The Choctaw are a Native American tribe originally from the southeastern region of what is now Mississippi. Belonging to the Muskogean language family, the Choctaw language closely resembles that of the Chickasaw, suggesting the Choctaw may be a branch of that group.
By the mid-18th century, an estimated 20,000 Choctaw lived in 60–70 settlements along the Pearl, Chickasawhay, and Pascagoula rivers. Their homes were built with logs or bark, roofed with thatch, and sealed with mud. As one of the most skilled farming tribes in the Southeast, the Choctaw cultivated corn (maize), beans, and pumpkins, and also relied on fishing, foraging, and hunting deer and bear for sustenance. They produced surplus crops for trade.
A central ritual in Choctaw culture was the Busk or Green Corn Festival, a midsummer celebration of renewal involving first-fruit offerings and sacred fire ceremonies. A distinctive funerary custom involved ritual defleshing, where specially designated bone-gatherers or bone-pickers—recognizable by their tattoos and long fingernails—removed flesh from the dead before the bones were interred in an ossuary. Family members often participated in this sacred process.
During the colonial era, the Choctaw allied mainly with the French in opposition to the English, the Chickasaw, and other tribes. After the French and Indian War (1754–63), the Choctaw began to lose land to the United States, and some members migrated west of the Mississippi River. Growing European demand for cotton in the 19th century increased pressure on Choctaw lands. In 1820, they ceded 5 million acres in central Mississippi to the U.S. government.
In the 1830s, the Choctaw were among the tribes forcibly removed to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) under the Indian Removal Act, along with the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole—collectively known as the Five Civilized Tribes. In Indian Territory, these tribes were granted communal land and developed autonomous governments modeled on the U.S. political system.
However, in the lead-up to Oklahoma statehood in 1907, communal lands were broken up. Portions were allotted to individual tribal members, freed slaves, or opened to white settlers. The Choctaw tribal government was dissolved in 1906, though a limited form of governance persisted. By the early 21st century, Choctaw descendants numbered over 159,000.
Native Americans in Context
The term Native American refers broadly to the Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere, though it is often used to denote the original inhabitants of present-day Canada and the United States. Before European contact, Indigenous groups displayed diverse technologies, lifestyles, and societies—from nomadic hunters and gatherers to complex urban civilizations like Cahokia and Teotihuacán.
These communities domesticated many important crops and animals, including corn, beans, squash, potatoes, turkeys, and llamas, supporting a variety of societal structures. By the 16th century, Indigenous peoples lived across the continent but were rapidly decimated by disease, warfare, and colonization. Despite centuries of oppression, Native Americans have actively reclaimed cultural identity, legal rights, education, and religious freedom.
Anthropologists often study Native cultures using the culture area approach, categorizing peoples by geographic and cultural similarities. In North America, the most common culture areas are: the Arctic, Subarctic, Northeast, Southeast, Plains, Southwest, Great Basin, California, Northwest Coast, and Plateau. For example, the Choctaw fall into the Southeast culture area, characterized by permanent settlements, agriculture, and ceremonial festivals.
The Subarctic
The Subarctic lies just south of the Arctic and includes most of present-day Alaska and Canada, excluding the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), which are part of the Northeast culture area. This region is largely flat with a cool climate and is dominated by boreal forests (taiga), swamps, and coniferous trees.
Major Indigenous groups include the Innu (Montagnais and Naskapi), Cree, Ojibwe, Denesuline, Dane-zaa, Dene Tha’, Carrier, Gwich’in, Tanaina, and Deg Xinag. These peoples traditionally spoke languages from the Athabaskan and Algonquian families.
Social life centered on small, kin-based bands that came together seasonally at rich fishing spots. People hunted moose, caribou, beavers, and waterfowl; fished; and gathered berries, roots, and sap. Winter homes were often semisubterranean and well-insulated, while summer shelters were tents or lean-tos. Snowshoes, toboggans, and fur garments were typical tools and clothing.
See also: American Subarctic peoples.
The Northeast
This culture area covers Quebec, Ontario, the Maritime provinces, and extends south to the Ohio River valley and North Carolina. The land features rolling hills and the Appalachian Mountains, with a temperate climate and a mix of deciduous forests, rivers, lakes, and coastline.
Key tribes include the Algonquin, Haudenosaunee, Wendat, Wampanoag, Mohican, Mohegan, Ojibwe, Ho-Chunk, Sauk, Meskwaki, and Peoria. The main languages are Iroquoian and Algonquian.
Agriculture was central, with villages of dozens to hundreds of people. Where wild foods were abundant, such as wild rice or shellfish, people lived in dispersed family hamlets. Tribes sometimes formed powerful confederacies with complex political systems.
Corn, beans, squash, and wild seed plants were staples. Hunting and fishing were also important. Homes were typically wickiups (wigwams) or longhouses, both made with saplings and bark. Other cultural features included dugout and birchbark canoes, pelts and deerskin clothing, and medicine societies.
See also: American Northeast peoples.
The Southeast
Stretching from the southern edge of the Northeast to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean to west of the Mississippi Valley, this region features a warm to subtropical climate and includes coastal plains, the Piedmont uplands, and parts of the Appalachians. Its ecosystems range from wetlands to deciduous forests.
Notable tribes include the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee, Seminole, Natchez, Caddo, Apalachee, Timucua, and Guale. Most spoke Muskogean languages, with some Siouan and one Iroquoian-speaking group (Cherokee).
Agriculture was the main economic activity, often supporting hierarchical societies with elites and commoners. People lived in small riverside hamlets that were part of larger towns serving as ceremonial and trade centers. These towns often featured large earthen mounds with important buildings atop them.
Corn, beans, squash, tobacco, and other crops were grown. People also gathered wild plants, hunted game, and fished. House styles included wickiups, earth-berm dwellings, and chickees. The Southeast was noted for religious art, bird motifs, and ritual use of the “black drink.”
See also: American Southeast peoples.
The Plains
Located between the Rockies and the Mississippi River, from the Subarctic to Texas, the Plains are characterized by shortgrass and tallgrass prairies, with a continental climate—hot summers and cold winters. Tree-lined rivers provided fertile land.
Tribes in this area spoke a variety of languages: Siouan, Algonquian, Uto-Aztecan, Caddoan, Athabaskan, Kiowa-Tanoan, and Michif. A regional sign language also developed.
Before the 16th century, Plains peoples lived in earth-lodge villages near rivers, practicing agriculture and going on long hunting trips. These included the Mandan, Hidatsa, Omaha, Pawnee, and Arikara. The arrival of horses around 1750 led many to adopt nomadic lifestyles focused on bison hunting—such as the Apsáalooke, Oceti Sakowin, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Comanche, Arapaho, and Kiowa.
Shared cultural elements included the tepee, tailored leather clothing, feathered regalia, and large drums. The Sun Dance was a widespread and spiritually significant ritual.
See also: Plains peoples.
The Southwest
This area includes parts of Arizona and New Mexico, bordered by the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre. It features plateaus, basins, deserts, and river oases such as the Colorado and Rio Grande. The climate varies from temperate to subtropical with low rainfall.
Languages spoken here include Hokan, Uto-Aztecan, Tanoan, Keresan, Kiowa-Tanoan, Penutian, and Athabaskan. Lifeways often combined farming with hunting and gathering. Pueblo peoples (e.g., Zuni, Hopi) were known for agriculture, complex kinship, kachina ceremonies, and distinctive architecture. The Pima, Tohono O’odham, and Yumans blended farming and foraging. The Navajo and Apache practiced some farming but also foraged and raided.
Staple crops were corn, beans, squash, and cotton, with game and wild plants supplementing diets. Pueblo homes were multi-story adobe structures; Navajos lived in hogans; others used thatch or brush shelters. Innovations included stone irrigation, basketry, and digging tools.
See also: American Southwest peoples.
The Great Basin
Centered in Nevada and parts of nearby states, the Great Basin is surrounded by mountains and contains deserts, salt lakes, and arid basins. Water does not flow out of this region, and moisture is scarce, except at high elevations.
The Washoe spoke a Hokan language, while most other tribes, such as the Mono, Paiute, Bannock, Shoshone, Ute, and Gosiute, spoke Numic (a branch of Uto-Aztecan).
Great Basin peoples lived in mobile, kin-based bands and were primarily hunters and gatherers. Their diet centered on seeds, piñon nuts, and small game. Those in the north and east adopted horses and began hunting bison, using Plains-style tepees instead of wickiups or brush shelters.
Common tools included digging sticks, nets, baskets, grinding stones, and rock art.
California
The California culture area encompasses present-day California and northern Baja California. Aside from its Pacific coastline, the region is defined by the north-south Coast Range and Sierra Nevada, interspersed with high plateaus and basins. This diverse terrain created a variety of microenvironments—coasts, tidewaters, redwood forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts, and mountains—each supporting distinct ecological conditions.
This area was home to approximately 20 language families, including Uto-Aztecan, Penutian, Yokutsan, and Athabaskan. Linguist Edward Sapir once noted that California had more linguistic diversity than all of Europe. Prominent tribes included the Hupa, Yurok (self-name Oohi), Pomo, Yuki, Wintun, Maidu, and Yana.
California’s Indigenous societies were largely organized into tribelets—small, politically autonomous groups ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand people. Some tribelets included only a single village, while others were composed of multiple villages with one usually holding ceremonial or political prominence. In resource-poor regions, small, mobile bands were more common.
The Northwest Coast
Stretching from Yakutat Bay in Alaska to northern California’s Klamath River, this region is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Coast Range, Sierra Nevada, and Rockies to the east. The landscape is rugged, with steep hills and mountains descending sharply to rivers or the coast. Rainfall is abundant—over 160 inches (406 cm) annually in some places—with temperate rainforests, intertidal zones, and the ocean defining the ecosystem.
This area includes speakers of Athabaskan, Tsimshianic, Salishan, and other language families. Notable tribes include the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuxalk, Nuu-chah-nulth, Coast Salish, and Chinook.
Natural resources—particularly salmon, shellfish, sea mammals, and wild plants—were so plentiful that complex, stratified societies emerged despite the absence of agriculture. These societies featured hereditary elites, commoners, and enslaved persons. Social units were often organized into houses—extended families that jointly held rights to specific resources. Rank played a major role at every level of society, from village to individual.
Villages were typically located near waterways and had access to inland territories. Homes were large, timber or plank-built structures shared by entire house groups. Cultural hallmarks included intricate wood and stone carvings, seafaring canoes, totem poles, and basketry. The potlatch, a ceremonial feast featuring gift-giving and status affirmation, was a signature institution of the region.
The Plateau
The Plateau region, located at the intersection of the Subarctic, Plains, Great Basin, California, and Northwest Coast culture areas, includes parts of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The area is topographically varied, with rolling hills, flatlands, gorges, and mountains. It enjoys a temperate climate, drier than surrounding areas due to the rain shadow cast by surrounding mountain ranges. Ecosystems here include grasslands, high deserts, and forested highlands.
Languages in this area include Salishan, Sahaptin, Kutenai, and the Modoc and Klamath families. Tribes included the Salish, Nimiipuu (Nez Perce), Yakama, Kootenai, Spokan, Kalispel, Pend d’Oreille, Coeur d’Alene, Walla Walla, and Umatilla.
Villages were the main political unit, though some tribes formed broader chieftainships and confederacies. The salmon-rich Columbia and Fraser rivers supported sizable populations, though social stratification was less pronounced than on the Northwest Coast.
In addition to fishing, people hunted game and gathered plant foods—especially camas roots. Permanent villages were common near rivers, with seasonal excursions to upland areas. After acquiring horses, some Plateau tribes adopted Plains-style nomadism and buffalo hunting. They became noted for their horsemanship and breeding programs, especially the Appaloosa. Housing included riverside A-frame dwellings and grass-covered conical shelters, later adapted to canvas.
The Plateau peoples were known for their adaptability and technological innovation, drawing on a wide array of materials and ideas through extensive trade with neighboring regions.
Prehistory of Indigenous Peoples in North America
For centuries, non-Indigenous theories about Native American origins included myths such as descent from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel or survivors from Atlantis. These ideas, often rooted in racism, were used to justify the displacement and destruction of Indigenous peoples. Not until the 1890s did archaeological evidence—championed by Cyrus Thomas of the Smithsonian—conclusively show that mound-building cultures of the Northeast and Southeast were Indigenous in origin.
Until the late 1980s, scholars believed that humans arrived in the Americas around 13,500 years ago, based on Clovis point finds in New Mexico. These people crossed into North America via Beringia—a landmass that connected Asia and Alaska during the last Ice Age.
Beringia formed as early as 36,000–40,000 years ago, as glaciers absorbed ocean water and sea levels dropped. It remained passable from about 28,000 to 10,000 BCE and may have spanned 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from north to south. For much of this time, glaciers blocked further migration eastward, meaning people may have inhabited Beringia for as long as 20,000 years before continuing into North America.
As glaciers receded, migrants likely traveled along the Pacific coast or through interior ice-free corridors. However, archaeological sites such as Monte Verde (Chile), Paisley Caves (Oregon), Meadowcroft Rockshelter (Pennsylvania), and others show human presence long before those routes opened, indicating that early coastal migration played a key role.
These early peoples, known as Paleo-Indians, lived in small, kin-based bands and hunted megafauna like mammoths, mastodons, and giant bison. Originally believed to be primarily big-game hunters, more recent excavations show they had a broader diet and were skilled generalized foragers.
By about 6000 BCE, Archaic cultures emerged. These groups developed more stable, seasonal settlements and highly effective foraging systems. Many remained largely Archaic in lifestyle well into the post-contact period.
Around 1000 BCE, full agricultural societies emerged in various areas. These included the Ancestral Pueblo, Mogollon, and Hohokam in the Southwest; Woodland and Mississippian cultures in the East; and Plains Woodland and Plains Village cultures in the central plains. These groups built more permanent settlements and developed social hierarchies based on farming economies.