Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes
federally-recognized Southern Plains tribe in Oklahoma
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are a united, federally recognized tribe of Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne people in western Oklahoma. They are headquartered in Concho, Oklahoma.
History
The Cheyenne and Arapaho are two distinct tribes with distinct histories. The Cheyenne (Tsétsėhéstȧhese, "The People", also spelled Tsitsistas) were once agrarian, or agricultural, people located near the Great Lakes in present-day Minnesota. Grinnell noted the Cheyenne language is a unique branch of the Algonquian language family and, The Nation itself, is descended from two related tribes, the Tsétsėhéstȧhese and the Só'taeo'o. The latter is believed to have joined the Tsétsėhéstȧhese in the early 18th century (1: 1–2). The Tsétsėhéstȧhese and the Só'taeo'o are characterized, and represented by two cultural heroes who received divine articles which shaped the time-honored belief systems of the Southern and Northern families of the Cheyenne Nation. The Só'taeo'o, represented by a man named Erect Horns, were blessed with the care of a sacred Buffalo Hat, which is kept among the Northern family. The Tsétsėhéstȧhese, represented by a man named Sweet Medicine, were bestowed with the care of a bundle of sacred Arrows, kept among the Southern Family. Inspired by Erect Horn's vision, they adopted the horse culture in the 18th century and moved westward onto the plains to follow the buffalo.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5094611. The Library of Congress control number is no94034804. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.