Oklahoma Early History

First Early Inhabitants

Early history examines the archaeological record that tells the story of the first inhabitants of Oklahoma. Learn about the history and culture of the first inhabitants, and what lessons it might teach us about the early history of Oklahoma.

• 500-1300 AD - Spiro Indians, linked to the Aztecs, thrived and left burial mounds filled with exquisite artwork and clues to their way of life. A museum displaying their artifacts is near Spiro.
• 1012 -Viking explorers visited eastern Oklahoma and left their mark near the town of Heavener.

Before the white man entered the region that is now the state of Oklahoma, several tribes of Indians lived in or ranged over the land. Plains Indians including the Kiowa, Apache, Ute, and Comanche occupied the western part of the region. They were nomadic hunters who followed the huge herds of buffalo that grazed on the grasslands.

Farther to the east, the more sedentary Wichita Indians lived in houses thatched with grass and cultivated crops such as corn, beans, pumpkins, and melons. The Wichita are descendants of a prehistoric culture known as the Earth House People.

Of the original tribes which ranged throughout Oklahoma when Europeans first began to explore the area, only the Ute remain. A large portion of Oklahoma’s Native American population – the largest in the nation - is made up of descendants of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes. These five tribes were forcibly moved to Oklahoma by the United States government between 1820 and 1842.