Tag: Choctaw

The Choctaw (alternatively spelled Chahta, Chactas, Chato, Tchakta, Chocktaw, and Chactaw) are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States (Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana). The Choctaw language belongs to the Muskogean linguistic group. Noted 20th century anthropologist John Swanton suggested that the name was derived from a Choctaw leader. Henry Halbert, a historian, suggests that their name is derived from the Choctaw phrase Hacha hatak (river people).
The Choctaw are descendants of the Hopewellian people and Mississippian culture, who lived throughout the east of the Mississippi River valley and its tributaries. The former built a great earthwork mound about 1,700 years ago that survived and is considered sacred land by the Choctaw. The early Spanish explorers of the mid-16th century encountered Mississippian culture villages and chiefs. The Choctaw had three distinct political and geographical divisions: eastern, western and southern,…