<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Related ethnic groups </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole peoples </Td> </Tr> <P> The Chickasaw (/ ˈtʃɪkəsɔː / CHIK - ə - saw) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands . Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee . They are of the Muskogean language family and are federally recognized as the Chickasaw Nation . </P> <P> Sometime prior to the first European contact, the Chickasaw migrated from western regions and moved east of the Mississippi River, where they settled mostly in present - day northeast Mississippi and into Lawrence County, Tennessee . That is where they encountered European explorers and traders, having relationships with French, English and Spanish during the colonial years . The United States considered the Chickasaw one of the Five Civilized Tribes, as they adopted numerous practices of European Americans . Resisting European - American settlers encroaching on their territory, they were forced by the US to sell their country in 1832 Treaty of Pontotoc Creek and move to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) during the era of Indian Removal in the 1830s . </P>

Where did the chickasaw live before the trail of tears