Yuchi

The Yuchi people are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma, though their original homeland was in the southeastern United States.

In the 16th century, the Yuchi lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley. By the late 17th century, they had migrated south to Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, settling near the Muscogee Creek people. Some also migrated to the Florida panhandle. After suffering heavy losses from epidemic diseases and warfare in the 18th century, the remaining Yuchi bands were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory in the 1830s, alongside their allies, the Muscogee Creek.

Today, the Yuchi primarily reside in northeastern Oklahoma, where many are enrolled citizens of the federally recognized Muscogee (Creek) Nation. They continue to maintain a distinct cultural identity, with some members still speaking the Yuchi language, a linguistic isolate.

The term Yuchi translated to "over there sit/live" or "situated yonder." Their autonym, or name for themselves, Tsoyaha or Coyaha, means "Children of the Sun." Their language is an isolate. The Shawnee called them Tahokale, and the Cherokee call them Aniyutsi.

At the time of first European contact, the Yuchi people lived in what is now eastern Tennessee. In 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto described them as a powerful tribe known as the Uchi, that were also associated with the Chisca tribe.

Both historical and archaeological evidence exists documenting several Yuchi towns of the 18th century. Among these was Chestowee in present-day Bradley County, Tennessee. In 1714, instigated by two English fur traders from South Carolina, the Cherokee attacked and destroyed Chestowee. The Cherokee were prepared to carry their attacks further to Yuchi settlements south on the Savannah River, but the colonial government of South Carolina did not condone this. The Cherokee destruction of Chestowee marked their emergence as a major power in the Southeast.^{[page needed]}

Yuchi towns were later documented in western South Carolina and northern Georgia, where the tribe had migrated to escape pressure from the Cherokee. "Mount Pleasant" was noted as being on the Savannah River in present-day Effingham County, Georgia, from about 1722 to about 1750. To take advantage of trade, the British established a trading post and small military garrison there, which they called Mount Pleasant.

"Euchee Town" (also called Uche Town), a large settlement on the Chattahoochee River, was documented from the middle to late 18th century. It was located near Euchee (or Uche) Creek, about ten miles downriver from the Muscogee Creek settlement of Coweta Old Town. The naturalist William Bartram visited Euchee Town in 1778. In his letters he ranked it as the largest and most compact Indian town he had ever encountered, with large, well-built houses. US Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins also visited the town and described the Yuchi as "more orderly and industrious" than the other tribes of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy. The Yuchi began to move on, some into the Florida panhandle.