Swanton's report was taken directly from the Choctaw people as they recounted a story of their early history regarding a journey to seek a new homeland.

[9] Henry Halbert, a historian, suggests that the name is derived from the Choctaw phrase Hacha hatak (river people).

This story explains that when the ancient South American homeland of the Choctaw people became overcrowded many of them sailed across the sea to the land of present-day Alabama and Mississippi in North America.

The original peoples involved in this coalescence likely formed in Alabama and were made up of populations such as the Plaquemine culture.

Technological advances have provided breakthroughs in the genetic history of the Indigenous peoples of North and South America.

Revised additions include contributions from American historian Henry S. Halbert, who was also a fluent Choctaw speaker, and Anthropologist John R. Swanton.

The written Choctaw language is based upon the English version of the Roman alphabet and was developed in conjunction with the "civilization program" of the United States in the early 19th century.

The following table is an example of Choctaw text and its translation: English language: That all free men, when they form a special compact, are equal in rights, and that no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive, separate public emolument or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services.

[14] The traditional Choctaw belief system evolved out of the North American Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.

[16] Anthropologist theorize that the Mississippian ancestors of the Choctaw placed the sun at the center of their cosmological system.

If the day of a conference were cloudy or rainy, Choctaws delayed the meeting until the sun returned, usually on the pretext that they needed more time to discuss particulars.

John Swanton wrote, "an old Choctaw informed Wright that before the arrival of the missionaries, they had no conception of prayer.

He added, "I have indeed heard it asserted by some, that anciently their hopaii, or prophets, on some occasions were accustomed to address the sun ..."[15] Choctaw culture as it's understood today has its historical roots going back to the 16th century.

From at least the 16th century until the present-day a definable Choctaw culture has been expressed through rich traditions of song, dance, dress, beading, pottery, basketry, and stickball.

[18] Choctaw people maintain their ancient traditions in their personal and daily lives as well as participating in community events.

The traditional Choctaw tribal structure prioritized two distinct moieties: Imoklashas (elders) and Inhulalatas (youth).

Nanih Waiya is a great earthwork platform mound located in central-east Mississippi.

This site remains a place of female pilgrimage for prayer, song, and dance to this day.

Anthropologist John R. Swanton made his contribution through his 1931 book Source material for the social and ceremonial life of the Choctaw Indians.

[23] In Ireland, the generosity of the Choctaw nation during their Great Famine in the mid-nineteenth century is remembered to this day and recently marked by a sculpture, 'Kindred Spirits', in a park at Midleton, Cork.

[28] When disputes arose between Choctaw communities, stickball provided a civil way to settle issues.

The United States systematically obtained Choctaw land for conventional European-American settlement through treaties, legislation, and threats of warfare.

Eventually, these different groups would create distinct, independent alliances with nearby European powers.

[31] Early Spanish explorers of the mid-16th century in the Southeast encountered ancestral Mississippian culture villages and chiefs.

After the United States was formed and its settlers began to move into the Southeast, the Choctaw were among the Five Civilized Tribes, who adopted many of their ways.

[33][34] The Choctaw government in Indian Territory maintained the tri-union tradition of their homeland by having three governmental districts.

[38] During the American Civil War, the Choctaw in both Indian Territory and Mississippi mostly sided with the Confederate States of America.

Under the late 19th-century Dawes Act and Curtis Acts, the US federal government broke up tribal land holdings and dissolved tribal governments in Indian Territory in order to extinguish Indian land claims before the admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907.

Since the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Choctaw people in three areas have reconstituted their governments and gained federal recognition.

According to B. R. Carroll the Choctaw were reckoned by the French to be the most numerous nation of Indians in America and consisted of many thousand men.