Any member of the aboriginal North American Indians who inhabited what is now the southeastern U.S. The Southeast was one of the more densely populated areas of native North America, having an aboriginal population conservatively estimated at 120,000.
The bulk of this population resided inland, where advantage could be taken of extensive game resources, wild plant foods, and an abundance of arable land. Only the non-horticultural peoples of south Florida appear to have satisfactorily adjusted to a basically maritime way of life. Groups within this region included the Caddo , Catawba , Cherokee , Chickasaw , Choctaw , Creek , Natchez, and Seminole .