Georgia Tribes

FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED TRIBES IN GEORGIA
(Federal List Last Updated 5/16)

NONE

STATE RECOGNIZED TRIBES
(Not recognized by the Federal Governemnt)

Cherokee Indians of Georgia, Inc. Letter of Intent to Petition 08/08/1977

Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokees, Inc. Letter of Intent to Petition 01/09/1979; last submission February 2002; ready for Acknowledge review. (There is also an unrecognized tribe that has the same name as this State-recognized tribe: Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokees, Inc. (II).

Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe East of the Mississippi, Inc. Letter of Intent to Petition 02/02/1972; Declined to Acknowledge 12/21/1981 (46 FR 51652).Denied federal recognition

UNRECOGNIZED / PETITIONING TRIBES

American Cherokee Confederacy

Cane Break Band of Eastern Cherokees. Letter of Intent to Petition 01/09/1979; rejoined Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokees, Inc. (I), notification 7/16/1997

Chickamauga Cherokee Band of Northwest Georgia

Georgia Band of Chickasaw Indians (formerly Mississippi Band of Chickasaw Indians). Letter of Intent to Petition 9/15/1998.

Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokees, Inc. (II). (This is an unrecognized tribe that has the same name as a State-recognized tribe: Georgia Tribe of

Eastern Cherokees, Inc. (I).)

South-Eastern Indian Nation. Incomplete Letter of Intent to Petition 01/05/1996; Incomplete Letter of Intent withdrawn at petitioner’s request 11/10/1997.

Southeastern Cherokee Confederacy, Inc. Letter of Intent to Petition 03/09/1978; Declined to Acknowledge 11/25/1985 (50 FR 39047). Became the American Cherokee Confederacy on 1/31/1996, with a breakaway group Southeastern Cherokee Council forming on the same day.

Southeastern Cherokee Council.

Tama Indian Tribe

The Yamassee Native American Moors of the Creek Nation. Letter of Intent to Petition 4/27/1999.

FIRST CONTACT TO PRESENT

Native American tribes had established cultures throughout the Georgia region before European contact.

The Creek Indians lived in the south and the Cherokee occupied the northern part of the state when Hernando de Soto, the Spanish explorer, first traveled parts of Georgia in 1540.

By 1566, forts were built along the Atlantic coast, including the first in Georgia on St. Catherine’s Island. However, no permanent European settlements were established until much later.

PRE-CONTACT GEORGIA TRIBES
PRE-HISTORIC CULTURES IN GEORGIA

1000 AD – 1550 AD – Moundbuilders occupied this area until the first European settlers arrived.

The Moundbuilders were the earliest inhabitants of what is now the state of Georgia. They were a group of Indians whose leaders lived in temples atop large earthen mounds.

Their civilization was located in the northwest and southern portions of the state. The Moundbuilders occupied this area from 1000 AD until approximately 1550 AD when the first European settlers arrived.

RESOURCES
Sources of records on US Indian tribes