Mavilla

The term "Mavilla" or "Mabilla" has had numerous uses for over 400 years: ^[1]

The word "Mauvilla" (also "Maubilla") later became: Mavilla, Mauvila, Maubila.
By 1693, the name had become fairly standardized as "Mobila" or "Movila".^[1]

Places

• variant of Mabila, a Mississippian fortress town of Chief Tuskaloosa, which ambushed Hernando de Soto's Spanish expedition in 1540.^[2] The tribe by this name later encountered by the French around Mobile Bay are theorized by scholars to be descended from this group of people.^[2]

• the Mavilla River (Río Mavilla), on the island of Puerto Rico.
• the origin of the name for "Mobile, Alabama".
• the Bahia de la Mobila, which was named in English "Mobile Bay" (earlier as Bahia de Espiritu Santo).

People

• the native tribe Mauvila (or Maubila), also known as the Mobilian tribe in Alabama.

Other

• the Mavilla Bridge, on the island of Puerto Rico.

References

1. Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702-1711, Jay Higginbotham, 1991, 592 pages, page 21, Google Books webpage: books-google-JH21.
2. "The Old Mobile Project Newsletter" (PDF). University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies. Retrieved 2007-11-19.