 The name "Escambia" may have been derived from the Creek name "Shambia", meaning "clearwater", or the Choctaw word for "cane-brake" or "reed-brake".Historic American Indian tribes in the area included the Muskogean-speaking Creek, Choctaw, and Alabama, who had inhabited the lands for centuries and had many settlements.The former two tribes were among those in the Southeast whom the European-American settlers called the Five Civilized Tribes, as they adopted some European-American cultural ways.