Cherokee Indians
The Cherokee Indians had many Native American villages spread along the Tennessee
River which runs through the Appalachian Mountains. They owned territory
that stretched from Virginia and south. The Cherokee Indians built houses
and created villages throughout the area. The Cherokee villages were usually
spread out miles apart, and to travel from one village to the next was usually
a days worth of walking.
The Cherokee Indians homes were mostly crafted out
of wood and stone. They were also great farmers and hunters. The Cherokees
would grow lush crops in fields and they also harvested nuts and berries which
were staples in their diets. They had developed roads along the rivers so
they could travel to nearby villages where they could trade and barter. Each
village had their own chief who ran the tribe and they were at peace with
all of the other nearby tribes, being the other Cherokee villages, the Choctaw,
and the Muskogee. There was also many competitions between different Native
American tribes back then, and sometimes they would have big celebrations
among tribes with fun and games.
Cherokee Indians inhabited these lands for centuries and then as European settlers
arrived they started settling the lands and creating their own towns. This is
when history began to change for the Cherokee Indians, and not for the good.
A well recorded historical fact is about the Trail of Tears. This is when the
Cherokees started to be forced out of their homes, sometimes made to leave with
out any of their possessions. On the Trail of Tears many Native Americans lost
their lives on their route to Oklahoma in the winters of 1838-1839. It is said
that approximately five thousand Cherokees died out of the eighteen thousand
or so that took this eight hundred mile trip. The other nearby tribes previously
mentioned were also forced out of their homes. There are over three hundred
thousand Cherokees living in the United States now and the United States government
has given them their own land that they can govern themselves, by their own
laws. The influence of the Cherokee people on our country is of great historical
significance and will thrive on for many more centuries.
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