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Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
The first nation removed on the Trail of Tears
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's reservation covers about 10,900 square miles of southeastern Oklahoma, a land of pine-covered mountains, lakes and river valleys. Under the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830, the Choctaw gave up their remaining homeland in Mississippi, and from 1831 to 1833 they became the first of the Southeastern nations removed west on the Trail of Tears. The Nation's ceremonial capital is Tuskahoma, while its government works from Durant, where it is the largest employer.
With more than 230,000 citizens, the Choctaw Nation is one of the largest tribes in the country, and in 2021 an Oklahoma appeals court applied McGirt v. Oklahoma to confirm its reservation was never dissolved. Two episodes are especially remembered. In 1847, during the Irish potato famine, Choctaw people collected about $170 to send to Ireland. And in World War I, Choctaw soldiers used their language to send messages the Germans could not read, the first American code talkers. The Nation is distinct from the Mississippi and Jena bands of Choctaw.