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   Cherokee

   Original Cherokee's location the southern Appalachian Mountains: including western North and South Carolina, northern Georgia and Alabama, southwest Virginia, and the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee, Kentucky, and northern Alabama.

Cherokee. Man's portrait

   Distributed across the United States, but concentrated in eastern Oklahoma. The eastern Cherokee still maintain their reservation in western North Carolina. The Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory has almost 12,000 members and has been recognized by the State of Missouri. Other groups of Cherokee, like the 2,500 members of the North Alabama Cherokee, are located in Arkansas, Georgia, and Alabama but currently do not have federal recognition.

   European epidemics introduced into the southeastern United States in 1540 by the Desoto expedition are estimated to have killed at least 75% of the original native population. How much the Cherokee suffered from this disaster in unknown, but their population in 1674 was about 50,000.

Cherokee seal

   A series of smallpox epidemics (1729, 1738, and 1753) cut this in half, and it remained fairly stable at about 25,000 until their removal to Oklahoma during the 1830s. The American Civil War was the next disaster and cost the Cherokee 25% of their population. No other group of Americans, red or white, suffered as severely during this conflict. The 1990 census listed 308,132 persons (15,000 full-blood) who identified themselves as Cherokee. Of these, 95,435 were concentrated in eastern Oklahoma while 10,114 eastern Cherokee lived on or near the North Carolina reservation. Cherokee tribal governments have fairly liberal membership standards, and some estimates exceed 370,000, which would make the Cherokee the largest Native American group in the United States.

   The most familiar name, Cherokee, comes from a Creek word "Chelokee" meaning "people of a different speech." In their own language the Cherokee originally called themselves the Aniyunwiya (or Anniyaya) "principal people" or the Keetoowah (or Anikituaghi, Anikituhwagi) "people of Kituhwa." Although they usually accept being called Cherokee, many prefer Tsalagi from their own name for the Cherokee Nation (Tsalagihi Ayili).

   At the time of contact, the Cherokee were a settled, agricultural people living in approximately 200 fairly, large villages. The typical Cherokee town consisted of 30 to 60 houses and a large council house. 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. The large council houses were frequently located on mounds from the earlier Mississippian culture, although the Cherokee themselves did not build mounds during the historic period. Used for councils, general meetings, and religious ceremonies, the council houses were also the site of the sacred fire, which the Cherokee had kept burning from time immemorial.

   Like other Iroquian peoples, kinship and membership in seven matrilineal clans were determined through the mother, although the women's role never achieved the importance that it enjoyed among the Iroquois League in New York. In most ways, the Cherokee more closely resembled the Creek and other southeastern tribes, including the celebration of the Busk, or Green Corn festival. Agriculture relied heavily on the "three sisters" (corn, beans, and squash), supplemented by hunting and the gathering of wild plants. Cherokee villages were largely independent in daily matters, with the whole tribe only coming together for ceremonies or times of war. Leadership was divided according the circumstances: "red" chiefs during war and "white" chiefs in times of peace.

Cherokee. Man

   The Cherokee were the only Iroquian-speaking member of the five Civilized Tribes of the southeast United States. Although it is difficult to ascertain what privilege in treatment they received for being classified as "civilized", their achievements were remarkable and accomplished almost entirely through their own efforts. During the early 1800s, the Cherokee adopted their government to a written constitution. They established their own courts and schools, and achieved a standard of living that was the envy of their white neighbors. Particularily noteworthy was the invention of written language by Sequoyah (George Gist) in 1821. Utilizing an ingenious alphabet of 86 characters, almost the entire Cherokee Nation became literate within a few years. A Cherokee newspaper, the Phoenix, began publication in the native language in February, 1828. Prominent Cherokees are too numerous to list but include Senator Robert Owen and Will Rogers. Despite all they have endured, the Cherokee level of education and living standard ranks among the highest of all Native American tribes.

   The Keetoowah Cherokee are a separate political entity, separate from theCherokee Nation although both are based in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The Keetoowah arefederally recognized as a separate tribe. This is quite common amongst tribes that aregeographically separate such as the differing bands of Ojibwe, but a unique situationwhere two separate bands of the same tribe exist in the same exact locale.

Keetoowahas flag

   (Keetoowah-Cherokee-flag) The seal of the Keetoowahas three circles surrounding a central blue disc (sample seal provided by the UnitedKeetoowah Band) . The outer most circle contains nineteen black seven pointed stars.
The next innermost circle is orange and contains the name of the band in black capitalletters, English at the top, Cherokee script at the bottom. The third ring is yellow andbears eleven more seven pointed black stars.

   The central light blue disc bears the yellow seven pointed star surrounded by oakbranches that is common to the other Cherokee of the North Carolina and Oklahomatribes, but not found in the seal of the Chickamauga Cherokee nor in the flag and seal of the Cherokee of Georgia.

   Beyond the central seal are four additional black seven pointed stars. These four stars recall the four primary directions of the compass, a recurring theme in NativeAmerican design.

   Chief Ross explained that the thirty black stars contained within the rings standfor the extinguished campfires of the thirty original Keetoowah villages back in theirhommelands of North Carolina and Georgia. They act as a constant reminder of theKeetoowah's past and their continuing ties to their original lands.
The three rings stand for the colorful history of the Keetoowah people. Thecentral star, as with the other Cherokee people, is used to recall the seven original clansof the Cherokee while the oak branches symbolize strength.

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