Kate Luna

English 2610
Nov 30, 2021

The History of the Cherokee Tribe

For this research paper, I will be talking about the history of the Cherokee tribe. I

remember learning about this tribe maybe in fourth grade and in seventh grade. That

was a long time ago, so I really don’t remember much or anything at all about this tribe.

I will talk about how long the Cherokee tribe has been around, what their culture and

traditions are, how they live and hunt, etc. I’m interested to see what I learn from this

paper since I like to learn about the history of people and what my perspective will be at

the end of my research.

The name Cherokee, comes from a Creek word that means, “people of different

speech”. “Many prefer to be known as Keetoowah or Tsalagi” (Britannica). The

Cherokee tribe was once one of the largest tribes out of all of the southeastern tribes.

The had an estimated population of 25,000 people before the arrival of the Europeans.

It has been recorded that in the year of 1540, the Europeans first came in contact with

the Cherokee. Spanish explorer, Hernando DeSoto was leading the exploration of the

southeastern portion of the Indian nation (aka the US). DeSoto came looking for gold.

He would demand for food, fight, and enslave the Cherokee; with that being said, he

also brought diseases to the Cherokeee. Influenza, measles, smallpox, any kind of

plague would kill many of the Cherokee because they lacked the immunity to fight off

those diseases. After the encounter with DeSoto, various Europeans came to the Indian

nation, Scottish, Irish, English, etc. Trade and intermarriage soon occured. As early as

1725, treaties were made between the

Kate Luna
English 2610
Nov 30, 2021

Cherokee nation and the British, “with Cherokee nation being recognized as inherently

sovereign through those nation-to-nation agreements'' (Cherokee.org). The Cherokee

weren’t always treated nicely by the immigrants. Many European immigrants thought

that they were superior and took over the lands of the Cherokee. The Cherokee weren’t

seen as human beings, rather than being equal to the Europeans, they were seen as

savages. The Cherokee were sent off to another land that was meant for Indians only.

Many who were forced to leave to the other land, never made it there. They had died

along their journey due to diseases, starvation, cold and disastrous weather conditions,

and some were beaten.

The Cherokee didn’t really have a religion like what we know. They believed that

there should be balance and harmony on earth or the middle world as they would call it.

Their religion or belief was that above the sky or clouds was the upper world. This was

where the guiding and protective spirits of humans and animals lived. They thought that

these spirits would move back and forth from the upper world and the middle world to

help keep balance and harmony on earth. Below the earth was the underworld of bad

spirits. “Bad spirits brought disorder and disaster” (Raley). They believed that the bad

spirits would rise to the middle world through deep springs, lakes, and caves.

“Whenever these spirits caused trouble, Cherokees called on the spirits from the upper

world to help restore balance and harmony to the middle world” (Raley). A normal

Cherokee town had about 30 to 60 houses and a council house

Kate Luna
English 2610
Nov 30, 2021

where most of their meetings were held and sacred fire was burned. Their houses were

made out of river cane and branches plastered with mud and with a thatched rooftop.

Once the Europeans came, their houses were bark roofed windowless log cabins, with

one door and a smoke hole on the roof. The Cherokee owned a variety of stone

implements such as knives, chisels, and axes that they would carve out. “They wove

baskets, made pottery, and cultivated corn, beans and squash” (Britannica). There was

equal division of power between men and women, they each had a distinct role. “The

men were in charge of hunting, fighting, and making political decisions, while women

were in charge of farming, property, taking care of the family, and making social

decisions for the clan. While only men could become war chiefs, women were the

landowners in Cherokee culture. Since they were traditionally a matrilineal kinship

society, all property and social status descended through the women’s line” (Maggitas).

The men would hunt bear, deer, and elk with their bow and arrows and the skin or fur of

the animal would be turned into clothes such as boots, coats, rugs, pants, etc. Music is

a big part of Cherokee culture. It is performed for a variety of different purposes like,

religious and healing ceremonies, storytelling, showing gratitude towards the earth, and

to bring abundant harvests. They made their own instruments. They made drums,

flutes, and rattles which were common instruments that were played alongside chanting

and singing.

Overall, there is so much history to learn about the Cherokee tribe. What I wrote

isn’t nearly half of it. I enjoyed reading all of the information that was found in
Kate Luna
English 2610
Nov 30, 2021

the articles that I chose. It’s really sad how not just the Cherokee tribe, but other tribes

as well were treated and removed from their own homelands. It wasn’t fair that the

Europeans, who I understand were exploring to see what was beyond their home, took

over the Indian tribes land, forced them to move to another place, thought that they

were superior and described the Indians as savages, disrespected them and their

culture, gave them impossible to cure diseases, and killed them. The Indians deserved

much more respect, especially since these European immigrants or foreigners were

entering their land, their home.

Kate Luna
English 2610
Nov 30, 2021

Work Cited

Augustyn, Adam. “Cherokee People”. Britannica

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cherokee-people

Blue Ridge Heritage. “Cherokee History in the North Carolina Mountains and

Beyond”.

https://www.blueridgeheritage.com/heritage/cherokee/cherokee-history/

Cherokee. “Cherokee Nation History”.

https://www.cherokee.org/about-the-nation/history/

Maggitas, Christina. “40 Fascinating Facts About Cherokee Culture & History”.

https://blueridgemountainstravelguide.com/facts-about-cherokee-culture-history/

Raley, Karen. “Maintaining Balance: The Religious World of the Cherokees”.

https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/maintaining-balance

Visit Cherokee NC. “History|Cherokee, NC”.

https://visitcherokeenc.com/play/culture/history/
Kate Luna
English 2610
Nov 30, 2021