Hitchiti ( ) was a tribal town in what is now the Southeast United States. It was first known as part of the Apalachicola Province, an association of tribal towns along the Chattahoochee River. Shortly after 1690, the towns of Apalachicola Province moved to the central part of present-day Georgia, with Hitchiti joining most of those towns along Ochese Creek (now named the Ocmulgee River). In 1715, most of the towns on Ochese Creek, including Hitchiti, moved back to the Chattahoochee River, where the town remained until its people were forced to move to the Indian Territory as part of the Trail of Tears. Hitchiti was one of several towns whose people spoke the Hitchiti language. Name The Spanish recorded the name of the town as "Achito", "Ahachito", "Euchitto", and, possibly, "Ayfitichi", while it was known to the English as "Echete", "Echeetes", and "Hitchiti". According to Gatschet and Swanton , "Hitchiti" was derived from Atcik-ha′ta or Ahi′tcita. Hitchiti was only one of several tribal towns whose members primarily spoke the Hitchiti language. Other Hitchiti-speaking towns included Apalachicola, Oconi, Osuchi, and Ocmulque, and possibly Chiacahuti, Talipaste, Ylapi, Tacusa, and Sabacola. The people of those towns were collectively referred to as "Hitchiti". Early history The tribal town of Hitchiti first appeared in Spanish reports (as Ahachito) in 1675 as part of the Apalachicola Province along the Chattahoochee River. In the first half of the 17th century, a number of towns were situated along of the Chattahoochee River in Alabama and Georgia, from the south of the falls at present-day Columbus to Barbour County, Alabama. Archaeological evidence indicates that the material culture of the 17th century lower Chattahoochee region had developed in place over several centuries. The ancestors of at least some of the people in the area may have been there as early as 12,000 years ago. A variant of the Lamar regional culture, with influences from the Fort Walton culture to the south, developed in the towns along the Chattahoochee between 1300 and 1400. A major change in ceramic types at sites along the Chattahoochee occurred between 1550 and 1650. There is also evidence of a large drop in the population in the area. The de Soto expedition in the 1540s did not enter the Chattahoochee Valley, but appears to have caused many deaths there due to epidemics of European and African diseases introduced by the Spaniards. Some archaeologists state that