Abihka

Abihka was one of the four mother towns of the Muscogee Creek confederacy. It is now a ceremonial ground in Talladega County, Alabama. Abihka is also sometimes used to refer to all Upper Creek (or Muscogee) peoples.

History

Origins

The Abihka were the remnants of the 16th century "Chiefdom of Coosa."[1] The bulk of the Natchez people settled with the Abihka after being dispersed by the French in the 18th century.

Etymology

The name "Abihka" (meaning unknown), is sometimes used to refer to all the Upper Creek peoples.

Territory

The members of the Abihka were Upper Creek Indians. Their main place of residence was along the banks of the Coosa and Alabama rivers,[2] in what is now Talladega County, Alabama.[3] Besides the town of Abihka, the Creek had established other important towns in their territory: Abihkutchi, Tuckabutche, Talladega, Coweta, and Kan-tcati.

Ceremonial grounds

After the removal to the Indian Territory, refugees from the Abihka mother-town established a ceremonial stomp dance ground which they call Abihka (or sometimes, Arbeka). It is located near Henryetta, Oklahoma.[4]

Alice Brown Davis and her husband, George Rollin Davis, operated a trading post, post office, general store and the Bar X Bar ranch in Arbeka until George's death. She succeeded him as postmistress in the 1890s.[5] There is an Arbeka Road in the area.

Notes
  1. Waselkov and Smith; Upper Creek Archaeology; p. 244.
  2. Encyclopedia of North American Indians —Creek (Muskogee); retrieved Sept 8, 2010.
  3. Isham, Theodore; and Blue, Clark; Creek (Mvskoke) Archived 2010-07-20 at the Wayback Machine "Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture;" retrieved Aug 20, 2012.
  4. Nabokov and Easton; p. 109.
  5. Rechenda Davis Bates, "Alice Brown Davis" Archived 2013-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, accessed 18 April 2013
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References
  • Nabokov, Peter and Robert Easton; Native American Architecture.; New York; The Oxford University Press; 1989; ISBN 978-0-19-506665-4.
  • Swanton, John R.; The Indians of the Southeastern United States; United States Government Printing Office; Washington, DC; 1946; p. 81-82.
  • Waselkov, Gregory A.; and Smith, Marvin T.; Upper Creek Archaeology; referenced in McEwan, Bonnie G.; edition Indians of the Greater Southeast: Historical Archaeology and Ethnohistory; Gainesville; University of Florida Press; 2000; p. 244.
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