The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the largest of the three federally recognized Seminole governments, which include the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. Its members are descendants of the 3,000 Seminole who were forcibly removed from Florida to Indian Territory, along with 800 Black Seminoles, after the Second Seminole War. The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is headquartered in Wewoka within its reservation. Of 18,800 enrolled tribal members, 13,533 live within the state of Oklahoma. The tribe began to revive its government in 1936 under the Indian Reorganization Act. While its reservation was originally larger, today the tribal jurisdictional area covers Seminole County, Oklahoma, within which it has a variety of properties.

The history of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma derives from the ethnogenesis of the tribe in Florida. The Seminole were composed of Native American peoples who migrated into Florida after most of the original indigenous tribes had declined or moved.

The Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine in 1565, the first permanent settlement in Florida after at least 60 years of sporadic Spanish visitation, he discovered complex indigenous cultures whose people lived by hunting, fishing, farming and raising stock. Tribes from three different basic language groups: the Timuquan, Calusan and Muskhogean, occupied Florida and lived in small and well-organized villages.

Today the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is located in Seminole County, Oklahoma. The entire county of Seminole is a portion of the original Seminole Nation jurisdiction, and covers approximately 633 square miles. The county is a checkerboard of tribal trust property, Indian allotments, restricted Indian lands, and dependent Indian communities. Native Americans make up 22% of the population of Seminole County.

Stories

Men Visit the Sky
Milky Way
Seminole Constitution

Legends of the Seminoles

Osceola

Seminole Leaders

Aseola

Billy Bowlegs

Chittee Yoholo

Foke Luste Hajo

Itcho Tustinnuggee

Julcee-Mathla

Micanopy

Neamathla

Tukoseemathla

Yaha Hajo

The Seminole Nation Tribal Complex is located in the town of Wewoka, Oklahoma. Wewoka lies at the junction of U.S. 270 and Oklahoma Highway 56 approximately 30 miles southeast of the town of Shawnee. Wewoka is also the site of several Seminole Nation programs and services. The Mekusukey Mission (which includes tribal offices, recreational areas, industrial and commercial areas, and a cultural area) is located 2 miles south and 2 miles west of the city of Seminole. The Seminole were removed to Indian Territory following the Treaty of Payne’s Landing in 1832. They were eventually granted a reservation, but after subsequent land cessations, these lands were allotted following the Seminole Agreement of 1909. Today, the tribe owns 372 acres of federal trust land and approximately 53 acres of fee simple land. An additional 35,443 allotted acres supplement the tribal land base.

Links

Ah-Tha-Thi-Ki Museum

Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation

History of the Seminole Nation

Miccosukee Seminole Nation

Seminole Nation Museum

Seminole Nation in Indian Territory
(Geneology)

Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

Seminole Tribe of Florida

Unconquered Seminoles

 The Seminole are classified among the Muskogean peoples, a group of remnant tribes having joined in forming this division in Florida during the border wars between the Spanish and the English colonists on the Florida-Carolina frontier in the 18th century. The name Seminole, first applied to the tribe about 1778, is from the Creek word 'semino le', meaning 'runaway,' meaning emigrants who left the main body and settled elsewhere.

Miccosukee Seminole Nation

Seminole Trails of Tears

Indigenous People of Florida

Buffalo Soldiers & Indian Wars

African-Native American Web site