More Indian tribes live in Oklahoma than in any other state. Many of them are descendants of tribesmen who lived on lands east of the Mississippi, and who were removed to the old Indian Territory that later became Oklahoma as white settlements expanded westward during the early and middle years of the nineteenth century. In their new homes, they became neighbors of the Southern Plains tribes who had long lived on the Oklahoma grasslands.

What is now Oklahoma was Indian country when the Spanish explorer Coronado passed through the area in 1541 in his search for the fabulous cities of Quivira. He met Indians who hunted buffalo on foot, and who transported their portable skincovered tepees and household goods on ingenious A-shaped drags pulled by dogs. By the time the United States acquired Oklahoma as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the Indians of the region owned large herds of Spanish horses. They were recognized as some of the best riders in the world, killing buffalo from horseback with bows and arrows or lances, and raiding distant enemy camps.