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Total population | |
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Extinct as tribe | |
Regions with significant populations | |
North Florida and southeastern Georgia | |
Languages | |
Mocama dialect of the Timucua language | |
Religion | |
Native | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Timucua |
The Mocama were a Native American people who lived in the coastal areas of what are now northern Florida and southeastern Georgia.[1] A Timucua group, they spoke the dialect known as Mocama, the best-attested dialect of the Timucua language. Their heartland extended from about the Altamaha River in Georgia to south of the mouth of the St. John's River, covering the Sea Islands and the inland waterways, Intracoastal. and much of present-day Jacksonville.[2][3] At the time of contact with Europeans, there were two major chiefdoms among the Mocama, the Saturiwa and the Tacatacuru, each of which evidently had authority over multiple villages. The Saturiwa 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]
The Spanish came to refer to the entire area as the Mocama Province, and incorporated it into their mission system. The Mocama Province was severely depopulated in the 17th century by infectious disease and warfare with other Indian tribes and the English colonies to the north. Surviving Mocama refugees relocated to St. Augustine. Together with Guale survivors, 89 "mission Indians" evacuated with the Spanish to Cuba in 1763, after they ceded the territory to Great Britain.
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