In an effort to reestablish at least one of the provinces, interim governor Juan de Ayala y Escobar built a fort at San Marcos de Apalache in 1718 that would double as a trading post and distribution center for local Yamasees and Lower Creeks. For all their good intentions, however, the Spanish were unable to sustain the flow of gifts and trade goods necessary to an 18th-century Indian alliance. Carolinian and French traders and agents stepped into the breach. The Lower Creeks learned to court all sides, and Spain was left with no allies of significance in the Southeast except the friendless Yamasees. (Bushnell SS)