<P> The Choctaw ( In the Choctaw language , Chahta ) are a Native American people originally occupying what is now the Southeastern United States ( modern - day Alabama , Florida , Mississippi , and Louisiana ) . Their Choctaw language belongs to the Muskogean language family group . Hopewell and Mississippian cultures , who lived throughout the east of the Mississippi River valley and its tributaries . About 1,700 years ago , the Hopewell people built Nanih Waiya , a great earthwork mound located in what is central present - day Mississippi . It is still considered sacred by the Choctaw . The early Spanish explorers of the mid-16th century in the Southeast encountered Mississippian - culture villages and chiefs . The anthropologist John R. Swanton suggested that the Choctaw derived their name from an early leader . Henry Halbert , a historian , suggests that their name is derived from the Choctaw phrase Hacha hatak ( river people ) . </P>
<P> The Choctaw ( In the Choctaw language , Chahta ) are a Native American people originally occupying what is now the Southeastern United States ( modern - day Alabama , Florida , Mississippi , and Louisiana ) . Their Choctaw language belongs to the Muskogean language family group . Hopewell and Mississippian cultures , who lived throughout the east of the Mississippi River valley and its tributaries . About 1,700 years ago , the Hopewell people built Nanih Waiya , a great earthwork mound located in what is central present - day Mississippi . It is still considered sacred by the Choctaw . The early Spanish explorers of the mid-16th century in the Southeast encountered Mississippian - culture villages and chiefs . The anthropologist John R. Swanton suggested that the Choctaw derived their name from an early leader . Henry Halbert , a historian , suggests that their name is derived from the Choctaw phrase Hacha hatak ( river people ) . </P>
what part of the country did the choctaw live in
what part of the country did the choctaw live in
originally occupying what is now the Southeastern United States ( modern - day Alabama , Florida , Mississippi , and Louisiana )
originally occupying what is now the Southeastern United States ( modern - day Alabama , Florida , Mississippi , and Louisiana )