Oklahoma Tribes

The state of Oklahoma has the third largest native american population of any US state, exceeded by only California and Arizona. Thirty-eight federally recognized indian tribes have their headquarters in Oklahoma, and according to the 1990 US Census, members of sixty-seven tribes reside there. More than 25 Native American languages are spoken in Oklahoma, the most of any state.

Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th largest state. Its name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people." Choctaw Chief Allen Wright suggested the name in 1866 during treaty negotiations. Equivalent to the English word Indian, okla humma was a phrase in the Choctaw language used to describe the Native American race as a whole. Formed from Indian Territory on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was the 46th state to enter the union. Its citizens are known as Oklahomans, and the state's capital and largest city is Oklahoma City. The state nickname is the Sooners, after the claim jumpers who entered Oklahoma Territory "sooner" than they were supposed to during the Great Land Rush.

Evidence exists that native peoples traveled through Oklahoma as early as the last ice age, but the first permanent Oklahoma tribes settled in communities with mound-like structures near the Arkansas border between 850 and 1450 AD.