa]'s...

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