Page "Tampa, Florida" Paragraph 7

Toponymist George R. Stewart writes that the name was the result of a miscommunication between the Spanish and the Indians, the Indian word being " itimpi ", meaning simply " near it ".

The name first appears in the " Memoir " of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda ( 1575 ), who had spent 17 years as a Calusa captive.

He calls it " Tanpa " and describes it as an important Calusa town.

While " Tanpa " may be the basis for the modern name " Tampa ", archaeologist Jerald Milanich places the Calusa village of Tanpa at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor, the original " Bay of Tanpa ".

A later Spanish expedition did not notice Charlotte Harbor while sailing north along the west coast of Florida and assumed that the current Tampa Bay was the bay they sought.

The name was accidentally transferred north.