Cofitachequi

Cofitachequi was a paramount chiefdom founded about 1300 AD and encountered by the Hernando de Soto expedition in South Carolina in April 1540. Cofitachequi was later visited by Juan Pardo during his two expeditions (1566–1568) and by Henry Woodward in 1670. Cofitachequi ceased to exist as a political entity prior to 1701.

The town and ceremonial center of Cofitachequi was located near the present-day city of Camden, South Carolina. Cofitachequi ruled a large number of towns in an area of several thousand square miles in the northeastern part of South Carolina. It was the easternmost extension of the Mississippian culture that extended over much of the southern part of the future United States.

The hunt for the location of Cofitachequi has been primarily stimulated by the century-old search for the route of Hernando de Soto in his 4-year traverse of much of the southeastern United States. The Spaniards described Cofitachequi as about 10 ten days travel eastward from Ocute through an uninhabited wilderness. Cofititachequi was situated on a large river about 100 miles from the coast. Several other towns were nearby, including Talimeco, said to be about 3 miles distant and situated on a bluff overlooking "the gorge of the river." The description of Talimeco indicates that Cofitachequi was near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line where Atlantic coast rivers drop sharply from the hilly piedmont area to the flatlands extending inland form the coast. Another town, called Ilapi or Ilasi, was located on a second river to the east. Cofitachequi was a large town in addition to being a ceremonial center. The size of Cofitachequi is indicated by the fact that de Soto during his occupation took over about one-half the houses in the town to house his 600 men (and, in addition, to house probably several hundred Indian retainers and slaves). Thus, archaeological ruins of Cofitachequi should, therefore, be extensive.

The archaeological site which most closely corresponds to the description of Cofitachequi is believed, by most scholars, to be the Mulberry Site at the junction of Pine Tree Creek and the Wateree River, about two miles south of present-day Camden and just below the fall line. The Mulberry site consists of three surviving mounds in an area of more than eight acres (3.5 ha). The Mulberry site is one of eight surviving mound centers along an 18 mile (30 km) stretch of the Wateree River both north and south of Camden. This was the heartland of the chiefdom of Cofitachequi.

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