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Indigenous to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, the four Wichita tribes are federally recognized with the Kichai people as the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco, and Tawakoni). Its history has been one of endurance and survival despite overwhelming adversity.

Indigenous to Oklahoma, the ancestors of the historic Wichita and Affiliated tribes, were probably the first people to settle upon the Southern Plains. From south-central Kansas to northern Texas, they lived in villages of grass lodges, raised bountiful crops of corn, squash, and beans, conducting fall and winter buffalo hunts, and carrying on extensive trade with the Pueblos of the Southwest. First contact with Europeans came with Coronado’s 1541 quest to find the fabled Quivera, thought to be present in Kansas.