What is Chickasaw?
{{Infobox ethnic group | group= Chickasaw |native_name =Chikashsha | flag = Flag of the Chickasaw Nation.svg | image_caption = <small>Top row: Young Chickasaw man, [[Tom Cole]], Winchester Colbert<br />Middle row: [[Holmes Colbert]], [[John Herrington]], J. D. James<br />Bottom row: Mary Hightower (Shunahoyah), Ashkehenaniew, Annie Guy </small> | population= 38,000<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050211064810/http://www.census.gov/statab/www/sa04aian.pdf No Job Name<!-- Bot generated title -->] </ref> | popplace= {{flag|United States}} ([[Oklahoma]], formerly [[Mississippi]], [[Alabama]], and [[Tennessee]]) | rels= Traditional tribal religion, [[Christianity]] ([[Protestantism]]) | langs= [[English language|English]], [[Chickasaw language|Chickasaw]] | related= [[Choctaw]], [[Muscogee people|Muscogee Creek]], and [[Seminole]] peoples }} The '''Chickasaw''' are a [[Native Americans|Native American]] people. They are from the [[Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands|Southeastern Woodlands]] of [[North America]]. Before Europeans came to America, they lived in the area of [[Mississippi]], [[Alabama]], and [[Tennessee]]. They speak the [[Chickasaw language]]. This language is in the [[Muskogean languages|Muskogean]] [[language family]]. The Chickasaw are [[Federally recognized tribe|federally recognized]] as the [[Chickasaw Nation]]. The Chickasaw first lived in western North America. Before the first [[European colonization of the Americas|European contact]], they moved to east of the [[Mississippi River]]. They settled mostly in what is now northeast Mississippi. They were living here when European explorers and traders came. They had relationships with the [[French colonial empire|French]], [[British Empire|English]] and [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] during the colonial years. The United States considered the Chickasaw one of the [[Five Civilized Tribes]]. The tribe had advanced social structures and did many things that European Americans did. The US forced them to sell their land in 1832.