Alabama (people)

The Alabama or Alibamu (Albaamaha in the Alabama language) are a Southeastern culture people of Native Americans.

History before 1540

The Alabama language is part of the Muskogean language family, as is the language of the Creek and Choctaw people, with whom the Alabama also share cultural features. They were members of the Creek Confederacy. The home lands of the Alabama were on the upper Alabama River.

History after 1540

The Alabama first encountered Europeans when Hernando de Soto arrived in 1540. In the eighteenth century, the French arrived on the Gulf Coast, and built a fort in the area of the Alabama. Despite friendly relations the tribe developed the custom of throwing away scraps of food left behind by a settler and washing everything he had used. A large portion of the Alabama, along with some of the Coushatta people moved westwards to the coast of the Mississippi River in what is now Louisiana, eventually moving on to Texas. Others who remained joined the Creek in the Creek War, and were relocated to the Indian Territory in the 1830s.

Present day Alabama

Texas

The Alabama who relocated to Texas supported Texas independence, and in gratitude, Sam Houston recommended the Texas purchase land for the tribe when their existing land was overtaken by settlers. They merged with the Coushatta to become the present-day Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, whose sovereignty was formally recognized by the federal government in 1987. The current tribal lands are in Polk County, Texas.

Oklahoma

In Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, the Alabama Quassarte Tribal Town was established in 1936. The descendants of the Alabama who live there are linked also to the Muskogee Creek Nation.

Resources

Grant, Bruce. Concise Encyclopedia of the American Indian, Wings Books, New York, 2000 (3rd Edition)
Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York: Checkmark, 1999. ISBN 0-8160-3964-X

External links

Native American tribes

Alibamu | Alabama (Volk) | Alabama (tribu) | Alabama (tribu) | Alabama Indijanci