Cherokee
Sign in to saveThe Cherokee ( , ; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their ancestral homelands, living in towns along river valleys in what is now southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, parts of western South Carolina, northern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama, with hunting grounds extending into Kentucky. Together, these lands encompassed approximately 40,000 square miles.
AI overview
The Cherokee are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern United States who historically lived in towns along river valleys across what is now the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama, controlling approximately 40,000 square miles of ancestral territory. They are significant as one of the major Indigenous nations of the Southeastern Woodlands whose ancestral homelands and way of life were central to the region before European colonization.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Ethnic group.popplace
- United States California: large ethnic diaspora community, 22,124 registered tribal citizens North Carolina: 16,158 (0.2%) Oklahoma: 102,580 (2.7%) – extends to nearby Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri South Carolina: 3,428 Canada: 11,620 Residents of Canada identified as having Cherokee Ancestry in the 2016 Canadian Census.
- Ethnic group.rels
- Christianity, Cherokee spiritual beliefs, Animism, Kituhwa, Four Mothers Society
- Ethnic group.langs
- English, Cherokee
- Ethnic group.image
- Henry Inman - Sequoyah - Google Art Project.jpg
- Ethnic group.image_caption
- Sequoyah, creator of the Cherokee syllabary as painted by Henry Inman, 1830
- Ethnic group.population
- 316,049 enrolled tribal citizens (Eastern Band: >13,999, Cherokee Nation: 288,749, United Keetoowah Band: 14,300) 819,105 claimed Cherokee ancestry in the 2010 Census
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
45 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Origins
- Homelands
- Agriculture
- Early culture
- Linguistic studies
- Other sources of early Cherokee history
- History
- 17th century: English contact
- 18th century
- Scots (and other Europeans) among the Cherokee in the 18th century
- 19th century
- Acculturation
- Removal era
- Trail of Tears
- Eastern Band
- Civil War
- Reconstruction and late 19th century
- Tribal land jurisdiction status
- Population history
- Culture
- Spirituality
- Cultural institutions
- Marriage
- Ethnobotany definition
- Gender roles
- Slavery
- Funeral rites
- Language and writing system
- Treaties and government
- Treaties
- Government
- Modern Cherokee tribes
- Cherokee Nation
- Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
- United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians
- Relations among the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes
- Contemporary settlement
- Membership controversies
- Tribal recognition and citizenship
- Cherokee Freedmen
- See also
- Notes
- References
- External links
The Cherokee ( , ; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their ancestral homelands, living in towns along river valleys in what is now southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, parts of western South Carolina, northern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama, with hunting grounds extending into Kentucky. Together, these lands encompassed approximately 40,000 square miles.
The Cherokee language belongs to the Iroquoian language family. In the 19th century, the ethnographer James Mooney recorded an oral tradition describing the Cherokee as having migrated southward in ancient times from the Great Lakes region, an area historically associated with other Iroquoian peoples. More recent linguistic and archaeological scholarship has proposed an earlier origin. Anthropologist Thomas R. Whyte, writing in 2007, suggested that the proto-Iroquoian language likely originated in the Appalachian region and that the divergence between Northern and Southern Iroquoian languages began approximately 4,000 years ago.
Gallery (52)
Connections
Categories
CherokeeIroquoian peoplesNative American people in the American RevolutionNative American tribes in AlabamaNative American tribes in Georgia (U.S. state)Native American tribes in North CarolinaNative American tribes in OklahomaNative American tribes in South CarolinaNative American tribes in Tennessee