Starting with the basic archaeological evidence and the written records of early Spanish and English visitors, Patricia Galloway traces the likely origin of the Choctaw people, their movements and interactions with other native groups in the South, and their response to Euro-American contacts. She thereby creates the first careful and complete history of the tribe in the early modern period. This rich and detailed work- winner of the Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize- not only provides much new information on the Choctaws but illuminates the entire field of colonial-era southeastern history and provides a model for ethnographic studies.