Creek Indians

              Prior to the early eighteenth century, most of Georgia was home to many of the groups re centered around plazas (pascova) used for dancing, religious ceremonies and games.  Plazas in the towns also contained a rotunda -- a round building made of poles and mud used for council meetings -- and an open-air summer council house. The people in the villages attended ceremonies in the towns with which they were associated. shared the same way of life, language, village lay-out, and types of ceremonies. The Creek people lived in large permanent towns or Italwa with smaller outlying villages. Italwa we to Native Americans belonging to a southeastern alliance known as the "Creek Confederacy". According to Creek traditions, the Confederacy migrated to the southeastern United States from the Southwest. The confederacy was probably formed as a defense mechanism against other large groups to the north. The name "Creek" came from the shortening of the "Ocheese Creek" Indians, a name given by the English kindred's to the Native American people living along the Ocheese Creek (or Okmulgee River). In time, the name was applied to all groups of the confederacy.

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Surrounding the plaza area were the family homes. Towns were governed by a Chief, or "Mico", an assistant chief, and a "Mico Apokta", who acted as speaker for the Chief, announcing his decisions to the people.

    These characteristics are very similar to what is known about the prehistoric Mississippian Culture who occupied the Etowah Mounds village.

    When a Creek town reached a population of about 300-700 people they would split, with about half moving to a new, nearby site. The new town would build its ceremonial center and develop its own villages, but would also retain a "mother-daughter" relationship with its original town. This is how the confederacies were formed. The modern capitol of the Creek Nation is in Okmulgee, OK. By the 1700's Creek towns began to spread. At the end of this century it was not uncommon for each town to have outlying homes separated by a mile or more of crops.