At first, the Chickasaw lived in western North America, but sometime before the first European contact, they moved to east of the Mississippi River. They settled mostly in present-day northeast Mississippi. They were living here when European explorers and traders came. They had relationships with the French, English and Spanish during the colonial years. The United States considered the Chickasaw one of the Five Civilized Tribes, because they adopted numerous practices of European Americans. They were forced by the US to sell their land in 1832 and move to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) during the 1830s.