Southeastern tribes
Encyclopedia
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
classification for Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
that have traditionally inhabited the Southeastern
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the northeastern border of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, that share common cultural
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
traits.
Cultural region
This classification is a part of the Eastern Woodlands. The concept of a southeastern cultural region was developed by anthropologists, beginning with Otis Mason and Frank Boas in 1887. The boundaries of the region are defined more by shared cultural traits than by geographic distinctions. Because the cultures gradually instead of abruptly shift into Plains, Prairie, or Northeastern Woodlands cultures, scholars do not always agree on the exact limits of the Southeastern Woodland culture region. ShawneeShawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
, Powhatan
Powhatan
The Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...
, Waco, Tawakoni, Tonkawa
Tonkawa
The Tickanwa•tic Tribe , better known as the Tonkawa , are a Native American people indigenous to present-day Oklahoma and Texas. They once spoke the now-extinct Tonkawa language believed to have been a language isolate not related to any other indigenous tongues...
, Karankawa
Karankawa
Karankawa were a group of Native American peoples, now extinct as a tribal group, who played a pivotal part in early Texas history....
, Quapaw
Quapaw
The Quapaw people are a tribe of Native Americans who historically resided on the west side of the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Arkansas.They are federally recognized as the Quapaw Tribe of Indians.-Government:...
, and Mosopelea
Mosopelea
The Mosopelea, or Ofo, were a Native American tribe who historically inhabited the upper Ohio River. In reaction to Iroquois invasions, they moved south to the lower Mississippi River, finally settling in Louisiana and assimilating with the Siouan-speaking Biloxi and the Tunica people...
are usually seen as marginally southeastern and their traditional lands represent the borders of the cultural region.
Culture and history
In the Late Prehistoric time period in the Southeastern Woodlands, cultures increased agricultural production, developed ranked societies, increased their populations, trade networks, and intertribal warfare. Most Southeastern peoples (excepting some of the coastal peoples) were highly agriculturalAgriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, growing crops like maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, squash, and beans for food. They supplemented their diet with hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants and fungi.
Frank Speck
Frank Speck
Frank Gouldsmith Speck was an American anthropologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in the Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples among the Eastern Woodland Native Americans of the United States and First Nations peoples of eastern boreal Canada.-Early life and...
identified several key cultural traits of Southeastern Woodlands peoples — being matrilineal, exogamous, being social organized by towns, used of fish poison, purification ceremonies, practicing the Green Corn Ceremony
Green Corn Ceremony
The Green Corn Ceremony is an English term that refers to a general religious and social theme celebrated by a number of American Indian peoples of the Eastern Woodlands and the Southeastern tribes...
, among other traits. Southeastern peoples also have traditionally shared a similar religious beliefs, based on animism
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
. They observe strict incest taboos, and in the past frequently allowed polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
and held puberty rites. Medicine people are important spiritual healers. Southeastern Woodlands societies were often divided into clans, the most common from precontact Hopewellian times into the present include Bear, Beaver, Bird other than a raptor, Canine (e.g. Wolf), Elk, Feline (e.g. Panther), Fox, Raccoon, and Raptor.
Many southeastern peoples engaged in mound building to create sacred or acknowledge sites. Many of the religious beliefs of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture that coincided with their adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom-level complex social organization from...
or the Southern Cult, where also shared by the Northeastern Woodlands tribes, probably spread through the dominance of the Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
in the 10th century.
During the Indian Removal
Indian Removal
Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...
era of the early 19th century, many southeastern tribes were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
by the US federal government; however, many tribes remain in their traditional southeast homelands today.
Visual arts
Belonging in the Lithic stage, the oldest known art in the Americas is the Vero BeachVero Beach, Florida
Vero Beach is a city in Indian River County, Florida, USA. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the city had a population of 16,939. It is the county seat of Indian River County...
bone, possibly a mammoth bone, etched with a profile of walking mammoth that dates back to 11,000 BCE.
The Poverty Point culture
Poverty Point culture
Poverty Point culture is an archaeological culture that corresponds to an ancient group of Indigenous peoples who inhabited the area of the lower Mississippi Valley and surrounding Gulf coast from about 2200 BCE - 700 BCE...
inhabited portions of the state of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
from 2000–1000 BCE during the Archaic period. Many objects excavated at Poverty Point sites were made of materials that originated in distant places, including chipped stone projectile points and tools, ground stone plummets, gorgets and vessels, and shell and stone beads. Stone tools found at Poverty Point were made from raw materials which originated in the relatively nearby Ouachita and Ozark Mountains and from the much further away Ohio
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
and Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
valleys. Vessels were made from soapstone
Soapstone
Soapstone is a metamorphic rock, a talc-schist. It is largely composed of the mineral talc and is thus rich in magnesium. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occurs in the areas where tectonic plates are subducted, changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx...
which came from the Appalachian foothills
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
and Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. Hand-modeled lowly fired clay objects occur in a variety of shapes including anthropomophic figurines and cooking balls.
The Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
flourished in what is now the Midwestern
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
, Eastern
Eastern United States
The Eastern United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be included in the East today; usually in...
, and Southeastern United States
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally. After adopting maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
agriculture the Mississippian culture became fully agrarian, as opposed to the hunting and gathering supplemented by part-time agriculture practiced by preceding woodland cultures. They built platform mound
Platform mound
A platform mound is any earthwork or mound intended to support a structure or activity.-Eastern North America:The indigenous peoples of North America built substructure mounds for well over a thousand years starting in the Archaic period and continuing through the Woodland period...
s larger and more complex than those of their predecessors, and finished and developed more advanced ceramic techniques, commonly using ground mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
shell as a tempering agent. Many were involved with the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture that coincided with their adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom-level complex social organization from...
, a pan-regional and pan-linguistic religious and trade network. The majority of the information known about the S.E.C.C. is derived from examination of the elaborate artworks left behind by its participants, including elaborate pottery
Mississippian culture pottery
Mississippian culture pottery is the ceramic tradition of the Mississippian culture found as artifacts in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. It is often characterized by the adoption and use of riverine shell-tempering agents in the clay paste. Shell tempering is one of...
, shell gorget
Shell gorget
A shell gorget is a Native American art form of polished, carved shell pendants worn around the neck. The gorgets are frequently engraved, and are sometimes highlighted with pigments, or fenestrated ....
s and cups, stone statuary
Mississippian stone statuary
The Mississippian stone statuary are artifacts of polished stone in the shape of human figurines made by members of the Mississippian culture and found in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast...
and Long-nosed god maskette
Long-nosed god maskette
Long-nosed god maskettes are artifacts made from bone, copper and marine shells associated with the Mississippian culture and found in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. They are small shield-shaped faces with squared-off foreheads, circular eyes, and large noses of...
s. By the time of European contact the Mississippian societies were already experiencing severe social stress, and with the social upsets and diseases introduced by Europeans many of the societies collapsed and ceased to practice a Mississippian lifestyle, with an exception being the Natchez people
Natchez people
The Natchez are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi. They spoke a language isolate that has no known close relatives, although it may be very distantly related to the Muskogean languages of the Creek...
. Other tribes descended from Mississippian cultures include the Caddo
Caddo
The Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes, who traditionally inhabited much of what is now East Texas, northern Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. Today the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a cohesive tribe with its capital at Binger, Oklahoma...
, Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
, Muscogee Creek, Wichita
Wichita (tribe)
The Wichita people are indigenous inhabitants of North America, who traditionally spoke the Wichita language, a Caddoan language. They have lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas...
, and many other southeastern peoples.
The Calusa
Calusa
The Calusa were a Native American people who lived on the coast and along the inner waterways of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region; at the time of European contact, the Calusa were the people of the Caloosahatchee culture...
peoples occupied the southern areas of Florida before European contact, and created carvings of animals.
The Seminoles are best known for their textile creations, especially patchwork clothing. Doll-making is another notable craft.
List of indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands
- AbihkaAbihkaThe Abihka were a division of the Upper Muscogee Creeks. Their main place of residence was 50 miles west along the banks of the Coosa and Alabama Rivers, in what is now Talladega County, Alabama. At times their name is used for all of the Upper Creeks. They had three towns named Abihkutchi,...
, Creek Confederacy, Alabama - AcolapissaAcolapissaThe Acolapissa were a small tribe of Native Americans, said to originate from the shores of the Pearl River, between Louisiana and Mississippi before 1702. This made them one of four tribes, along with the Bayogoula, Biloxi, and Pascagoula who inhabited the gulf coast of Mississippi at the time of...
(Colapissa), Louisiana and Mississippi - AisAis (tribe)The Ais, or Ays were a tribe of Native Americans who inhabited the Atlantic Coast of Florida. They ranged from present day Cape Canaveral to the St. Lucie Inlet, in the present day counties of Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and northernmost Martin...
, eastern coastal Florida - AlabamaAlabama (people)The Alabama or Alibamu are a Southeastern culture people of Native Americans, originally from Mississippi...
, Creek Confederacy, Alabama, southwestern Tennessee, northwestern Mississippi - Alafay (Alafia, Pojoy, Pohoy, Costas Alafeyes, Alafaya Costas), Florida
- Amacano, Florida west coast
- ApalacheeApalacheeThe Apalachee are a Native American people who historically lived in the Florida Panhandle, and now live primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Their historical territory was known to the Spanish colonists as the Apalachee Province...
, northwestern Florida - ApalachicolaApalachicola (tribe)The Apalachicola were a group of Native Americans related to the Creek. They spoke a Muskogean language related to Hitchiti. They lived along the Apalachicola River in present-day Florida....
, Creek Confederacy, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina - AtakapaAtakapaThe Atakapan people are a Southeastern culture of Native American tribes who spoke Atakapa and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico. They called themselves the Ishak, pronounced "ee-SHAK", which translates as "The People". Although the people were decimated by infectious disease after...
(Attacapa), Louisiana west coast and Texas southwestern coast- AkokisaAkokisaThe Akokisa were the indigenous tribe that lived on Galveston Bay and the lower Trinity and San Jacinto rivers in Texas, primarily in the present-day Greater Houston area...
, Texas southeast coast - BidaiBidaiThe Bidai were a band of Atakapa Indians from eastern Texas.-History:Their oral history says that the Bidai were the original peoples in their region. Their central settlements were along Bedias Creek, but their territory ranged from the Brazos River to the Neches River. The first written record...
, Texas southeast coast - Deadose, eastern Texas
- Eastern Atakapa, western coastal Louisiana
- Orcoquiza, southeast Texas
- Patiri, eastern Texas
- Tlacopsel, southeast Texas
- Akokisa
- AvoyelAvoyelThe Avoyel or Avoyelles was a small Natchez-speaking tribe who inhabited land near the mouth of the Red River in the area of present-day Marksville, Louisiana. The indigenous name for this tribe is Tamoucougoula. The word Avoyel is of French derivation and means either "Flint People" or "the...
("little Natchez"), Louisiana - Backhooks Nation (possibly Chuaque, Holpaos, Huaq, Nuaq, Pahoc, Pahor, Paor, Uca), South Carolina
- Bayogoula, southeastern Louisiana
- Biloxi, Mississippi
- Boca Ratones, Florida
- Caddo ConfederacyCaddoThe Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes, who traditionally inhabited much of what is now East Texas, northern Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. Today the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a cohesive tribe with its capital at Binger, Oklahoma...
, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas- Adai (Adaizan, Adaizi, Adaise, Adahi, Adaes, Adees, Atayos), Louisiana and Texas
- CahinnioCahinnioThe Cahinnio were a Native American tribe that lived in Arkansas.-Cahinnio:The Cahinnio were part of the Caddo Confederacy, possibly affiliated with Kadohadacho...
, southern Arkansas - Doustioni, north central Louisiana
- EyeishEyeishThe Eyeish were a Native American tribe from eastern Texas.-History:The Eyeish were part of the Caddo Confederacy, although their relationship to other Caddo tribes was ambiguous, and they were often hostile to the Hasinai...
(Hais), eastern Texas - HainaiHainaiHainai is the name of a Native American tribe that lived in what is now east Texas.The Hainai were the leading group in the Hasinai confederacy. They were a part of are Caddo Nation, and traditionally lived on the Neches and Angelina rivers to the west of present day Nacogdoches...
, eastern Texas - HasinaiHasinaiThe Hasinai Confederacy was a large confederation of Caddo-speaking Native Americans located between the Sabine and Trinity rivers in eastern Texas...
, eastern Texas - Kadohadacho, northeastern Texas, southwestern Arkansas, northwestern Louisiana
- NabedacheNabedacheThe Nabedache were a Native American tribe from eastern Texas. Their name, Nabáydácu, means "blackberry place" in the Caddo language. An alternate theory says their original name was Wawadishe from the Caddo word, witish, meaning "salt."...
, eastern Texas - NabitiNabitiThe Nabiti are a Native American tribe from eastern Texas. Their name means "Cedar Place" in the Caddo language.-History:The Nadaco were part of the Hasinai branch of the Caddo Confederacy, although early European explorers identified the Nabiti as enemies of the Hasinai – a testament to the...
, eastern Texas - NacogdocheNacogdocheThe Nacogdoche are a Native American tribe from eastern Texas.-History:The Nacogdoche were part of the Hasinai branch of the Caddo Confederacy and closely allied with the Lower Nasoni. They historically lived between the Angelina and the Sabine Rivers in Texas...
, eastern Texas - NaconoNaconoThe Nacono were a Native American tribe from eastern Texas.The Nacono were part of the Hasinai branch of the Caddo Confederacy. They historically lived in villages along the Neches and Angelina Rivers, near present day Cherokee and Houston Counties....
, eastern Texas - NadacoNadacoThe Nadaco, also commonly known as the Anadarko, are a Native American tribe from eastern Texas. Their name, Nadá-kuh, means "bumblebee place."-History:The Nadaco were part of the Hasinai branch of the Caddo Confederacy....
, eastern Texas - NanatsohoNanatsohoThe Nanatsoho were a Native American tribe that lived at the border of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.-History:The Nanatsoho were part of the Kadohadacho branch of the Caddo Confederacy...
, northeastern Texas - Nasoni, eastern Texas
- NatchitochesNatchitoches (tribe)The Natchitoches are Native American tribe from Louisiana. They are part of the Caddo Confederacy.In the early 17th century they were joined by some of the remnants of the Kadohadacho, a tribe with many members who had been killed or enslaved by the Chickasaw...
, Lower: central Louisiana, Upper: northeastern Texas - NecheNeche tribeThe Neche were a Native American tribe from eastern Texas.-History:The Neche were part of the Hasinai branch of the Caddo Confederacy. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, they settled along the Neches River, in present day Houston and Cherokee Counties...
, eastern Texas - NechauiNechauiThe Nechaui were a Native American tribe from eastern Texas. Their name is thought to be derived from Nachawi, the Caddo language word for Osage orange.-History:The Nechaui were part of the Hasinai branch of the Caddo Confederacy...
, eastern Texas - OuachitaOuachita tribeThe Ouachita are a Native American tribe from northeastern Louisiana along the Ouachita River.-History:The Ouachita were loosely affiliated with the Caddo Confederacy. Their traditional homelands were the lower reaches of the Ouachita River and along the Black River...
, northern Louisiana - TulaTula tribeThe Tula were a Native American tribe that lived in what is now western Arkansas.-History:The Tula are known to history only from the chronicles of Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's exploits in the interior of North America....
, western Arkansas - YatasiYatasiThe Yatasi are a Native American people from northwestern Louisiana that are part of the Natchitoches Confederacy of the Caddo Nation...
, northwestern Louisiana
- CalusaCalusaThe Calusa were a Native American people who lived on the coast and along the inner waterways of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region; at the time of European contact, the Calusa were the people of the Caloosahatchee culture...
, southwestern Florida - Cape Fear IndiansCape Fear IndiansThe Cape Fear Indians were a small tribe of Carolina Algonquian Native Americans who lived on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina ....
, North Carolina southern coast - CatawbaCatawba (tribe)The Catawba are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. They live in the Southeast United States, along the border between North and South Carolina near the city of Rock Hill...
(Esaw, Usheree, Ushery, Yssa), North Carolina, South Carolina - Chacato, Florida panhandle and southern Alabama
- ChakchiumaChakchiumaThe Chakchiuma were a Native American tribe of the upper Yazoo River region of what is today the state of Mississippi. They are at times confused with the Choctaw....
, Alabama and Mississippi - Chatot (tribe)Chatot (tribe)The Chatot were a Native American tribe who lived in the upper Apalachicola River and Chipola River basins in what is now Florida...
(Chacato, Chactoo), west Florida - Chawasha (Washa), Louisiana
- CherawCheraw (tribe)The Cheraw , were a tribe of Siouan-speaking Amerindians first encountered by Hernando De Soto in 1540. The name they called themselves is lost to history but the Cherokee called them Ani-suwa'ii and the Catawba Sara...
(Chara, Charàh), North Carolina - CherokeeCherokeeThe Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
, Georgia, North Carolina, western tip of South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, later Arkansas, Texas, Mexico, and Oklahoma - ChiahaChiahaChiaha was a horticultural Native American chiefdom located in the lower French Broad River valley in modern East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. They lived in raised structures within boundaries of several stable villages. These overlooked the fields of maize, beans, squash, and...
, Creek Confederacy, Alabama - ChickahominyChickahominy (tribe)The Chickahominy are a tribe of Virginia Indians who primarily live in Charles City County midway between Richmond and Williamsburg in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This area is not far from where they lived in 1600....
, Virginia - Chickamauga, band of Cherokees in Tennessee and Georgia
- Chickanee (Chiquini), North Carolina
- ChickasawChickasawThe Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
, Alabama and Mississippi, later Oklahoma - ChicoraChicora tribeThe Chicora tribe was a small Native American tribe of the Pee Dee area in northeastern South Carolina, ranging to the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. Scholars consider them a Catawban group, likely to have spoken a Siouan language....
, coastal South Carolina - Chine, Florida
- Chisca (Cisca), southwestern Virginia, northern Florida
- ChitimachaChitimachaThe Chitimacha are a Native American federally recognized tribe that lives in the U.S. state of Louisiana, mainly in St. Mary Parish. They currently number about 720 people. The Chitimacha language is a language isolate.- History :The Chitimacha's historic home was the southern Louisiana coast...
, Louisiana - ChoctawChoctawThe Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
, Mississippi, Alabama, and parts of Louisiana; later Oklahoma - Chowanoc, North Carolina
- Creek, Florida, Georgia, southern Tennessee, Mississippi, later Alabama, Oklahoma
- CongareeCongaree (tribe)The Congaree were a group of Native Americans who lived in what is now central South Carolina of the United States, along the Congaree River. Although early European observers thought they were likely of the Siouan language family given their geographic location and characteristics of neighboring...
(Canggaree), South Carolina - CoreeCoreeThe Coree were a very small Native American tribe, who once occupied a coastal area of southeastern North Carolina in the area now covered by Carteret and Craven counties...
, North Carolina - CoushattaCoushatta----The Coushatta are a historic Muskogean-speaking Native American people living primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. When first encountered by Europeans, they lived in the territory of present-day Georgia and Alabama...
, Louisiana and Texas - CoharieCoharieThe Coharie are a Native American Tribe who claim to descend from the Carolina Algonquian Neusiok Indians. They are located chiefly on the Little Coharie River, in Sampson and Harnett counties in North Carolina...
, North Carolina - CusaboCusaboThe Cusabo were a group of historic Native American tribes who lived along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in what is now South Carolina, approximately between present-day Charleston and south to the Savannah River, at the time of European encounter. English colonists often referred to them as the...
coastal South Carolina - Eno (people)Eno (people)The Eno or Enoke, also called Wyanoak, was an American Indian tribe located in North Carolina during the 17th and 18th centuries that was later absorbed into the Catawba and/or the Saponi tribes.-History:...
, North Carolina - GarzaGarzaGarza may refer to:* Garza -Mexico:* San Nicolás de los Garza, a town in the Monterrey Metropolitan area* San Pedro Garza García, a town in the Monterrey Metropolitan area* Garza Galán, a town in Coahuila-Texas:...
, Texas, northern Mexico - Grigra (Gris), Mississippi
- Guacata (Santalûces), eastern coastal Florida
- Guacozo, Florida
- GualeGualeGuale was an historic Native American chiefdom along the coast of present-day Georgia and the Sea Islands. Spanish Florida established its Roman Catholic missionary system in the chiefdom in the late 16th century. During the late 17th century and early 18th century, Guale society was shattered...
(Cusabo, Iguaja, Ybaja), coastal Georgia - Guazoco, southwestern Florida coast
- HitchitiHitchitiThe Hitchiti were a Muskogean-speaking tribe formerly residing chiefly in a town of the same name on the east bank of the Chattahoochee River, 4 miles below Chiaha, in west Georgia. They spoke the Hitchiti language, which was mutually intelligible with Mikasuki; both tribes were part of the loose...
, Creek Confederacy, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida - Hooks Nation (possibly Chuaque, Huaq, Nuaq), see Backhooks Nation
- HoumaHouma TribeThe Houma people are a Native America tribe. They belong to the United Houma Nation, a state recognized tribe in Louisiana. They primarily live in East and West Feliciana, and Pointe Coupee Parishes, about 100 miles north of the town of Houma named for them, west of the mouth of the Mississippi...
, Louisiana and Mississippi - JaegaJaegaThe Jaegas were a tribe of Native Americans living along the coast of present-day Martin County and Palm Beach County, Florida at the time of initial European contact, and until sometime in the 18th Century...
, eastern coastal Florida - Jaupin (Weapemoc), North Carolina
- Jobe (Hobe), part of Jaega, Florida
- Jororo, Florida interior
- Keyauwee, North Carolina
- Koasati, Tennessee
- KoroaKoroaThe Koroa were one of the groups of indigenous people who lived in the Mississippi Valley prior to the European settlement of the region. They lived in the northwest of present-day Mississippi in the Yazoo River basin. They were believed to speak a dialect of Tunica.The Koroa may be the tribe...
, Mississippi - Luca (tribe), southwestern Florida coast
- LumbeeLumbeeThe Lumbee belong to a state recognized Native American tribe in North Carolina. The Lumbee are concentrated in Robeson County and named for the primary waterway traversing the county...
, North Carolina - MabilaMabilaThe town of Mabila was a small fortress town known to Chief Tuskaloosa in 1540, in a region of present-day central Alabama. The exact location has been debated for centuries...
(Mobile, Movila), northwestern Florida and southern Alabama - MachapungaMachapungaThe Machapunga were a very small Native American tribe of Algonquian descent, one of a number in the territory of North Carolina, probably related to the Algonquian of the Powhatan Confederacy in present-day Virginia, who had migrated south. They have now disappeared as a separate tribe...
, North Carolina - ManahoacManahoacThe Manahoac, also recorded as Mahock, were a small group of Siouan-language American Indians in northern Virginia at the time of European contact. They numbered approximately 1,000 and lived primarily along the Rappahannock River west of modern Fredericksburg and the fall line, and east of the...
, Virginia - MattaponiMattaponiThe Mattaponi tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on reservation lands that stretch along the borders of the Mattaponi River, near West Point, Virginia.The...
, Virginia - Matecumbe (Matacumbêses, Matacumbe, Matacombe), Florida Keys
- Mayaca (tribe)Mayaca (tribe)Mayaca was the name used by the Spanish to refer to an Indian tribe in central Florida, to the principal village of that tribe and to the chief of that village in the 1560s. The Mayacas occupied an area in the upper St. Johns River valley just to the south of Lake George...
, Florida - MayaimiMayaimiThe Mayaimi were a Native American people who lived around Lake Okeechobee in Florida from the beginning of the Common Era until the 17th or 18th century. The group took their name from the lake, which was then called Mayaimi, which meant "big water" in the language of the Mayaimi, Calusa, and...
(Mayami), interior Florida - Mayajuaca, Florida
- MeherrinMeherrinThe Meherrin Nation is one of eight state-recognized Nations of Native Americans in North Carolina. They reside in rural northeastern North Carolina, near the river of the same name on the Virginia-North Carolina border. They received formal state recognition in 1986. The Meherrin have an...
, Virginia, North Carolina - Mikasuki (Miccosukee), Florida
- MocosoMocosoMocoso was the name of a 16th century chiefdom located on the east side of Tampa Bay, Florida near the mouth of the Alafia River, of its chief town and of its chief. Mocoso was also the name of a 17th century village in the province of Acuera, a branch of the Timucua...
, western Florida - MonacanMonacanThe Monacan are a group recognized as a Native American tribe by the state of Virginia in the United States. The Monacan Tribe has not been recognized as an Indian tribe by the federal government. They are located primarily in Amherst County, Virginia near Lynchburg, Virginia. As of 2009 there are...
, Virginia - MonetonsMonetonsThe Moneton people were a historical Native American tribe from West Virginia'. In the late 17th century, they lived in the Kanawha Valley, near the Kanawha and New Rivers.-Name:...
(Monyton, Monekot, Moheton) (Siouan), West Virginia and Virginia - Mougoulacha, Mississippi
- Muscogee (Creek), Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, later Oklahoma
- Nahyssan, Virginia
- Naniaba, northwestern Florida and southern Alabama
- NansemondNansemondThe Nansemond have been recognized as a Native American tribe by the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with ten other Virginia Indian tribes. They are not Federally recognized but are one of six Virginia tribes without reservations that are included in a bill for Federal recognition under...
, Virginia - NatchezNatchez peopleThe Natchez are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi. They spoke a language isolate that has no known close relatives, although it may be very distantly related to the Muskogean languages of the Creek...
, Louisiana and Mississippi later Oklahoma - NeusiokCoreeThe Coree were a very small Native American tribe, who once occupied a coastal area of southeastern North Carolina in the area now covered by Carteret and Craven counties...
(Newasiwac, Neuse River Indians), North Carolina - Norwood cultureNorwood cultureThe Norwood culture was a subculture or subperiod of the Archaic culture of .The Norwood culture was located in the Apalachee region, a forested and hilly part of what is now north Florida and was typical of other Archaic cultures using triangular-shaped projectile point knives which showed notches...
, Apalachee region, Florida, ca. 12,000 BCE—4500 BCE - Nottaway, Virginia, North Carolina
- OccaneechiOccaneechiThe Occaneechi are Native Americans who lived primarily on a large, long Occoneechee Island and east of the confluence of the Dan and Roanoke Rivers, near current day Clarksville, Virginia in the 17th century...
(Siouan), Virginia - OconeeOconeeOconee may refer to:* the Oconee tribe, Hitchiti speakers that became part of the Seminole and Creek nations* the Oconee War* the Oconee Nuclear Generating Station in South CarolinaOconi was the name of a branch of the Timucua tribe in Florida....
, Georgia, Florida - OfoOFOOfo may refer to:*Orbiting Frog Otolith*Ofo Language an indigenous language of the lower Mississippi Valley....
, Arkansas and Mississippi, eastern Tennessee - Okchai (Ogchay), central Alabama
- OkelousaOkelousaThe Okelousa are Native American people originally from the Southern United States . The name is taken from the Chocktaw word for "black water"-External links:***...
, Louisiana - OpelousasAppalousaThe Appalousa were Native Americans who had occupied the area around Opelousas, Louisiana before European contact.The name Opelousas has been thought to have many meanings, but the one most commonly accepted is "Blackleg", possibly because the tribe painted or stained their legs a dark color...
, Louisiana - Osochee (Oswichee, Usachi, Oosécha), Creek Confederacy, Alabama
- Pacara, Florida
- Pakana (Pacâni, Pagna, Pasquenan, Pak-ká-na, Pacanas), central Alabama, later Texas
- PamlicoPamlicoThe Pamlico were a Native American people of North Carolina. They spoke an Algonquian language also known as Pamlico or Carolina Algonquian.- Geography :...
, North Carolina - PamunkeyPamunkeyThe Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...
, Virginia - PascagoulaPascagoulaThe Pasacagoula were an indigenous group living in coastal Mississippi on the Pascagoula River....
, Mississippi coast - Patiri, southeastern Texas
- Pee DeePee Dee (tribe)The Pee Dee tribe are a nation of Native Americans of the southeast United States, especially the Low Country of present-day South Carolina. Several tribes are recognized by the state, although none has federal recognition. The Pee Dee River and the Pee Dee region of South Carolina were named for...
(Pedee), South Carolina and North Carolina - PensacolaPensacola peopleThe Pensacola were a Native American people who lived in the western part of what is now the Florida Panhandle from the time of first contact with Europeans until early in the 18th century. They spoke a Muskogean language. They are the source of the name of Pensacola Bay and the city of Pensacola...
, Florida panhandle and southern Alabama - Potoskeet, North Carolina
- QuinipissaQuinipissaThe Quinipissa were an indigenous group living on the lower Mississippi River, in present day Louisiana, as reported by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1682....
, southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi - Rappahannock TribeRappahannock TribeThe Rappahannock are one of the eleven state-recognized Native American tribes in Virginia. They are made up of descendants of several small Algonquian-speaking tribes who merged in the 17th century.-17th century:...
, Virginia - SaludaSaludaSaluda may refer to:* Saluda, Indiana* Saluda, North Carolina* Saluda, South Carolina* Saluda County, South Carolina* Saluda, Virginia* Saluda people, a Native-American Indian tribe formerly in South Carolina* Saluda River, in South Carolina...
(Saludee, Saruti), South Carolina - SanteeSantee tribeThe Santee Indian Organization, a remnant tribe, was officially recognized by the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs, January 27, 2006. Historically it was a small tribe , speaking a Siouan language and centered in the area of the present town of Santee, South Carolina...
(Seretee, Sarati, Sati, Sattees), South Carolina (no relation to Santee Sioux), South Carolina - Santa Luces, Florida
- SaponiSaponiSaponi is one of the eastern Siouan-language tribes, related to the Tutelo, Occaneechi, Monacan, Manahoac and other eastern Siouan peoples. Its ancestral homeland was in North Carolina and Virginia. The tribe was long believed extinct, as its members migrated north to merge with other tribes...
, North Carolina, Virginia - SauraSauraThe Saura were a tribe of Native Americans who lived in the Piedmont area of North Carolina near the Sauratown Mountains, east of Pilot Mountain and north of the Yadkin River. They were believed to have spoken a Siouan language....
North Carolina - Sawokli (Sawakola, Sabacola, Sabacôla, Savacola), southern Alabama and Florida panhandle
- Saxapahaw (Sissipahua, Shacioes), North Carolina
- Seminole, Florida and Oklahoma
- Sewee (Suye, Joye, Xoye, Soya), South Carolina coast
- Shakori, North Carolina
- Shoccoree, North Carolina, possibly Virginia
- Stegarake, Virginia
- Stuckanox (Stukanox), Virginia
- Sugeree (Sagarees, Sugaws, Sugar, Succa), North Carolina and South Carolina
- Surruque, east central Florida
- Suteree (Sitteree, Sutarees, Sataree), North Carolina
- TaensaTaensaThe Taensa were a people of northeastern Louisiana. They lived on Lake Saint Joseph west of the Mississippi River, between the Yazoo River and Saint Catherine Creek...
, Mississippi - Talapoosa, Creek Confederacy, Alabama
- Tawasa, Alabama
- TequestaTequestaThe Tequesta Native American tribe, at the time of first European contact, occupied an area along the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida...
, southeastern coastal Florida - Terocodame, Texas and Mexico
- Codam
- Hieroquodame
- Oodame
- Perocodame
- Teroodame
- TimucuaTimucuaThe Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the...
, Florida and Georgia- AcueraAcueraAcuera was reported to be the tribal headsman of a community of indigenous people of the same name. The Acuera were a Timucua people who flourished, in the north central region what is now called Florida, at the time of European arrival in the 16th century but, after fiercely defending their...
, central Florida - Agua Fresca (or Aqua Dulce or Freshwater), interior northeast Florida
- Arapaha, north central Florida and south central Georgia?
- Cascangue, coastal southeast Georgia
- Icafui (or Icafi), coastal southeast Georgia
- MocamaMocamaThe Mocama were a Native American people who lived in the coastal areas of what are now northern Florida and southeastern Georgia. A Timucua group, they spoke the dialect known as Mocama, the best-attested dialect of the Timucua language. Their territory extended from about the Altamaha River in...
(or Tacatacuru), coastal northeast Florida and coastal southeast Georgia - Northern UtinaNorthern UtinaThe Northern Utina, also known as the Timucua or simply Utina, were a Timucua tribe of northern Florida. They lived north of the Santa Fe River and east of the Suwanee River, and spoke a dialect of the Timucuan language known as "Timucua proper". They appear to have been closely associated with the...
north central Florida - Ocale, central Florida
- Oconi, interior southeast Georgia
- PotanoPotanoThe Potano tribe lived in north-central Florida at the time of first European contact. Their territory included what is now Alachua County, the northern half of Marion County and the western part of Putnam County. This territory corresponds to that of the Alachua culture, which preceded the...
, north central Florida - SaturiwaSaturiwaThe Saturiwa were a Timucua chiefdom centered around the mouth of the St. Johns River in what is now Jacksonville, Florida. They were the largest and best attested chiefdom of the Timucua subgroup known as the Mocama, who spoke the Mocama dialect of Timucuan and lived in the coastal areas...
, northeast Florida - Tucururu (or Tucuru), central? Florida
- Yufera, coastal southeast Georgia
- Yui (or Ibi), coastal southeast Georgia
- Yustaga, north central Florida
- Acuera
- Tiou (Tioux), Mississippi
- Tocaste, Florida
- TocobagaTocobagaTocobaga was the name of a chiefdom, its chief and its principal town during the 16th century in the area of Tampa Bay. The town was at the northern end of what is now called Old Tampa Bay, an arm of Tampa Bay that extends northward between the present-day city of Tampa and Pinellas County...
, Florida - Tohomé, northwestern Florida and southern Alabama
- Tomahitan, eastern Tennessee
- Topachula, Florida
- TukabatcheeTukabatcheeTukabatchee was one of the four principal towns of the Creek Nation. It was located on the Tallapoosa River in the present-day state of Alabama....
(Tuk-ke-bat-che), Creek Confederacy, Alabama - TuscaroraTuscarora (tribe)The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...
, North Carolina, Virginia, later New York - Tuskegee, see Creek
- TuteloTuteloThe Tutelo were Native people living above the Fall Line in present-day Virginia and West Virginia, speaking a Siouan dialect of the Tutelo language thought to be similar to that of their neighbors, the Monacan and Manahoac nations...
, Virginia - TunicaTunica peopleThe Tunica people were a group of linguistically and culturally related Native American tribes in the Mississippi River Valley, which include the Tunica ; the Yazoo; the Koroa ; and possibly the Tioux...
or (Tonica, Tonnica, and Thonnica), Arkansas and Mississippi - Utiza, Florida
- UzitaUzitaUzita was the name of a 16th century chiefdom, of its chief town and of its chief. The chief town was near the mouth of the Little Manatee River on the south side of Tampa Bay, Florida. The territory of Uzita was said to extend from the Little Manatee River to Sarasota Bay. Uzita were part of the...
, Tampa Bay, Florida - Vicela, Florida
- Viscaynos, Florida
- WaccamawWaccamawThe Waccamaw Indians of South Carolina, distinct from the Waccamaw Siouan Indians of North Carolina, are the first state-recognized tribe of Native Americans in South Carolina...
, South Carolina - WatereeWatereeThe Wateree were one of the first groups of Native Americans in the interior of the East Coast to encounter Europeans. They were recorded in 1567, by Spanish captain Juan Pardo's scribe Bandera for his expeditions through the interior of the Carolinas. They were named the Guatari in Bandera's...
(Guatari, Watterees), North Carolina - Waxhaw (Waxsaws, Wisack, Wisacky, Weesock, Flathead), North Carolina and South Carolina
- WestoWestoThe Westo were a Native American tribe encountered in the Southeast by Europeans in the 17th century. They probably spoke an Iroquoian language. The Spanish called these people Chichimeco , and, Virginia colonists may have called the same people Richahecrian...
, Virginia and South Carolina - WinyawWinyawThe Winyaw Indians were a tribe living near Winyah Bay, Black River, and the lower course of the Pee Dee River in South Carolina...
, South Carolina coast - Woccon, North Carolina
- YamaseeYamaseeThe Yamasee were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans that lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida.-History:...
, Florida, Georgia - YazooYazoo tribeThe Yazoo were a tribe of the Native American Tunica people historically located on the lower course of Yazoo River, Mississippi. It was closely connected to other Tunica peoples, especially the Tunica, Koroa, and possibly the Tioux....
, southeastern tip of Arkansas, eastern Louisiana, Mississippi - YuchiYuchiFor the Chinese surname 尉迟, see Yuchi.The Yuchi, also spelled Euchee and Uchee, are a Native American Indian tribe who traditionally lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley in Tennessee in the 16th century. During the 17th century, they moved south to Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina...
(Euchee), central Tennessee, later Oklahoma
Contemporary federally recognized Southeastern Woodlands tribes
- Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas
- Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma
- Caddo Nation of Oklahoma
- Catawba Indian Nation, South Carolina
- Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma
- Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma
- Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana
- Choctaw Nation of OklahomaChoctaw Nation of OklahomaThe Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland comprising twelve tribal districts. The Choctaw Nation maintains a special relationship with both the United States and Oklahoma governments...
- Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana
- Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina
- Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Louisiana
- Kialegee Tribal Town, Oklahoma
- Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida
- Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi
- Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma
- Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama
- Seminole Tribe of FloridaSeminole Tribe of FloridaThe Seminole Tribe of Florida is a federally recognized Seminole tribe based in the U.S. state of Florida. Together with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, it is one of three federally recognized Seminole entities...
- Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Oklahoma
- Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana
- United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma
See also
- Classification of indigenous peoples of the AmericasClassification of indigenous peoples of the AmericasClassification of indigenous peoples of the Americas is based upon cultural regions, geography, and linguistics. Anthropologists have named various cultural regions, with fluid boundaries, that are generally agreed upon with some variation...
- Indigenous peoples of Florida
- Northeastern Woodlands tribes
- Stomp danceStomp danceThe Stomp Dance is performed by various Eastern Woodland tribes and Native American communities, including the Muscogee, Yuchi, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Delaware, Miami, Caddo, Ottawa, Peoria, Shawnee, Seminole, Natchez, and Seneca-Cayuga tribes...
- Trail of TearsTrail of TearsThe Trail of Tears is a name given to the forced relocation and movement of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830...