Cherokee

The Cherokee are a group of people.

They lived in many towns long ago. They lived near rivers and mountains.

They grew food like corn in their fields. The Cherokee also made their own way to write. Long ago, some people moved to new lands. Today, many Cherokee people still live in the US. They belong to three main groups.

It is a very old and special group of people.

The Cherokee are an Indigenous people.

They lived in the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Their lands covered many river valleys and mountains.

This area included parts of North Carolina and Georgia. It also included Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina.

People have different ideas about where the Cherokee began. Some stories say they moved from the Great Lakes area. Other studies suggest they lived in the mountains for a long time.

The Cherokee people are farmers. Long ago, they grew plants like squash and sunflowers. Later, they grew a special kind of corn. This corn helped their towns grow much larger.

In the 1800s, many Cherokee people were forced to move. This was part of a law called the Indian Removal Act. Some moved to Oklahoma. Others stayed in the mountains of North Carolina. Today, there are three main Cherokee tribes. The Cherokee Nation is the largest. It has more than 300,000 citizens.

The other two are the United Keetoowah Band and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

The Cherokee are an Indigenous people from the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States.

Their ancestral homelands covered about 40,000 square miles of land. This area included parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. They lived in many permanent towns along river valleys and mountain ridges.

The Cherokee language is part of the Iroquoian language family. This connection helps researchers understand how different groups of people are related to one another.

For a long time, the Cherokee people have been successful farmers. In the past, they grew plants like sunflowers, squash, and pigweed.

Between the years 1000 and 1500, local women developed a special type of corn. This was called eastern flint corn, and it produced very large crops. Having extra food allowed the Cherokee to build larger, more complex groups of villages. These groups often had a central political center with a platform mound. They even held special religious ceremonies, such as the Green Corn Ceremony, to celebrate their food.

Scientists have two main ideas about where the Cherokee people first began. One idea comes from Cherokee oral traditions recorded by James Mooney. These stories say the people migrated south from the Great Lakes region long ago.

Another idea comes from studying languages and old objects. Some scholars believe the Iroquoian language actually started in the Appalachian mountains. They think the language split into different groups about 4,000 years ago. This would mean the Cherokee ancestors lived in the Southeast for a very long time.

History shows many different groups meeting in these lands. In 1540, a Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto traveled through Cherokee country.

They recorded meeting a group called the Chalaque near the Keowee River. Later, in 1566, an expedition led by Juan Pardo also met Cherokee-speaking people. During the 1800s, the Cherokee adopted new technologies and even created their own writing system.

This was a time of great change as they interacted with European American settlers.

Today, there are three federally recognized Cherokee tribes.

The Cherokee Nation is the largest, with over 300,000 enrolled citizens. They are based in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians is also in Oklahoma.

The third group is the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. They live on the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina. They are the descendants of ancestors who stayed in the mountains during the era of forced relocation.

The Cherokee are an Indigenous people from the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States.

They are part of the Iroquoian language family. This means their language is related to other Iroquoian-speaking groups. For many centuries, the Cherokee occupied ancestral homelands covering roughly 40,000 square miles. This territory included parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. They also used hunting grounds that reached into Kentucky.

Researchers use different methods to study Cherokee origins. One theory comes from oral traditions recorded by ethnographer James Mooney. These stories suggest the Cherokee migrated south from the Great Lakes region in ancient times. This would connect them to other Iroquoian peoples in the north. However, linguistic and archaeological evidence offers another perspective. Anthropologist Thomas R. Whyte suggested that proto-Iroquoian languages may have started in the Appalachian region. He proposed that the split between Northern and Southern Iroquoian languages began about 4,000 years ago.

The Cherokee lived in permanent towns located along river valleys and mountain ridges. These towns were often organized into specific groups. The Lower Towns were located in present-day western South Carolina along the Keowee River. The principal town in this area was Keowee. In western North Carolina, the towns were divided into the Valley, Middle, and Outer Towns. These were located near rivers like the Tuckasegee and the French Broad. The Overhill Cherokee lived in towns along the Little Tennessee and Tennessee Rivers.

Agriculture was a central part of Cherokee life and culture. During the Mississippian culture period, from 1000 to 1500 CE, local women developed eastern flint corn. This variety of maize produced larger crops than earlier types. These food surpluses helped support larger, more complex chiefdoms. These chiefdoms consisted of several villages with concentrated populations. Many religious ceremonies, such as the Green Corn Ceremony, celebrated these crops.

European explorers provided some of the earliest written records of the region. In 1540, a Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto entered Cherokee country. The Spanish recorded meeting a group called the Chalaque near the Keowee River. In 1566, the Juan Pardo expedition also met Cherokee-speaking people. These early encounters occurred during the Mississippian culture era. This era included people who built earthwork platform mounds. One such site is the Biltmore Mound, found in 1984 near the Swannanoa River.

In the 19th century, the Cherokee underwent significant cultural changes. They were classified by European American settlers as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes." During this time, they adopted certain technologies and agricultural practices. They also developed their own writing system.

The 1830s brought a period of forced relocation under the Indian Removal Act. This led to different groups of Cherokee settling in different places. Some migrated to Arkansas and Oklahoma, while others remained in the Southeast.

Today, there are three federally recognized Cherokee tribes in the United States. The Cherokee Nation is the largest, with over 300,000 enrolled citizens. It is based in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians is also based in Tahlequah. Its members are largely descendants of the "Old Settlers" who moved west before the forced removals of the 1830s.

The third group is the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. They are based on the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina. They descend from ancestors who resisted or avoided removal to stay in their mountains.

The Cherokee people remain a significant part of the American landscape. While the three tribes are federally recognized, many others claim Cherokee lineage. More than 819,000 people identified as having Cherokee ancestry in the U.S. census. However, most of these individuals are not enrolled citizens of a federally recognized tribe. The history of the Cherokee shows how a people can maintain their identity through many changes.