Editing Creek mythology (section)

==History==
[[File:Rogan plate 1 birdman HRoe 2012.jpg|thumb|Illustration of a [[Southeastern Ceremonial Complex#Birdman|S.E.C.C. Falcon Dancer]] based on a [[Rogan plate]] from [[Etowah Indian Mounds|Etowah]] in northern Georgia]]

The early historic Muscogee were probably descendants of the [[Mississippian culture]] peoples who lived along the [[Tennessee River]], in what is now modern [[Tennessee]]<ref name=Finger_2001>{{cite book | last = Finger | first = John R. | title = Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition | title-link=Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition | pages = 19 | publisher = Indiana University Press | year = 2001 | isbn = 0-253-33985-5}}</ref> and Alabama, and possibly related to the [[Utinahica]] of southern Georgia. More of a loose confederacy than a single tribe, the Mvskoke lived in autonomous villages in river valleys throughout what are today the states of Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama also consisted of many ethnic groups speaking several distinct languages, such as the [[Hitchiti]], [[Alabama (tribe)|Alabama]], and [[Coushatta]]. Those who lived along the [[Ocmulgee River]] and the [[Oconee River]] were called "Creek Indians" by British traders from [[South Carolina]]; eventually the name was applied to all of the various natives of creek towns, becoming increasingly divided between the Lower Towns of the Georgia frontier on the [[Chattahoochee River]] (see [[Apalachicola Province]]), Ocmulgee River, and [[Flint River (Georgia)|Flint River]] and the Upper Towns of the [[Alabama River]] Valley.

The Lower Towns included Coweta, Cusseta (Kasihta, [[Cofitachequi]]), Upper Chehaw ([[Chiaha]]), Hitchiti, Oconee, Ocmulgee, Okawaigi, [[Apalachicola (tribal town)|Apalachicola]], [[Yamasee]] (Altamaha), Ocfuskee, Sawokli, and Tamali. The Upper Towns included Tuckabatchee, [[Abihka]], [[Coosa chiefdom|Coosa]] (Kusa; the dominant people of [[East Tennessee]] and [[North Georgia]] during the Spanish explorations), Itawa (original inhabitants of the [[Etowah Indian Mounds]]), Hothliwahi (Ullibahali), Hilibi, Eufaula, Wakokai, Atasi, [[Alibamu]], Coushatta (Koasati; they had absorbed the Kaski/Casqui and the [[Toqua (Tennessee)|Tali]]), and Tuskegee ("Napochi" in the de Luna chronicles).

Cusseta (Kasihta) and Coweta are the two principal towns of the Muscogee Nation to this day. Traditionally the Cusseta and Coweta bands are considered to the earliest members of the Muscogee Nation.<ref name="Transcribed documents"/>