US Tribes A to Z (Federally Recognized)

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are a federally recognized tribe which includes the Bitterroot Salish, the Pend d’Oreille and the Kootenai tribes. Their aboriginal territory exceeded 20 million acres at the time of the 1855 Hellgate Treaty.

Two Salish speaking groups, the Upper and Lower Chehalis, are the principle tribes that make up today’s Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation. Some Klallam, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, and Quinault peoples are also members of this federally recognized tribe.

Twelve bands or tribes make up the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation indian tribe. Before the reservation era, each of these were separate tribes with their own culture and language.

The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians trace their ancestry back to the aboriginal inhabitants of the South-Central coast of Oregon. The confederation is made up of three tribes (four Bands): two bands of Coos Tribes: Hanis Coos (Coos Proper), and Miluk Coos; the Lower Umpqua Tribe; and Siuslaw Tribe.

The Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation include members of the Goshute, Paiute and Bannock tribes. They have retained strong ties to their culture and homeland, still depending heavily on wildlife and plant species on and off reservation. Most of the Goshute reside on the 113,000 acre reservation at the base of the Deep Creek mountain range.

Twenty-seven native American tribes make up the modern day tribe known as the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon.  

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon generally include Clatsop, Chinook, Klickitat, Molala, Kalapuya, Tillamook, Alsea, Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua, Coos, Coquelle, Upper Umpqua, Tututni (including all the lower Rogue River Bands and those extending up the coast to Floras Creek and down to Whales Head), Chetco (including all of the villages from Whales Head to the Winchuck River), Tolowa, Takelma (including the Illinois Valley/mid-Rogue River and Cow Creek peoples), Galice/Applegate, and Shasta peoples.

The Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla tribes make up the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The reservation is located near Pendleton, Oregon in northeastern Oregon at the base of the Blue Mountains in the Columbia River Plateau.

The Walla Walla (later called the Warm Springs), Wasco, and Paiute tribes collectively make up the modern day Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. Each tribe has its own unique history and heritage.

The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation includes these bands: Kah-miltpah, Klickitat, Klinquit, Kow-was-say-ee, Li-ay-was,  Oche-Cotes, Palouse, Pesquose, See-ap-Cat, Sk’in-pah, Shyiks, Wisham, Wenachapam, and Yakama.

The Yakamas have lived in Central and South Central Washington since time immemorial. The lands of the Yakama extended in all directions along the Cascade Mountain Range to the Columbia River and beyond.  Tribal elders say their distance of travel sometimes took them as far north as Canada and as far south as California.

The federally recongnized Coqille Indian Tribe is descended from people who inhabited the watersheds of the Coquille River system, a small portion of Coos Bay at the South Slough, and areas north and south of the Coquille River mouth where it enters the ocean at present day Bandon, Oregon. 

The Death Valley Timbi-sha Shoshone Tribe has a 40-acre federal reservation in  Death Valley (Inyo County), in south-central California, near the Nevada border.  This site is commonly known as Indian Village. They also have additional lands in and near Death Valley National Park.

Cortina Indian Rancheria  is a reservation for a federally recognized tribe of Wintun people. It is located about 15 miles west of Arbuckle, California. Wintun is the name generally given to a group of related Native American tribes who live in Northern California, including the Wintu (northern), Nomlaki (central), and Patwin (southern) tribes.

The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana is a federally recognized Native American Tribe. The Coushatta people live primarily in Louisiana, with most living in Allen Parish, just north of the town of Elton, Louisiana, and east of Kinder, Louisiana.

The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians located in South Western Oregon is one of nine federally recognized Indian tribal governments in the State of Oregon.  

The Cowlitz Indian Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of ancient Northwest Coast Salish people in Southwestern Washington state.

The Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians of California descended from the Shodakai Pomo. Shodakai means “Valley in the East.” In 1850, before Lake Mendocino existed, the land belonged to the Shodakai Pomo. This land was also a major Indian trail from Ukiah Valley to Potter Valley and Lake County. 

The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe consists of the members of the Isanti and Ihanktowan  divisions of the Great Sioux Nation. The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe is composed of descendants of two Divisions of Dakota  and Nakota people. The Ihanktowan, or Yankton and Yanktonais are called the  Middle Sioux. The Isanti or Dakota people are comprised of four bands that lived  on the eastern side of the Dakota Nation.

The Delaware Nation, or Lenape, also known as Lenni Lenape, signed the first-ever “Indian treaty” with the United States of America in 1778, and are the oldest known nation in the Eastern  US.

While the Delaware Indians were the first tribe to sign a treaty with the United States, they have just been successful in regaining federal recognition in 2002 as a separate tribe, now given the title of Delaware Tribe of Indians.

The Pomo Indians, who are not one tribe but rather a group of more than 70  different tribes, have ties to the Alexander Valley, located along the Russian River between Healdsburg and Cloverdale in northern California, that date back as far as 12,000 years ago. Some of the descendants of these early inhabitants are now members of the  Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians.