Cherokee oral tradition tells us of a time when their ancestors hunted great beasts that roamed the mountains of Western North Carolina. Archeology confirms these accounts. Found in this area are finely crafted stone spear points and mastodon bones bearing scars of these points—both date back to 11,000 years. Most historians agree that Cherokees are descended from what was a branch of the Iroquoian people. Some anthro-linguists, however, believe that the Cherokee dialect suggests that the "Pre-Cherokee" (and therefore the original Cherokees) are the originators of both the Iroquoian and Cherokee peoples.

 Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Indian Territory Cherokee Indian Nation  

Ten thousand years ago, as the climate warmed, semi-permanent villages dotted this region. Surviving tools reflect a more settled lifestyle: carved fishhooks, fishing net weights and sinkers, carved soapstone mortars and pestles used to grind corn. What are the requirements for the Cherokee Indian membership?

Over the following thousands of years, the people who would become today’s Cherokee, or “Ani-Kituhwa-gi,” developed permanent towns, thriving agriculture, elegant handcrafts, sophisticated politics and religion, and fiercely effective arts of war. What are the qualifications for the Cherokee Indian Nation membership?

In Cherokee towns, typically numbering around 500 inhabitants, summer and winter homes ringed a central plaza used for ceremonies, dances and games. Towns governed themselves democratically, with all adults gathering to discuss matters of import in each town’s council house. Each village had a peace chief, war chief, and spiritual leader. Men hunted and fished; women gathered wild food and cultivated “the 3 sisters” –corn, beans and squash. By interplanting these crops the corn propped-up the beans, and the squash leaves shaded out weeds. This allowed women the time for wild-food foraging, handcrafts, play and ceremonies.

For Cherokee groups and individuals, the goal was integration and balance of the physical, intellectual and spiritual aspects of living. Through pursuing duyuktv, “the right way,” each Cherokee became “a real person” or a tsv quo-dia.

At their height of population and power, nearly 100,000 Cherokees controlled approximately 140,000 square miles throughout eight present-day southern states. The land offered food in abundance, materials for shelter, clothing and utensils; beauty still vivid today, and herbs to treat every known illness until the Europeans arrived. 

During the initial 200 years of contact with the Europeans, the Cherokees extended help, assistance and hospitality to the newcomers. The Cherokees readily adopted useful aspects of European culture, from peaches and watermelons to “talking leaves” as they referred to the written language.

The Cherokee genius that invented the Cherokee alphabet, Sequoyah, is the only known person in history to invent a written language without being literate in any language beforehand. In 1821, Sequoyah introduced his “syllabary” to the Cherokee National Council. Within months, the majority of the Cherokee nation became literate.

The following years witnessed broken treaties that reduced the Cherokee empire to a fraction of its original status. Andrew Jackson (7th President of the United States) insisted that all southeastern Indians be removed to an area west of the Mississippi. The United States government no longer needed the Cherokees as strategic allies against the French and British. Land speculators also desired Cherokee land, and they wanted to sell it to cotton speculators; America's future “cotton plantation owners.” Furthermore, gold was discovered in Georgia.

Although the Cherokees resisted removal, presented their case to the United States Supreme Court, Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Policy prevailed. (see Indian Removal and Indian Removal Act of 1830)

In 1838, events culminated in the tragic “Trail of Tears,” which was the forced removal of the Cherokees that resided in the East to a new location in the West. The Cherokees were forced to relocate to Indian Territory; present-day state of Oklahoma (Oklahoma was admitted to the Union on November 16, 1907, becoming the 46th state). Of the 16,000 Cherokees forced West, approximately 4,000 died from starvation, disease, exposure, the exhaustive march, and the shock of exile.

The more than 12,000 Cherokees in North Carolina today descend from those that were exempted from the forced removal, a small number of early landowners, those who hid in the mountains (defying removal; see Tsali: Cherokee Hero and Legend), and others who walked the exhaustive journey from Oklahoma back to North Carolina (see Cherokee Chief Junaluska).

The bulk of the Cherokees that remained in North Carolina were exempted from the forced removal. During the 1835 Treaty of New Echota negotiations, William Holland Thomas, an adopted Cherokee, Indian Agent, and future Cherokee chief, was in Washington and he had successfully lobbied for the right for 1000 Cherokees to remain in North Carolina. These Indians are the present-day Eastern Band of Cherokee. (also see General Winfield Scott's Address to the Cherokee Nation, General Winfield Scott's Cherokee Indian Removal Enforcement Orders (The Trail of Tears), Autobiography of General Winfield Scott (Civilization of the Cherokees) and The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy)

The Cherokees have persevered, created a unique society--a sovereign nation inhabiting 100 square miles. We are American Indians; we are the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian Nation.

Come to Cherokee. Experience our land, our culture, our customs, and our friendship. We welcome you with a-li-he-li-tsi-da-s-di and a-tlv-quo-dv. Happiness and pride.

Sources: Adapted from The Cherokee Trails Guidebook; Eastern Band of Cherokee Nation; and thomaslegion.net