Aviva Directory » People & Daily Life » Ethnicity » American Indians » Cherokee

Traditionally, the Cherokee are indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States.

Prior to the 18th century, they lived in towns along the river valleys of what is now northeastern Alabama, northern Georgia, southwestern North Carolina, western South Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia. The Cherokee were then one tribe, or Indian Nation, that occupied an area of about 135,000 square miles (or 86,400,000 acres) in what is now the Southeastern United States.

The Cherokee were once a powerful nation. However, by the end of the American Revolution, the tribe had lost about half of their land, and by 1835, they had only a few million acres, and the U.S. federal government controlled much of what they could do on their land.

The 1830 Indian Removal Act authorized the forcible relocation of American Indians east of the Mississippi to a new Indian Territory, and the 1835 Treaty of New Echota ceded all lands east of the Mississippi River to the federal government.

Before the forced removal, many Cherokees migrated to what is now Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas. Between 1775 and 1786, some Cherokee, along with other nations such as the Choctaw and Chickasaw, began settling along the Arkansas and Red Rivers.

The U.S. government established a Cherokee Reservation in Arkansas in 1815, which extended from north of the Arkansas River to the southern bank of the White River. The Di'wali, Sequoyah, Spring Frog, and Tatsi bands settled there, becoming known as the "Old Settlers."

By 1816, Cherokee had migrated as far north as the Missouri Bootheel, where they lived among the Delawares and Shawnees. Within a year, their numbers had increased rapidly in Missouri, leading to conflicts with the Osage and eventual removal of the Osage.

A group of Cherokee moved to Spanish Texas in 1819, settling near Nacogdoches, where they were welcomed by Mexican authorities. Largely neutral during the Texas War of Independence, they signed a treaty with Texas President Sam Houston in 1836. Nevertheless, Houston's successor, Mirabeau Lamar, sent militia to remove them in 1839.

In opposition to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia in 1830, President Andrew Jackson forced the Treaty of New Echota in 1835, stipulating the terms and conditions for the removal of the Cherokee Nation, bring about what became known as the "Trail of Tears."

Two years later, President Martin Van Buren ordered federal troops and state militia into Cherokee lands to evict the tribe. Marched over 800 miles across Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas, about one-fifth of the Cherokee population died en route. As some Cherokee were slaveholders, they took enslaved African Americans with them.

The Cherokee living along the Oconaluftee River in the Great Smoky Mountains were isolated from European-American settlements. Rejecting the treaties signed by the Cherokee Nation, they withdrew in 1819 and became North Carolina citizens, thus exempted from forced removal. Other Cherokee either hid from federal troops or belonged to the former Valley Towns around the Cheoah River, who negotiated with the state government to remain in North Carolina. Their descendants reorganized in the 20th century and gained federal recognition as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Today, the Eastern Band operates the Oconaluftee Indian Village, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, as well as Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Hotel, Cherokee Indian Hospital, and Cherokee Boys Club.

The United Keetowah Band of Cherokee Indians is another federally recognized tribe of Cherokee American Indians. Headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, its members are mostly descendants of "Old Settlers" or "Western Cherokee," who had migrated from the Southeast to present-day Arkansas and Oklahoma around 1817, prior to the Trail of Tears. The UKB operates a tribal casino, bingo hall, smokeshop, fuel outlets, truck stop, and gallery showcasing Cherokee arts and crafts. The tribe issues its own tribal vehicle tags.

Between 1898 and 1906, the U.S. government dissolved the former Cherokee Nation to make way for the incorporation of Indian Territory into the new state of Oklahoma, and the structure and function of the tribal government were defunct between 1906 and 1975. However, in 1975, the tribe drafted a constitution and received federal recognition. In 1999, the Cherokee Nation modified its constitution to drop "Oklahoma" from its name, designating the tribe as the "Cherokee Nation," although the Bureau of Indian Affairs considers the Cherokee Nation to be not a "historical Cherokee tribe" but a "successor in interest."

The Cherokee Nation controls Cherokee Nation Entertainment, Cherokee Nation Industries, and Cherokee Nation Businesses, and is a large defense contractor. The CN hosts the Cherokee National Holiday.

 

 

Recommended Resources


Search for Cherokee on Google or Bing