Introduction The Choctaw are actually comprised of three different and distinct con temporary, federally recognized tribes that share a common Muskogean lan- guage. The three groups have what might be considered a common history up to 1830, even though there were likely regional differences even from the beginning. Much of the common history of the groups is derived from the deep archaeological past, but the Choctaw tell three stories about how they came into being. One version of the Choctaw origin story goes thus: A very long time ago the first creation of people was in Nanih Waiya, and there they were made, and there they came forth. The Musco- gees (Creeks) first came out of Nanih Waiya, and they dried them- selves on Nanih Waiya’s earthen rampart, and when they got dry, they went to the east. On this side of the Tombigbee, there they rested, and as they were smoking tobacco, they dropped some fire. The Cherokees next came out of Nanih Waiya. And they dried themselves on Nanih Waiya’s earthen rampart, and when they got dry, they went and followed the trail of the elder tribe. And at the place where the Muscogees had stopped and rested, and where they had smoked tobacco, there was fire and the woods were burnt, and the Cherokees could not find the Muscogees’ trail, so they got lost and turned aside and went north, and there, toward the north, they set- tled and made a people.
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