Mocozo

Mocozo was an Indigenous chiefdom near Tampa Bay in the sixteenth century. Estuaries, coastal waters and inland areas supplied communities with fish, shellfish, game and plants. Canoes connected settlements across bays and rivers, while leaders maintained relationships through exchange, kinship and alliances.

Spanish expeditions reached the Florida coast in the sixteenth century, encountering societies with their own territories and rivalries. Meetings could involve diplomacy, violence and demands for supplies. Disease and later colonial pressures profoundly disrupted Indigenous communities, while local knowledge of coastal resources and seasonal conditions remained important to daily life.