Who is the Cherokee?

Answer 1

Location:The homelands of the Cherokee (chair-oh-key) includes the southern Appalachian Mountains, present-day western North and South Carolina, northern Georgia and Alabama, southwest Virginia, and the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee, Kentucky, and northern Alabama. Currently, the Cherokee live in eastern Oklahoma. There are also Cherokee in North Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas, Georgia and Alabama. Language:Iroquian, but Cherokee differs significantly from other Iroquian languages. Daily Life:Many Cherokee live on reservations and work hard to preserve their rich cultural history. Others have moved across the United States and have assimilated into the dominant culture. History:At the time of European contact, the Cherokee were a settled, agricultural people. Homes were usually a circular framework interwoven with branches and plastered with mud. Agriculture relied heavily on corn, beans and squash supplemented by hunting and gathering of wild plants. In less than 30 years the Cherokee underwent radical change. The clan system of government was soon replaced by an elected tribal council. A written constitution modeled after that of the United States was added in 1827. Many Cherokee became prosperous farmers with comfortable houses, beautiful cultivated fields and large herds of livestock. Christian missionaries arrived by invitation, and Sequoia invented an alphabet that gave them a written language and overnight made most of the Cherokee literate. They published a newspaper, established a court system, and built schools. Although the poor Cherokee still lived in simple log cabins, many Cherokee were more prosperous and acculturated than their increasingly envious white neighbors. When gold was discovered on Cherokee land in northern Georgia, miners arrived and Indian removal was suggested. The Indian Removal Act was introduced in Congress in 1829. This was the beginning of the Trail of Tears. Forced to abandon most of their property, the Cherokee were marched west without adequate shelter, provisions, or food. As many as 4,000 died.

Answer 2

The Cherokee are an American Indian Nation, that wasoriginally from what is now much of the southeastern United States, Cherokee lands used to be almost all of Tennessee, much of North Carolina, and also spread through Virgina, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Alabama and South Carolina. Cherokee had a unique culture, and are the largest Indian Nation today. The Cherokee traditional Religion has been said to be the most like the Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) out of all other religions known. Cherokee were fearsome and skilled warriors, known throughout the lands, the historic "arch rival" Nation to the Cherokee were the neighboring Chickasaw. Seven clans made up Cherokee society, Cherokee were born into your mother's clan and they could not marry into their mother's clan, this custom kept you from marrying relatives. Cherokee made fairly advanced homes, and the capital was Echota, no crime was allowed here. Cherokee were involved in a terrible episode known as the Trail of Tears, and it is probably the most well known point in time throughout Cherokee history, was when the United States government forced the Cherokee out of their Native lands after they had assimilated quite well for the most part with the invading races of men. They were forced into Oklahoma, well over 4000 Cherokee died on this Trail of Tears, however a large amount of Cherokee took refuge in the Smokey Mountains and escaped removal. In spite of this Cherokee culture has lived on, today most Cherokee live in Oklahoma, Tennessee and North Carolina. But they have spread throughout much of the USA, and intermarried with many other groups of people.

Answer 3

This term is used properly in "Context" and depends on the person / agency using it.

Cherokee is a general descriptor of the Tsalagi (which sounds close to Cherokee when pronounced) people, a "First nations" or "Indigenous" tribal people that lived in North America before the discovery of that continent by Europe.

It may also mean, one who is descended from that ancestry.

By "Cherokee Nation Law" it means a man or woman that is at least 1/8th blood under the blood quantum test and who appears on the Dawes Rolls.

By "Federal Indian Law" it means any man or woman who has an ancestor that is Cherokee (by any degree).

By "Eastern Band of Cherokee" law it means any person who appears on the Guion Miller rolls, and was granted allotments under that judgment.

Please Note: Several definitions surround the amount of blood, and its related meanings to "what" makes someone a Cherokee and what does not. Most will agree that a significant portion of this definition is blood-lines & spiritual orientation.

Answer 4

The Cherokee are a native American (sometimes called "First Nations People") that inhabited south-eastern North America prior to its discovery by Europe.