The Choctaw, or Chahta, are a group of American Indians that originally occupied parts of present-day Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. As Europeans colonized the lands to the south and east of the Choctaw's land, the Choctaw frequently found themselves in contact with the Spanish, French, and British. During the French and Indian War, the Choctaw allied with their closest neighbor, the French, but were not involved heavily in the fighting. In November 1763, Choctaw leaders met other American Indian and British colonial leaders at Augusta, Georgia, where they negotiated for peace and better trade relations.

Colonists, and later Americans, continued to encroach westward towards, and later onto, Choctaw lands. The Choctaw allied with the United States during their war against the Creek Confederacy in the 1810s, but in 1831 the U.S. Government forced approximately 15,000 to move west onto a reservation in present-day Oklahoma. A smaller group of Choctaw people remained in Mississippi, where they were often marginalized and discriminated against as compared to their white neighbors.

Today, there are three federally recognized Choctaw tribes: the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, the first being, as of 2022, the third largest federally recognized tribe in the United States.

For more information and links to resources, please see our editorial statement on American Indian terminology.