Where Did the Cherokee Indians Live?

Long before the European explorers set their feet on the coast of North America, Native American Indians had been living in the "new" world. Anthropologists believe that the first inhabitants of North America came from Asia. During the last Ice Age, large numbers of people migrated across the ice bridge that connected Asia with the northwestern tip of North America. The Aleutian Islands of Alaska are without doubt part of the remnants of this bridge.

The migration of the people from across the bridge moved from Alaska down and across Canada and the US. As they went, groups would stop and settle along the way. Thus, understanding where the Cherokee Indians lived involves looking back at history.

The people that would become the Cherokee traveled most of the way to the eastern shore of the continent but stopped in the region known today as Ohio. They settled there and began to make a life. After this, other tribes that had settled in this area expelled them from this location and they began again searching for a new home.

Once again on the move, they traveled south until they reached the Tennessee River. There, they settled and began their new life. They built towns as they spread, each about a days walk from one to the next. They expanded to the Atlantic Ocean, spread into Virginia and down the seaboard into the Carolinas. They had a well established civilization by the time the first Europeans arrived on the scene.

Arrival of the Europeans

The first Europeans to arrive in their region were the Spanish. De Soto was the conquistador that led the exploration of the southeastern region of the continent. They explored far enough north to encounter the Cherokee.

The Cherokee welcomed them and invited them to visit some of the villages to the west in Georgia and Alabama. The Spanish moved on up and across the coast but left in their wake untold sickness. They had brought diseases from Europe to the Indians. The Indians had no immunity or natural ability to fight the diseases and many perished.

The English Come

The Cherokee continued to flourish until the English settlers arrived. Relations were good with the English settlements. In 1710, the Cherokee allied with the English to fight against the Shawnee and the French, driving them back to the north. The Cherokee again fought with the British in the French – Indian War in 1736.

Unfortunately, a smallpox epidemic ran rampant through the Cherokee people in 1739. Nearly half of the Cherokee population died within a year. Others committed suicide because of the disfigurement and losses of family and friends.

Encroachment on Cherokee Land

Over the next seventy years, colonists continued to encroach on Cherokee land and hunting grounds. Eventually, the Cherokee were pushed back to the territory between the Tennessee and Chattahoochee River, severely reducing their land.

After the appropriation by the government of their hunting grounds, the Cherokee were forced to transition from a hunter – gatherer society to an agrarian based society, modeled on the southern United States. Many Cherokee still owned land in Georgia. When the Georgia gold rush hit, citizens demanded that the Federal government throw the Indians off the land.

Migration

Beginning in the late 18th century, some Cherokee began to move west towards Missouri and Arkansas. The Treaty of New Echota was passed in 1835, where the Cherokee relinquished their lands in Georgia to the Federal government in exchange for a large tract of land in the Indian Territory, five million dollars and $300,000 to make improvements on the land.

The Treaty was passed in Congress by one vote and became law in 1836. By 1838, pressure had risen so high to move the Cherokee that President Van Buren ordered 7,000 Federal troops to forcibly relocate 16,000 Cherokee to the Indian Territory. They were force marched over 800 miles to their new homes. Over 4,000 died during the march from starvation, disease and exposure. Some Cherokee refused to leave and hid in the hills and mountains of North Carolina. White sympathizers helped them to avoid the relocation. Eventually they reintegrated into society. These Cherokee became known as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.