From eight present-day states; Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina, more than forty thousand square miles, lived the largest Native American tribe in the United States. The Cherokee. The Cherokee were once a very powerful tribe, they had lived and hunted in a large area of land. Like many Native American tribes, the Cherokee had called themselves “the real people” or the “principal people”. In Cherokee, that word is Ani-Yun-wiya. The Cherokee believe, that a time so long ago, plants and animals lived above the sky. As their numbers grew, they became to crowded. Looking for a new place to live, Water Beetle dived into the water below the sky. And when he came back to the surface he brought up a small bit of mud. It grew and grew, until it became a great island. Today, that island is called Earth. Buzzard next left the sky world and went to the mud island. The mud was not yet …show more content…
They lived along the rivers of the southern Appalachian Mountains. The Cherokee had a population of twenty thousand, which they had lived in fifty to one hundred large villages. Between thirty and sixty families lived in a village. They lived together in a group called glans. A woman headed each clan. Each clan had a name. At one time there was many clans. Now there are just seven remaining, Wolf, Bird, Deer, Long Hair, Wild Potato, Twister and Blue. In the centre of each Cherokee village was a plaza.The Cherokee held important meetings in the plaza’s. Each Cherokee household had a small private garden. Most of the Cherokee’s food was grown in large fields they farmed together.Women were responsible for planting, tending, and harvesting the crops. Women often looked after their children while they worked. Older Children helped with the planting and weeding. Men contributed to the Cherokee’s food supply by fishing. They made spears, hooks, and traps to catch