Ibaha: The Legacy of the Lead People

The people known as Deptford referred to themselves as Ibiłi or ‘ancient ones.’ This can be found in all Muskogean languages as ‘Abiłi’ and in Timucuan & Siouan as ‘Ikwi.’ The term Guale appears in multiple Indigenous languages, often meaning ‘border,’ ‘edge,’ or ‘people opposite of us.’ Timucua speakers called them Yupaha/Ibaha— “People from Above” & or ‘High People’—a name the Castilians mistranscribed as Yguaja, Ygūaga, or Guale.”

— Lanier A. Davis (Ōroba Ōbo), The Green Fire Vol 2

We are Ibaha, the descendants of those who walked these lands long before foreign ships arrived on our shores. We built mounds that carried the weight of our ancestors, shaped rivers that connected our trade and teachings, and honored a way of life that has never been broken.

We are not a lost people. We did not disappear. We have always been here.

Our families have always been the foundation of our governance. We do not follow the systems imposed by others; we follow the ways passed down to us. Our society is guided by mothers, who decide who will speak for the family. Leadership is not claimed—it is given by those who know the weight of responsibility.

We have endured every attempt to erase us. We have watched our lands change, our history be rewritten, and our names be taken from us. But we remain.

The Ibaha Tribal Council is not a reconstruction—it is a continuation. We do not need permission to be who we are. Through teaching, land stewardship, and the revitalization of our language and ceremonies, we carry forward what was never lost.

We are Ibaha.

We are here.

And we always will be.