CHOCTAW NATION
1895 Maps of Indian Nations

According to Choctaw legends, the tribes, which belongs to the Muskogan linguistic family, originated from the sacred hill called �Nanih Waiya� near what is now Noxapater, Mississippi.� The first recorded white contact with the tribe was in October 1540, when Choctaw warriors under Tuskalusa fought a 9-hour losing battle to protect their lands near present day Mobile, Alabama, from attack by DeSoto and his expeditionary force.� Tribal legend tells that Choctaw survivors hanged themselves rather than surrender.� Otherwise, little is known about early history of the tribe until the 18^th Century, when most Choctaw allied with the French, who were fighting the British and their Indian allies, the Chickasaw and the Natchez, for colonial territories and trading rights.� Later, during the periods of British control (1763-1783) and Spanish control (1783-1819), some Choctaw troops fought under American generals in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.� In 1819, Choctaw land, which once included much of what are now Alabama and Mississippi, came to the United States by a treaty with Spain.� Under the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, Mississippi, the Choctaw became the first of the five great southern tribes to be forcibly removed to Indian Territory.� A small remnant remained, from which today�s Mississippi Choctaw descend.� The removal, from 1831 to 1834, was full of hardships from beginning to end.

By the time Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the Choctaw Nation had beena party to 16 treaties and agreements with the United States, under which the Government made nominal payments for Choctaw lands, but the Curtis Act of 1898 cleared the way for complete domination by white settlers.� Tribal government, however, continued in limited form under Federal supervision until federal relationships with the Choctaw Nation as a separate government within the boundaries of Oklahoma ended in 1950