San Pedro de Mocama facts for kids

Mission San Pedro de Mocama was an old Spanish mission built a long time ago on Cumberland Island, which is now part of Georgia in the United States. It was built by Franciscan missionaries to help the Tacatacuru people, who were a group of Timucua people called Mocama. The mission was active from the late 1500s to the mid-1600s.

A Look Back: History of the Mission

San Pedro de Mocama was a key part of the mission system in Spanish Florida. This area was a territory of New Spain, which was a huge Spanish colony. The mission was built around 1580 to serve the Tacatacuru people, who had their own leaders. San Pedro was one of the first and most important missions in Spanish Florida. Its church was as big as the main church in St. Augustine, which was the capital of Spanish Florida.

San Pedro de Mocama worked closely with Mission San Juan del Puerto. This other mission was located on Fort George Island, near the mouth of the St. Johns River in Florida. Together, these two missions were the main centers of what the Spanish called the Mocama Province. San Pedro de Mocama also had a fort to protect it. For a while, it was the northernmost point of Spanish control, acting like a protective wall against the Guale people who lived further north.

Who Were the Tacatacuru People?

The Tacatacuru were a group of Timucua people known as the Mocama. The Mocama spoke a special type of the Timucua language also called Mocama. They lived along the coast of what is now southern Georgia and northern Florida. Mission San Pedro was built at the southern end of Cumberland Island, close to the main village of the Tacatacuru.

By 1595, some of the Tacatacuru people living near the mission had learned to speak Spanish very well. Some even learned to read and write. They used a mix of Spanish, Latin, and a writing system for the Timucua language. This writing system was created by Father Francisco Pareja. He worked at the San Juan del Puerto mission. Father Pareja even wrote a catechism (a book of religious teachings) in both Spanish and Timucuan, which was printed in 1612.

The Tacatacuru people faced many challenges during the 1600s. They were greatly affected by illnesses and conflicts with other groups. Because of these difficulties, Mission San Pedro de Mocama was left empty in 1660. By 1675, the Tacatacuru people had to leave Cumberland Island completely due to pressure from other tribes.