Myths of the World

The Five Civilized Tribes were a group of  Native American  nations that were officially and unofficially called such to collectively designate the  Cherokee ,  Chickasaw ,  Choctaw ,  Creek , and  Seminole  tribes. The term was applied by Anglo-European settlers during the colonial and early federal periods because these tribes had adopted many of the colonists’ customs and generally had good relations with the white settlers. The term appears in the reports of the  Indian  Office as early as 1876, when the agent reported that “each tribe had a constitutional government, with legislative, judicial, and executive departments, conducted upon the same plan as our State governments, the entire expenses of which, are paid out of their own funds.” However, at that time, there was no court with jurisdiction to try cases where an Indian was one party and a citizen of the United States or a corporation was the other. These five tribes differed ...

The Tututni tribe is a  Northwest tribe  that was located in the southwest portion of Oregon prior to American expansion.  They spoke the Athabascan language and were part of a group of Athabascan-speaking tribes who were located throughout southwest Oregon.  The Tututni tribe had existed for many centuries prior to European contact.   While the British, Spanish, and American ships explored the coast of Oregon for many years, the first recorded contact with the Tututni tribe came when the   famous explorer   Captain George Vancouver , arrived in 1792 (300 years after   Christopher Columbus ). He sailed into the region and met the tribe. Merchants traded with the Tututni for sea otter pelts, and the interaction was peaceful; however, like all Native American tribes, their contact with Europeans came at a cost. Infectious diseases that were carried by the explorers were transmitted to the tribe, which would eventually result in the deaths of m...