Tacatacaru

Tacatacuru was a Timucua chiefdom centred on Cumberland Island, among the wooded barrier islands and tidal waters of the Georgia coast. Its chief also held authority over settlements on the mainland. The island's people gathered shellfish, hunted and cultivated crops, drawing on the resources of both the shore and the interior.

The Tacatacuru encountered French explorers in the 1560s and later made peace with Spain. In 1587 the Franciscan Baltasar López established San Pedro de Mocama near their principal town. The mission became a centre for surrounding communities, and Chief Don Juan assisted the Spanish during the Guale rising of 1597. By the later seventeenth century the Tacatacuru had left Cumberland Island, their communities diminished by the upheavals of the colonial frontier.