The Name
The word "Tampa" is a Native American word that is believed to mean "sticks of fire" in the language of the Calusa, a Native American tribe. Other historians claim the name refers to "The place to gather sticks". "Sticks of fire" may also relate to the high concentration of lightning strikes that Tampa Bay receives every year during the hot and wet summer months.
In April of 1528, the Narváez Expedition landed near Tampa with the intention of starting a colony. After being told by the natives of better riches to the north, they abandoned their camp after only a week. A dozen years later, a surviving member of the expedition named Juan Ortiz was rescued by Hernando de Soto's expedition. A peace treaty was conducted with the local Indians and a short-lived Spanish outpost was established, but this was abandoned when it became clear that there was no gold in the area, and that the local Indians were not interested in converting to Catholicism and were too skilled as warriors to easily conquer.
When Great Britain acquired Florida in 1763, the bay was named Hillsborough Bay, after Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies. Tampa was incorporated on January 18, 1849 with 185 inhabitants (excluding military personnel stationed at Fort Brooke), and the city's first census came in 1850 when Tampa-Fort Brooke accounted for 974 residents.
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