The Name: "CHEROKEE"

Cherokee people called themselves

ANI YUNWIYA

Which means: "Principle People"

CHEROKEE, means "People who use another language"

Origins of the Cherokee

The Cherokee Indians, a branch of the Iroquois nation, can trace their history in North Carolina back more than a thousand years.

Originally their society was based on hunting, trading, and agriculture. By the time European explorers and traders arrived, Cherokee lands covered a large part of what is now the southeastern United States.

About the Cherokee Clans

The Cherokee lived in small communities, usually located in fertile river bottoms. Homes were wooden frames covered with woven vines and saplings plastered with mud. These were replaced in later years with log structures.

Each village had a council house where ceremonies and tribal meetings were held. The council house was seven-sided to represent the seven clans of the Cherokee: Bird, Paint, Deer, Wolf, Blue, Long Hair, and Wild Potato.

Each tribe elected two chiefs -- a Peace Chief who counseled during peaceful times and a War Chief who made decisions during times of war. However, the Chiefs did not rule absolutely. Decision making was a more democratic process, with tribal members having the opportunity to voice concerns.

Cherokee society was a matriarchy. The children took the clan of the mother, and kinship was traced through the mother's family. Women had an equal voice in the affairs of the tribe. Marriage was only allowed between members of different clans. Property was passed on according to clan alliance.

Cherokee Life

Each house had a fireplace that was used for warmth in the winter months, The cooking was done mostly outdoors..

The work within the village, was shared by both the men and women..

The women planted their crops of corn, beans and squash..and at harvest time, they would harvest all the crops and preparing it for the winter months..

The men did all the hunting in the forests. They used bows and arrows to bring down large game, such as deer and bear..

The meat was always shared by the village..They would also supplement their food, with fish which they caught in traps..

The women would make clothing from the animal skins, they also weaved baskets and made pottery jars to carry water in and bowls to serve the meals..

The men would cut down trees to clear the land and make canoes from hollowed out trunks, they did this by burning the trunks out with hot coals, then scraped the insides with sharp stones to make it the canoe shape..

Young girls were taught to farm, weave and make pottery..

Young boys were taught how to make bows and arrows for hunting and how to make canoes, used for fishing and traveling..Hunting skills were also taught ..

New Echota

It was decided a new capital was needed and they started a new town in Georgia, It was later named New Echota..Chota had been an ancient Cherokee town..

Plots were divided and sold in New Echota, they laid down streets and erected buildings, including the Supreme Court Building..

the Council decided to build a print shop and purchase a printing press, with two kinds of type-Cherokee and English..

The printing shop was opened and named the -Cherokee Phoenix-Tsalagi Tsu-le-bi-sa-nu-bi.. It meant " I WILL RISE "..

Broken Treaties..

The Cherokee were having many problems with the State of Georgia, they wanted the land..

Many treaties, had been signed but each one had been broken and the Cherokee kept losing more and more land..

One day GOLD!! was found near New Echota, and hundreds of people rushed onto the Cherokee land..

It was the first known gold rush in the United States..

The State of Georgia wanted the gold and any other riches that might be found and demanded the Indians be moved..

The United States Supreme Court said the land belonged to the Indians, but President Andrew Jackson ordered them off their land anyway..

The Cherokee didn't know what to do, some wanted to stay on their land others wanted to leave..

The Government told them they could have the land west of the Mississippi River..

On December 23,1835, Seventy Five Cherokee signed the treaty of New Echota, and agreed to move..

A letter was later signed by over 15,000 Cherokee protesting the treaty..

It didn't matter to the United States Senate, they passed the treaty by one vote, forcing the Cherokee to leave their land..

They were sent to a new Indian Territory known as OKLAHOMA..

The Cherokee, were not the only Indians forced to move west.. The Creek,Choctaw,Chickasaw and Seminole were also moved to the Indian Territory..

Together they were called the Five Civilized Tribes..

Approximately sixty Cherokee families stayed in North Carolina and were later joined by over a thousand Cherokee who had escaped the forced march to Indian Territory..

They are now called the Eastern Band and live in Cherokee, North Carolina, and near The Great Smoky Mountains Park..