Claire Netemeyer APUSH website 2015-16
Cherokee Native Americans
Tribe Homes
The Cherokee lived in approximately 200 settled, agricultural villages (Martin). Each village contained between 30 and 60 houses and a large building used for town business. “Homes were usually wattle and daub, a circular framework interwoven with branches (like an upside-down basket) and plastered with mud. The entire structure was partially sunken into ground. In later periods, log cabins (one door with smokehole in the bark-covered roof) became the general rule” (Martin). The larger business buildings were often built on mounds and used for meetings, councils, and religious ceremonies (such as the sacred fire) (Martin).
httpsprezi.comqi7fwl_pyw_ncherokee-and-blackfoot-presentation
Tribe Location
The Cherokee Indians inhabited regions in the Blue Ridge (Appalachian) Mountains in what today makes up much of Georgia (Brinkley, 222). Though living near the same area gave them a distinct sense of a united group, they were not a unified group. The tribe was split into regional divisions known as the Overhill Towns, the Middle Towns, the Out Towns, the Valley Towns, and the Lower Towns (Boulware). These splits in territory lead to different groups of the Cherokee to interact with other different Native American tribes. Lower towns, near the Savannah river and lower South Carolina, spurred interactions with the Creek Indians and Overhill towns (“over the mountains” to Tennessee) interacted with the Shawnee and Iriquois Native Americans (Boulware).
Tribal Relations
The Cherokee did not have the best relations with other Native American tribes. They continuously fought with the Catawba tribe (to the East) and also held tensions with the Creek and Choctaw tribes (to the south) (Martin). Later, in the mid 1700’s, they made peace with the Catawba in a treaty in which they were to only trade with the British (Martin). However, in 1660, they also experienced conflict with the Shawnee tribe after they were forced South near the Carolinas by the invasion of the Iroquois (Martin). After constant invasions from both sides between the Shawnee and the Cherokee, the Cherokee formed an alliance with the Chickasaw (who was also an enemy of the Shawnee) to take down the Shawnee completely (Martin). They successfully forced the Shawnee over the Ohio River in 1754 (Martin). Lastly, the almost went to war with the Creek tribe over land, but the fighting was short-lived and the Cherokee won the land (Martin).
Tribal Government and Crops
Cherokee women farmed corn, sunflowers, beans, and squash and Cherokee men hunted deer and turkey with bow/arrows and fished with poles and spears (Cherokee Smokies). They also manufactures baskets and pots (Cherokee Smokies). Cherokee government was divided into two parts – a “white” section for times of peace and a “red” section for times in which the tribe was at war (Native American Roots Diary). Each government was made up of official groups and chiefs who held special powers within the tribe. These chiefs made decisions about war, alliances, trade, and all external affairs (Native American Roots Diary). Each branch also contained a council made up of men and women of the tribe, in which everyone was encouraged to speak (Native American Roots Diary).
Tribal Women
When Europeans found the Cherokee in the Carolinas in the early 1700’s, they were surprised to see the large role that women played in society (Perdue). Cherokee women were at the top of the household since they lived in extended family groups, and the houses in which they lived were inherited by the daughters of the family (Perdue). Many Cherokee women helped farm in the fields and even attended council meetings where they could have a say in government, such as deciding war plans (Perdue). Cherokees also use a matrilineal family structure in which the line of descent is traced through the mother and a person is considered to be solely related to his/her relatives on their mother’s side (Perdue).
Tribal Beliefs
Ancient Cherokee belief tells of a flat world on top of water that was closed on top by a stone vault (Conley). Souls and “original life forms” (Conley) live in this stone vault and the rest of the people live on the flat world; everything in the stone vault is the opposite of the flat world. Cherokees do not see this as a “heaven and hell” or “good and bad” situation, but interpret these separate worlds as a need for balance in their own lives (Conley). Cherokees view their worlds as many pairs of opposites; dark/light, boy/girl, summer/winter byt try to stay away from totality in their lives but try to keep harmony in all aspects. That harmony is achieved through all things having an “opposite” to balance it out (Conley).
Tribal Relations with Europeans
The Cherokee Indians first came in contact with Europeans during the expedition of De Soto in 1540, but did not establish trade with European settlers until the late 1600’s (NC History Project). Trade of deerskins became essential to South Carolina throughout the 1700’s and the British valued their trade with the Cherokee and signed many treaties (one limiting the Cherokees to only trade with them (Martin). Although, tensions between the white settlers and the Cherokee amounted in Tuscarora War in 1711 and the Yamassee War in 1715 (in which almost 400 natives were captured and many died) (Hudson, 438). However, diseases (smallpox and others) brought from the Europeans proved to be the most deadly force to the Cherokee and killed between 7,000 and 10,000 Cherokee by 1739 (NC History Project).
*Depiction of the 1715 Yamassee War
http://paintingandframe.com/prints/others_yamasee_war_1715-38738.html
Works Cited
Boulware, Tyler. "Cherokee Indians." New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Foundation, 20 Jan. 2009. Web. 7 Sept. 2015. <http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/cherokee-indians>.
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
Conley, Robert J. "Cherokees." Encyclopedia. Cengage Learning, 2000. Web. 7 Sept. 2015. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Cherokees.aspx>.
"A History in Measured Eons." Cherokee Smokies. Cherokee Champber of Commerce, n.d. Web. 8 Sept. 2015. <http://www.cherokeesmokies.com/history_culture.html>.
Hudson, Charles. The Southeastern Indians. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1976. Print.
Martin, Jonothan. "Cherokee Indians." North Carolina History Project. John Locke Foundation, n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/764/entry/>.
Martin, Ken. "Cherokee History - part one." Tolatsga. N.p., 28 Feb. 1996. Web. 7 Sept. 2015. <http://www.tolatsga.org/Cherokee1.html>.
Perdue, Theda. "Cherokee Women." Learn NC. UNC School of Education, 1984. Web. 8 Sept. 2015. <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-twoworlds/1882>.
"Traditional Cherokee Government." Native American Netroots. N.p., 23 Jan. 2011. Web. 8 Sept. 2015. <http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/849>.