Cherokee Tribe Research Paper

Cherokee Tribe

The Native American tribe, the Cherokees have been a tribe that has been prominent for many years in American history. The Cherokee tribe is probably one of the most well-known and wide spread tribes in the United States. Originally, the Cherokees were established in the southern Appalachian Mountains, Carolinas, Northern Georgia, Alabama, Southwest Virginia, and the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee. The Cherokees also claimed different parts of land in parts of present day Kentucky. There were three different groups of the Cherokees that lived in these different parts. When congress passed the Indian removal act of 1830 the Cherokees went on a long journey to Oklahoma known as the trail of tears. The Cherokee Tribe has been through

Over the many years of moving and finding their place the Cherokees encountered many conflicts with other tribes and external forces. For starters a major encounter the Cherokees had was with the United States government. The Government was displaying their best efforts in trying to extinguish the Indians from their native land. The Cherokee leaders fought for their land with everything they had. Winning the battle with the US courts was a good advancement for the Indians; it did them no good when it came to President Andrew Jackson taking charge. President Jackson altogether disregarded the court orders and removed the Indians from their native land, sending them on the Trail of Tears to present day Oklahoma. Aside from regular ole conflicts, the Cherokees got involved in a few different wars over the years. The major conflict the Cherokees had was with the European colonies in the 18th century. The Anglo-War, or the “War With those in Red Coats.” Tensions were arising between the British and the Cherokees throughout the 1750’s. Finally in 1758 the Virginia militia attacked Calico. This act of violence was a turning point in the war and set the Cherokees off. Before

Originally called the Aniyanwiya, “principle people” or the Keetoowah, “Principle People”; The modern name Cherokee originates from the Creek word “Chelokee”, meaning “people of a different speech”. The language of the Cherokees is Iroquoian. During the uprising of the Cherokee nation De Sotos expedition during the 1500s introduced epidemics to the Cherokee tribe and obliterated around seventy five percent of the Native American population. Small pox was also a terrible disease that swept through the Indian nation and wiped out close to half of the Cherokee population. These two diseases were a major setback to the development of the Cherokee nation and moving forward in their advancement of life. As far as food and supplies the Cherokees heavily relied on the “three sisters”, corn, beans, and squash. These three different foods were a major part of the Cherokees diet. When these three foods were not enough their diet was supplemented from hunting and gathering berries and different types of nuts. The Cherokees were also well known for their basket making, with the most popular being the double wall basket, made from commercially manufactured reed. In the early years of basket making, the only materials used were black walnut and bloodroot. The basket weavers used natural plant dyes such as roots, barks, leaves, nuts, flowers,