Cherokee
Member of an American Indian people who moved from the Great Lakes region to the southern Appalachian Mountains (Virginia, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and possibly Kentucky); by the 16th century they occupied some 64,000 sq km/40,000 sq mi. Their language belonged to the Iroquoian family. They lived in log cabins in permanent farming settlements. Known as one of the Five Civilized Tribes, they assimilated many white customs. In 1838 they were ousted to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in a bloody removal known as the Trail of Tears. They are now the largest American Indian group, numbering 281,000 (2000); many live in Oklahoma and North Carolina.
Lifestyle
The Cherokee grew maize (corn), beans, sunflowers, squash (pumpkin), and tobacco. They hunted deer and bear with bows and arrows, and used reed blowguns to kill smaller game. They also ate freshwater fish, roots, nuts, berries, and other wild plants. Their clothes and shoes (moccasins) were made of buckskin. Their crafts included pottery, basketry, and woodcarving. The Cherokee built more than 60 villages, many along riverbanks. The settlements were usually comprised of 30 to 60 log cabins. The cabins were roofed with thatch and windowless. Each village had a large meeting house where the sacred fire was kept burning and where council meetings were held. Most Cherokee, especially the Eastern Band, are now Christian.
Language
The Cherokee language is Iroquoian, and it is still spoken by about half of the Cherokee population. In 1821, a Cherokee scholar,
Sequoya, wrote down each sound or syllable in the language in the form of a character, creating 85 characters in the Cherokee syllabary. Most of the Cherokee learned how to read, and by 1828 they were producing their own newspaper, the bilingual (Cherokee-English)
Cherokee Phoenix.
Loss of land The expansion of white settlement threatened the Cherokee population and their land. Many died from smallpox and other diseases introduced by Europeans. In 1783, under the Treaty of Augusta, the Cherokee relinquished over 800,000 ha/2 million acres in Georgia. Further intrusions led the Cherokee to side with the British in the American Revolution. The Cherokee mounted a series of attacks against the colonists, but the failure of the British forces led to punitive action by the USA and the loss of large tracts of land in the Carolinas under a series of treaties. After 1800 relations with the US government were peaceful. The Cherokee legal code was laid down in 1808 by Chief Charles Hicks, and at the same time Sequoyah was developing his alphabet for the Cherokee language. However, with a population of some 13,000 the Cherokee retained a significant presence in the state. In 1828 Georgia placed the Cherokee Nation, led by Chief John Ross, under state jurisdiction. The Cherokee protested through the Supreme Court, but lost. |
Removal to Indian Territory In the early 1830s, gold was discovered on Cherokee land in Georgia and settlers pressed for the relocation of the Cherokees. In 1835, a minority of Cherokee ceded all their land east of the Mississippi to the USA under the Treaty of New Echota; the treaty was ratified by the Senate in 1836, and was to become effective in 1838. Although a majority group won an appeal against this action in the US Supreme Court, President Jackson chose to ignore the decision and ordered the removal of the Cherokee under the Indian Removal Act of 1830. In the winter of 1838–39, more than 16,000 Cherokee were forced to march more than 1,600 km/1,000 mi to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. More than 4,000 Cherokee died en route, and the journey became known as the Trail of Tears. |
Indian Territory In Indian Territory the Cherokee were given an allotment of land where they maintained a constitutional government from 1839, consisting of an elected chief, a senate, and a house of representatives. Until 1907 their capital was at Tahlequah. They established a public school system in 1841 and by 1851 had two seminaries of higher education. During the Civil War, Chief John Ross allied with the Confederates. Under pressure to sell land to US settlers, in 1902 the Cherokee voted to each take 44 ha/110 acres of land from the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee Nation was disbanded in 1907; the Cherokee became US citizens and their land was allotted to individuals and homesteaders. The Cherokee government officially ceased to exist in 1914. In 1984, the Eastern Band of Cherokees were permitted to re-establish a tribal centre in North Carolina where the descendants of a few hundred Cherokee who escaped the removal of 1838 now live. |
