Ocute
Ocute, later known as La Tama for its southern capital of Altamaha and sometimes known to scholars as the Oconee 'Province', was a Late Mississippian paramount chiefdom in the U.S. state of Georgia, encountered by Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries. Centered in the Oconee River valley, the Mico of Ocute held sway over the immediate neighbors of Altamaha, Cofaqui, and Patofa, from its initial alliance formation in 1325 till its relocation to the Apalachicola and Yamasee Provinces by Westo slave raids in the 1660s. The Apalachicola Province, principally its subdivision of Oconee, would eventually resettle the region, giving the river the name it has today.
The Micoship of Ocute as first encountered by De Soto was likely formed as an alliance between two chiefdoms on the Oconee River, Cofaqui/Patofa and Altamaha/Ocute. The capital of the Oconee Province, the Shoulderbone Site, was founded around 1325, perfectly equidistant from Altamaha-Ocute and Cofaqui-Patofa.
This alliance was solidified by the arrival of refugees from the Savannah River, fleeing from the rising hegemon of Cofitachequi, who grew to encompass the majority of South Carolina and parts of North Carolina. Scholars have speculated the expansion of Ocute's sphere of influence to regions like Guale Mayor-Micoship on the Georgia Coast, Tugaloo, and Ichisi. The wars between Ocute and her allies against Cofitachequi virtually emptied out the Savannah, Saluda and Broad River basins, creating a buffer zone known as the Despoblado of Ocute.
By the time of the De Soto Expedition, Ocute was regularly organizing raids and defences against Cofitachequi. After being provided with a couple thousand laborors by the Mico of Ocute, De Soto collaborated with Lord Patofa, whose territory lay on the northern edge of the Oconee River, to attack Cofitachequi.
The province remained a significant regional power into the 17th century, although Altamaha eclipsed Ocute as the primary center, leading the Spanish to refer to the paramountcy as La Tama. In the 1660s, La Tama fragmented due to slave raids by the English-allied Westo people. Some fragments of Ocute proper would relocate to the Apalachicola Province on the Chattahoochee River, one of the founding provinces of the Muscogee Confederation. However, the majority likely relocated to their coastal allies and reemerge as the Yamasee. Altamaha, Ocute, Ichisi, and possibly Toa would reorganize themselves into the Lower Yamasee towns of Okatee, Chechessee, and Euhaw, still headed by Altamaha. The Yamasee would serve as a powerful mercenary force of the English Carolinas, until their quarrel and subsequent end in the Yamasee War.
External Relations
Ocute was a sizable paramount chiefdom, a political organization in which multiple chiefdoms are subsumed under one political order. The core area comprised three chiefdoms located in the Oconee River valley in the Georgia Piedmont: Ocute, Altamaha, and Cofaqui. Each included a main town and mounds along with various associated settlements, with the chief of Ocute being paramount.On The Savannah River (Tacoru)
To the east lay a vast uninhabited area on both sides of the Savannah River which Spanish chroniclers referred to as the "desert of Ocute" or the "wilderness of Ocute". Beyond the wilderness were Ocute's great enemies, the chiefdom of Cofitachequi in present-day eastern South Carolina. In earlier times the Savannah River area had been densely populated and home to sizable chiefdoms, but it was entirely abandoned by about 1450, apparently due to the conflict between Ocute and Cofitachequi.The last remnant of the various Savannah River Chiefdoms was the Tugalo Oratate at the headwaters of the Savannah. This may have been the Tacoru Orata encountered by Spanish explorer Juan Pardo, 2 decades after De Soto, when Tacoru Orata was encountered among a group of Orata whose territory was located near Tugalo. The Tacoru Oratate/Savannah Headwaters Chiefdom has been speculated by Oconee River archaeologist Mark Williams and by Charles Hudson to be subservient or at least allied to Ocute.
On the Ocmulgee River (Ichisi)
In chronicles of the De Soto Expedition, the chiefdom of Ichisi, located to the southwest, along the Ocmulgee River at the Lamar Mounds and Village Site, was described to be at least in amity with Ocute, if not subservient. Rangel, secretary to De Soto and considered the most reliable account, describes the subjects of Ocute to be "Zamumo and those others." The only other "caciques" mentioned thusfar were those of Ichisi, the immediate paragraph before. Dyar Phase sites have also been found on the Ocmulgee just north of the Cowarts Phase. Ichisi would join Ocute and Altamaha on their transformation to become the Yamasee, Ichisi being represented by the Yamasee town of "Chechessee," subject to the Yamasee town of Altamaha.On the Flint River (Toa)
After going from Capachequi on the Chickasawhatchee River, the De Soto expedition arrived in the Lamar Culture Chiefdom of Toa on the Flint River. The lack of warfare between Toa and Ichisi, and the lack of a buffer zone makes it possible that Toa was at least allied to Ocute, perhaps one of "those others" described by Rangel. Regardless of the level of affiliation, Toa was at least informally dominated by Ocute, the dominant power in the Georgia Piedmont. Toa might've later joined Ichisi, Ocute, and Altamaha in the Yamasee Confederation as the town of Euhaw, subject to Altamaha.On the Georgia Coast (Guale)
The Guale Mayor-Micoship lived on the Georgia coast to the southeast, downstream from Ocute. Another destination for refugees of the Savannah River, the Guale are represented by the Irene Phase, and a century before contact likely had their capital at the Irene Mound site, under modern day Savannah, Georgia. Links like similar language, confederation post-contact, and the appearance of Dyar Phase sites on the coast, makes the likelyhood of at least alliance between the Guale and Ocute possible, if not outright paramount rule.Names
Ocute was first encountered by Europeans in the De Soto Expedition, which is recorded in 5 different accounts. De Soto's secretary, Rodrigo Rangel, considered the most reliable, and the Portuguese Gentleman of Elvas, name the polity as Ocute, while Biedma, the royal factor, calls it Ocuti. Garcilaso the Incan, a secondary source who misplaces most names, calls it Cofa.During the late 16th to the 17th centuries, the southern capital of Altamaha overtook Ocute as the primary center of power, and 17th century Spanish expeditionaries would know the paramount chiefdom as "La Tama" and the Chozas Expedition of 1597 named a province north of Tama called "Quaque," likely the Ocute of the 16th century.
Etymology
The Oc- of Ocute may have something to do with water or river, Ak- being the prefix for Muscogean words related to water. For example, Vkácat meaning the fork of a river, Akāyetv meaning to go into or wade in water, or Ak-cauko, meaning water bird, and the Arkansas River in fact was known in Muscogean as Uecâte, with câte meaning "red," sounding suspiciously similar to the Ocute. Perhaps Ocute meant Red Water. Another possible etymology is Ocv’lké, meaning owners, or wealthy people, perhaps meaning the Mississippian elite.History
The Woodland Period (150-1100)
The area first saw substantial population around A.D. 150, during the Middle Woodland period. At least three mound centers – Cold Springs, Little River, and Lingerlonger – developed, along with smaller settlements. The inhabitants had similar ceramics styles and there is little evidence of corn agriculture in this period. During the Late Woodland period, the mound sites were abandoned and the population dispersed. Inhabitants developed simple pottery known as Vining Stamped ware, and primarily lived in small, corn-farming homesteads in and around the Oconee valley.The Mississippian Period (1100-1540)
Initial Mississippianization and Cofaqui-Patofa (1100-1275)
Around 1100 the Mississippian culture took hold in the Oconee province. The Mississippian Period was defined by intensive maize agriculture, lordship-like political organization, a reimagined deities and philosophy. The regional variation of Mississippian in this region is known as the Savannah Culture. Ceramics styles shifted to "complicated stamped" pottery, and the residents established mound centers, starting by reoccupying the Middle Woodland period Cold Springs mound. This was apparently the first chiefdom in the Oconee valley, although the town evidently relocated to the Dyar site around 1200 and then to the Scull Shoals site in about 1275, then back to Dyar in 1400 and splitting into Cofaqui and Patofa ~1500, with Cofaqui at Dyar and Patofa at Scull Shoals.The Rise of Altamaha-Ocute and the Establishment of Ocute (1275-1540)
Also around 1275, a second, probably independent chiefdom developed at the Shinholser site 55 miles south, the ancestor of Altamaha and Ocute. During this period from 1275-1325, Altamaha-Ocute grew more powerful and prestigious. Their mico c. 1300 would don a copper headdress with the falcon, a symbol of war and power. A third mound center was established in 1325, the Shoulderbone site. It was almost exactly equidistant to Cofaqui-Patofa and Altamaha-Ocute, possibly signaling some form of an alliance or union between the 2 chiefdoms. The creation of Ocute. The Shinholser site would slowly siphon population into the Shoulderbone site, mostly vacating by 1350, not to be reestablished until after 1500. The establishment of Ocute signaled a shift to a new age, the Lamar period, a development out of the Savannah culture, characterized by frequent warfare and a shift towards secularization by Mississippian lords.The Shoulderbone site is 8 miles east of the Oconee River along a key trail to the Savannah River, suggesting its location may have been chosen to trade with or defend against people to the east. For a time, the Oconee province interacted with the Savannah Valley chiefdoms. These chiefdoms thrived in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were abandoned entirely by 1450, with at least part of the population moving west into the Oconee province. It appears that increasing enmity with the South Carolina paramount chiefdom eventually known as Cofitachequi was a major factor driving the abandonment of the Savannah. This created the "wilderness of Ocute", which served as a buffer zone against Cofitachequi. The Shinholser site was reestablished as the micoship of Altamaha after 1500, as well as the middle woodland-period Little River mound site, possibly the micoship of Usatipa. This period might've been a time of revival, a renaissance of sorts, for times past.