Natchez Nation

The Natchez people were a Native American tribe that originally lived in the area that is now Mississippi and Louisiana. They were part of the larger Mississippi culture and spoke a language of the Muskogean language family.

The Natchez had a complex and hierarchical society, with a ruling class of nobles and a large population of commoners. They were known for their agricultural skills and for building large, flat-topped pyramids as ceremonial and burial structures.

The Natchez were encountered by Europeans in the early 1700s, and were quickly drawn into trade and conflict with the French and Spanish colonizers. The tribe was decimated by disease and warfare, and by 1730, the Natchez were effectively destroyed as a political entity.

Many of the survivors were sold into slavery or forcibly relocated to other tribes. Today, Natchez descendants are enrolled in the Natchez Nation and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.