3. Walking into Mocama Utimile (Homelands)
Breezeway to the left of the Visitor Center
We invite you to go back in time to the 1560s as you walk onto the breezeway and the main trail. Everything you see around you was part of the Mocama nation. In fact you are in the middle of their utimile (territory). Just four miles southeast of where you are standing was the town of Saturiwa. The chief of Saturiwa took the name of his town, or hica. He was the highest chief in this nation, and had the title of parucusi. But he was only one leader among many.
Each of the Mocamas’ twenty hicacare (towns) was governed by a different holata (chief) along with his or her council of advisors. Mocama women, as well as men, were holatacare and both women and men served in other political positions. Holatacare represented the interests of their people and were especially in charge of managing foreign relations with outsiders and communicating with other Indigenous leaders in the area.
Mocama towns were part of the bigger Mocama nation which was held together partly by political alliances against common enemies. Mocamas also married across towns, creating strong kinship bonds. What made the Mocama world work were the many connections between its people. Together, the Mocamas were a powerful force in what later became the state of Florida.
