 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Extinct as tribe | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| NorthFlorida and southeasternGeorgia | |
| Languages | |
| Mocama dialect of theTimucua language | |
| Religion | |
| Native | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Timucua |
TheMocama were aNative American people who lived in the coastal areas of what are now northernFlorida and southeasternGeorgia.[1] ATimucua group, they spoke the dialect known as Mocama, the best-attested dialect of theTimucua language. Their heartland extended from about theAltamaha River in Georgia to south of the mouth of theSt. John's River, covering theSea Islands and the inland waterways,Intracoastal. and much of present-dayJacksonville.[2][3] At the time of contact withEuropeans, there were two major chiefdoms among the Mocama, theSaturiwa and theTacatacuru, each of which evidently had authority over multiple villages. TheSaturiwa controlled chiefdoms stretching to modern day St. Augustine, but the native peoples of these chiefdoms have been identified by Pareja as speaking Agua Salada, which may have been a distinct dialect.[4]
TheSpanish came to refer to the entire area as theMocama Province, and incorporated it into theirmission system. The Mocama Province was severely depopulated in the 17th century by infectious disease and warfare with other Indian tribes and theEnglish colonies to the north. Surviving Mocama refugees relocated toSt. Augustine. Together withGuale survivors, 89 "mission Indians" evacuated with the Spanish toCuba in 1763, after they ceded the territory to Great Britain.
The Mocama spoke a namesake dialect of Timucua, the most well attested form of the language.[5] Mocama literally translates to "the sea" or "of the sea" (Timucua: moca ("sea") + -ma ("the" or "of")).[6] Some modern writings employ the term Mocamo; however, linguistJulian Granberry asserts this spelling to be erroneous, being neither present in historical writings nor grammatically possible in Timucua.[7]
Archaeological research dates human habitation in the area eventually known as theMocama Province to at least 2500 BC.[8] The area has yielded some of the oldest known pottery from what is now the United States, uncovered by aUniversity of North Florida team on Black Hammock Island inJacksonville, Florida'sTimucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.[2] The team also excavated more recent artifacts contemporary with the Mocama chiefdoms and some that indicate a Spanish mission.[9][10] Around AD 1000 peoples of the area were engaged in long-distance trading withMississippian culture centers, includingCahokia (in present-dayIllinois) andMacon, Georgia.[11] Before and during European contact, the peoples of the region spoke the Mocama dialect of theTimucua language and participated in similar cultures, for instance in their use of distinctivegrog-tempered pottery known as San Pedro pottery.[12]
The Mocama dialect is the best attested dialect of theTimucua language. Some scholars, includingJerald T. Milanich andEdgar H. Sturtevant, consider the dialect known as Agua Salada, spoken in an unspecified stretch of the Florida coast south of the Mocama Province, to be identical. However, other evidence suggests that Agua Salada was distinct, and more closely related to the western dialects likePotano than to Mocama.[13]
TheFrenchHuguenot explorers, who first arrived in Florida in 1562, recorded two major chiefdoms in the Mocama region at that time, theSaturiwa and theTacatacuru. The Saturiwa, whose main village was onFort George Island, were friendly towards the French and aided them in establishingFort Caroline in their territory. Huguenot leaderRené Goulaine de Laudonnière records that their chief, who was known asSaturiwa, had sovereignty over thirty villages and their chiefs, ten of whom were his "brothers".[14] These villages were located around the mouth of theSt. Johns River and nearby inland waterways. Other Mocama-speaking groups lived in the coastal areas to the north, fromAmelia Island in Florida toSt. Simons Island in Georgia. The Tacatacuru chiefdom was centered onCumberland Island and evidently controlled villages on the coast.[14]
When theSpanish destroyed the French stronghold of Fort Caroline, both the Saturiwa and the Tacatacuru aided the French and opposed the Spanish, but they eventually made peace. As Mocama was spoken across the area, the Spanish came to refer to it as the Mocama Province, and incorporated it into theirmission system. It was one of the four provinces that made up the bulk of the Spanish mission effort in the region, the others being theTimucua Province (covering the Timucua groups to the west of the St. Johns River), theGuale Province, and theApalachee Province. The Spanish founded three major missions in the Mocama Province:San Juan del Puerto at Saturiwa on Fort George Island,San Pedro de Mocama at Tacatacuru on Cumberland Island, and Santa Maria de Sena between them on Amelia Island.[15][16]
Due to severe population losses frominfectious disease and warfare with northern Indian tribes and theEnglish fromSouth Carolina, the Mocama polity disintegrated in the 17th century. After that, the Spanish and later settlers used the term "Mocama" to refer to the land where the chiefdoms had been. Between 1675 and 1680, theWesto tribe, backed by the English colonies ofSouth Carolina andVirginia, along with attacks by English-supported pirates, destroyed the Spanish mission system in Mocama.
The few remaining "refugee missions" were destroyed by South Carolina's invasion of Spanish Florida in 1702 duringQueen Anne's War. By 1733, the Mocama andGuale chiefdoms had become too depopulated and helpless to resistJames Oglethorpe's founding of the English colony ofGeorgia.
In their colonial period, the Spanish established a missionary province at theGuale chiefdom just north of Mocama, on the Georgia coast between the Altamaha River and theSavannah River. Its history was similar to that of Mocama, and its fate was the same. Remnants of both chiefdoms retreated south to St. Augustine. In 1763, their descendants were among the 89 "mission Indians" evacuated to Cuba with the Spanish.