Choctaws
| Chahta | |
|---|---|
Louisiana Indians Walking Along a Bayou Alfred Boisseau – 1847
|
|
| Total population | |
| 160,000 (2005) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States(Oklahoma, California, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama) |
|
| Languages | |
| English, Choctaw | |
| Religion | |
| Protestant, Roman Catholic, traditional beliefs | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), and later Seminole |
The Choctaw (In the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally occupying the Southeastern United States (modern-day Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana). Their Choctaw language belongs to the Muskogean language family group.
The Choctaw are descendants of the peoples of the Hopewell and Mississippian cultures, who lived throughout the east of the Mississippi River valley and its tributaries. About 1,700 years ago, the Hopewell people built Nanih Waiya, a great earthwork mound located in what is central present-day Mississippi. It is still considered sacred by the Choctaw. The early Spanish explorers of the mid-16th century in the Southeast encountered Mississippian-culture villages and chiefs. The anthropologist John Swanton suggested that the Choctaw derived their name from an early leader. Henry Halbert, a historian, suggests that their name is derived from the Choctaw phrase Hacha hatak (river people).
The Choctaw coalesced as a people in the 17th century, and developed three distinct political and geographical divisions: eastern, western and southern. These different groups sometimes created distinct, independent alliances with nearby European powers. These included the French, based on the Gulf Coast and in Louisiana; the English of the Southeast, and the Spanish of Florida and Louisiana during the colonial era. During the American Revolution, most Choctaw supported the Thirteen Colonies' bid for independence from the British Crown. They never went to war against the United States but they were forcibly relocated during Indian Removal in order for the US to take over their land for development by European Americans.
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Wikipedia