76-609: Geary Hobson (born 1941) is a Cherokee , Quapaw / Chickasaw scholar, editor and writer of fiction and poetry. Hobson, is faculty emeritus at the University of Oklahoma . He received a lifetime achievement award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas in 2003. In his scholarly work, Hobson has compiled American Indian Literature and critiqued the " appropriation and misuse of Indian culture." In his influential essay "The Rise of
152-547: A British-Cherokee relationship that, despite breaking down on occasion, remained strong for much of the 18th century. With the growth of the deerskin trade , the Cherokee were considered valuable trading partners, since deer skins from the cooler country of their mountain hunting-grounds were of better quality than those supplied by the lowland coastal tribes, who were neighbors of the English colonists. In January 1716, Cherokee murdered
228-666: A band of Shawnee in the 1660s. But from 1710 to 1715, the Cherokee and Chickasaw allied with the British, and fought the Shawnee, who were allied with French colonists, forcing the Shawnee to move northward. The Cherokee fought with the Yamasee , Catawba , and British in late 1712 and early 1713 against the Tuscarora in the Second Tuscarora War . The Tuscarora War marked the beginning of
304-555: A delegation of Muscogee Creek leaders at the town of Tugaloo , marking their entry into the Yamasee War . It ended in 1717 with peace treaties between the colony of South Carolina and the Creek. Hostility and sporadic raids between the Cherokee and Creek continued for decades. These raids came to a head at the Battle of Taliwa in 1755, at present-day Ball Ground, Georgia , with the defeat of
380-464: A polluting activity. Researchers have debated the reasons for the change. Some historians believe the decline in priestly power originated with a revolt by the Cherokee against the abuses of the priestly class known as the Ani-kutani . Ethnographer James Mooney , who studied and talked with the Cherokee in the late 1880s, was the first to trace the decline of the former hierarchy to this revolt. By
456-553: A regional variation of the Mississippian culture that arose circa 1000 and lasted to 1500 CE. There is a consensus among most specialists in Southeast archeology and anthropology about these dates. But Finger says that ancestors of the Cherokee people lived in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee for a far longer period of time. Additional mounds were built by peoples during this cultural phase. Typically in this region, towns had
532-622: A single platform mound and served as a political center for smaller villages. The Cherokee occupied numerous towns throughout the river valleys and mountain ridges of their homelands. What were called the Lower towns were found in what is present-day western Oconee County, South Carolina , along the Keowee River (called the Savannah River in its lower portion). The principal town of the Lower Towns
608-712: A split between the groups in the distant past, perhaps 3,500–3,800 years ago. Glottochronology studies suggest the split occurred between about 1500 and 1800 BCE. The Cherokee say that the ancient settlement of Kituwa on the Tuckasegee River is their original settlement in the Southeast. It was formerly adjacent to and is now part of Qualla Boundary (the base of the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians ) in North Carolina. According to Thomas Whyte, who posits that proto-Iroquoian developed in Appalachia,
684-550: A time; so soon as the patient can bear it, they wound round with wire to expand them, and are adorned with silver pendants and rings, which they likewise wear at the nose. This custom does not belong originally to the Cherokees, but taken by them from the Shawnese, or other northern nations. They that can afford it wear a collar of wampum, which are beads cut out of clam-shells, a silver breast-plate, and bracelets on their arms and wrists of
760-813: Is a city in Cherokee County , Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains . It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as part of the new settlement in Indian Territory after the Cherokee Native Americans were forced west from the American Southeast on the Trail of Tears . The city's population
836-418: Is considered Cherokee country. The Spanish recorded a Chalaque people as living around the Keowee River , where western North Carolina, South Carolina, and northeastern Georgia meet. The Cherokee consider this area to be part of their homelands, which also extended into southeastern Tennessee. Further west, De Soto's expedition visited villages in present-day northwestern Georgia, recording them as ruled at
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#1732898509820912-473: Is enough'. Supposedly three tribal elders had planned to meet to determine the location of the Cherokee Nation's permanent capital. Two elders arrived and waited for the third. As dusk approached, they decided that 'two is enough', or 'ta-li-ye-li-quu' which later became anglicanized to Tahlequah. According to tribal elders and Cherokee County elders, this legend first began to circulate in the 1930s. Tahlequah
988-409: Is located in the city. Tahlonteeskee was the first established governmental capital of any kind in what was to become Oklahoma. It was established in 1828—in land that was part of 1816's Lovely Donations , becoming the first Cherokee Nation–West capital city. It continued as the capital until 1839 when new arrivals from the Trail of Tears flooded the area. At that time, Takatoka briefly became
1064-521: Is part of the Iroquoian language group. In the 19th century, James Mooney , an early American ethnographer , recorded one oral tradition that told of the tribe having migrated south in ancient times from the Great Lakes region, where other Iroquoian peoples have been based. However, anthropologist Thomas R. Whyte, writing in 2007, dated the split among the peoples as occurring earlier. He believes that
1140-480: Is shaved, tho' many of the old people have it plucked out by the roots, except a patch on the hinder part of the head, about twice the bigness of a crown-piece, which is ornamented with beads, feathers, wampum , stained deer hair, and such like baubles. The ears are slit and stretched to an enormous size, putting the person who undergoes the operation to incredible pain, being unable to lie on either side for nearly forty days. To remedy this, they generally slit but one at
1216-567: Is that "Cherokee" derives from the Lower Creek word Cvlakke ("chuh-log-gee"), as the Creek were also in this mountainous region. The Iroquois Five Nations, historically based in New York and Pennsylvania, called the Cherokee Oyata'ge'ronoñ ("inhabitants of the cave country"). It is possible the word "Cherokee" comes from a Muscogee Creek word meaning "people of different speech", because
1292-525: Is the Cherokee name for the Cherokee language . Many theories, though all unproven, abound about the origin of the name "Cherokee." It may have originally been derived from one of the competitive tribes in the area. The earliest Spanish transliteration of the name, from 1755, is recorded as Tchalaque , but it dates to accounts related to the Hernando de Soto expedition in the mid-16th century. Another theory
1368-776: The Battle of Taliwa . British soldiers built forts in Cherokee country to defend against the French in the Seven Years' War , which was fought across Europe and was called the French and Indian War on the North American front. These included Fort Loudoun near Chota on the Tennessee River in eastern Tennessee. Serious misunderstandings arose quickly between the two allies, resulting in the 1760 Anglo-Cherokee War . King George III's Royal Proclamation of 1763 forbade British settlements west of
1444-479: The Great Lakes region was the territory of most Iroquoian-language speakers, scholars have theorized that both the Cherokee and Tuscarora migrated south from that region. The Cherokee oral history tradition supports their migration from the Great Lakes. Linguistic analysis shows a relatively large difference between Cherokee and the northern Iroquoian languages, suggesting they had migrated long ago. Scholars posit
1520-640: The Green Corn Ceremony . Much of what is known about pre-18th century Native American cultures has come from records of Spanish expeditions. The earliest ones of the mid-16th century encountered peoples of the Mississippian culture era, who were ancestral to tribes that emerged in the Southeast, such as the Cherokee, Muscogee , Cheraw , and Catawba . Specifically in 1540–41, a Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto passed through present-day South Carolina, proceeding into western North Carolina and what
1596-644: The Highlands . A few were Scotch-Irish, English, French, and German (see Scottish Indian trade ). Many of these men married women from their host peoples and remained after the fighting had ended. Some of their mixed-race children, who were raised in Native American cultures, later became significant leaders among the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast . Notable traders, agents, and refugee Tories among
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#17328985098201672-592: The Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern North Carolina , southeastern Tennessee , southwestern Virginia, edges of western South Carolina , northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama consisting of around 40,000 square miles. The Cherokee language
1748-469: The Joara chiefdom (north of present-day Morganton, North Carolina ). The historic Catawba later lived in this area of the upper Catawba River. Pardo and his forces wintered over at Joara, building Fort San Juan there in 1567. His expedition proceeded into the interior, noting villages near modern Asheville and other places that are part of the Cherokee homelands. According to anthropologist Charles M. Hudson ,
1824-584: The Mississippi River . Tahlequah is home to the capital of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and about 25 percent of the students at NSU identify themselves as American Indian. The university has many courses focused on Native American linguistics, and offers Cherokee language Education as a major. Cherokee can be studied as a second language , and some classes are taught in Cherokee for first language speakers as well. The building that once housed
1900-857: The Ozark and Cherokee Central Railway built a line into Tahlequah. Tahlequah continued to grow. During the 1990s, it was the fourth fastest growing city in Oklahoma. Tahlequah has a total area of 12.45 square miles (32.2 km ), all land. The city is 40 miles (64 km) west of the Arkansas state line. Tahlequah, like most of the Southern United States, has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cfa ) with uncomfortably hot and humid summers, generally warm but very variable springs and autumns, and cool winters with frequent frosts and occasional spells of severe weather dominated by cold, dry Canadian air. As of
1976-659: The Second Cherokee War . Overhill Cherokee Nancy Ward , Dragging Canoe 's cousin, warned settlers of impending attacks. Provincial militias retaliated, destroying more than 50 Cherokee towns. North Carolina militia in 1776 and 1780 invaded and destroyed the Overhill towns in what is now Tennessee. In 1777, surviving Cherokee town leaders signed treaties with the new states. Dragging Canoe and his band settled along Chickamauga Creek near present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee , where they established 11 new towns. Chickamauga Town
2052-632: The Tennessee and Chattahoochee rivers were remote enough from white settlers to remain independent after the Cherokee–American wars . The deerskin trade was no longer feasible on their greatly reduced lands, and over the next several decades, the people of the fledgling Cherokee Nation began to build a new society modeled on the white Southern United States. Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( / ˈ t æ l ə k w ɑː / TAL -ə-kwah ; Cherokee : ᏓᎵᏆ , daligwa [dàlígʷá] )
2128-601: The white settlers. They also developed their own writing system. Today, three Cherokee tribes are federally recognized : the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (UKB) in Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation (CN) in Oklahoma, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) in North Carolina. The Cherokee Nation has more than 300,000 tribal members, making it the largest of the 574 federally recognized tribes in
2204-592: The 1820s. Initially only the didanvwisgi learned to write and read such materials, which were considered extremely powerful in a spiritual sense. Later, the syllabary and writings were widely adopted by the Cherokee people. In 1657, there was a disturbance in Virginia Colony as the Rechahecrians or Rickahockans , as well as the Siouan Manahoac and Nahyssan , broke through the frontier and settled near
2280-517: The 2010 census , there were 15,753 people, 6,111 households, and 3,351 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,312.75 inhabitants per square mile (506.86/km ). There were 6,857 housing units at an average density of 571.4 per square mile (220.6/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 53.8% White , 2.4% African American , 30.0% Native American , 1.3% Asian , 0.0% Pacific Islander , 3.7% from other races , and 8.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.8% of
2356-629: The Appalachian crest, as his government tried to afford some protection from colonial encroachment to the Cherokee and other tribes they depended on as allies. The Crown found the ruling difficult to enforce with colonists. From 1771 to 1772, North Carolinian settlers squatted on Cherokee lands in Tennessee, forming the Watauga Association . Daniel Boone and his party tried to settle in Kentucky, but
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2432-533: The Cherokee and Tuscarora broke off in the Southeast from the major group of Iroquoian speakers who migrated north to the Great Lakes area. There a succession of Iroquoian-speaking tribes were encountered by Europeans in historic times. In the 1830s, the American writer John Howard Payne visited Cherokee then based in Georgia. He recounted what they shared about pre-19th-century Cherokee culture and society. For instance,
2508-574: The Cherokee and Americans, who had achieved independence from the British Crown. In 1805, the Cherokee ceded their lands between the Cumberland and Duck rivers (i.e. the Cumberland Plateau ) to Tennessee . The traders and British government agents dealing with the southern tribes in general, and the Cherokee in particular, were nearly all of Scottish ancestry, with many documented as being from
2584-560: The Cherokee delegation signed the Treaty of Whitehall with the British. Moytoy's son, Amo-sgasite (Dreadful Water), attempted to succeed him as "Emperor" in 1741, but the Cherokee elected their own leader, Conocotocko (Old Hop) of Chota . Political power among the Cherokee remained decentralized, and towns acted autonomously. In 1735, the Cherokee were said to have sixty-four towns and villages, with an estimated fighting force of 6,000 men. In 1738 and 1739, smallpox epidemics broke out among
2660-550: The Cherokee included John Stuart , Henry Stuart, Alexander Cameron, John McDonald, John Joseph Vann (father of James Vann ), Daniel Ross (father of John Ross ), John Walker Sr., Mark Winthrop Battle, John McLemore (father of Bob), William Buchanan, John Watts (father of John Watts Jr. ), John D. Chisholm , John Benge (father of Bob Benge ), Thomas Brown, John Rogers (Welsh), John Gunter (German, founder of Gunter's Landing), James Adair (Irish), William Thorpe (English), and Peter Hildebrand (German), among many others. Some attained
2736-442: The Cherokee language and English. Such signs use the syllabary created by Sequoyah , a Cherokee scholar of the 1820s who created the writing system. After the war, a brick capitol was built and first occupied in 1870. In 1907, at the time of Oklahoma statehood, the building was converted into the Cherokee County courthouse. It was returned to the Cherokee Nation in 1970. In 1886, the first telephone company in Indian Territory
2812-744: The Cherokee language as the medium of instruction, and no English. Most of the city is zoned to Tahlequah Public Schools , while portions are zoned to Briggs Public School . Education within the Tahlequah city limits consists of one early learning center serving students in Pre-K: Sequoyah; three elementary schools serving students in Kindergarten through 5th grade: Greenwood, Cherokee, and Heritage; one middle school with grades 6 through 8: Tahlequah Middle School; and one high school with grades 9-12: Tahlequah High School . Tahlequah High School serves as
2888-583: The Cherokee, who had no natural immunity to the new infectious disease. Nearly half their population died within a year. Hundreds of other Cherokee committed suicide due to their losses and disfigurement from the disease. British colonial officer Henry Timberlake , born in Virginia, described the Cherokee people as he saw them in 1761: The Cherokees are of a middle stature, of an olive colour, tho' generally painted, and their skins stained with gun-powder, pricked into it in very pretty figures. The hair of their head
2964-609: The Falls of the James River, near present-day Richmond, Virginia . The following year, a combined force of English colonists and Pamunkey drove the newcomers away. The identity of the Rechahecrians has been much debated. Historians noted the name closely resembled that recorded for the Eriechronon or Erielhonan , commonly known as the Erie tribe , another Iroquoian-speaking people based south of
3040-455: The Great Lakes in present-day northern Pennsylvania. This Iroquoian people had been driven away from the southern shore of Lake Erie in 1654 by the powerful Iroquois Five Nations, also known as Haudenosaunee , who were seeking more hunting grounds to support their dominance in the beaver fur trade. The anthropologist Martin Smith theorized some remnants of the tribe migrated to Virginia after
3116-574: The Great Lakes. This has been the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee nations and other Iroquoian-speaking peoples. Another theory is that the Cherokee had been in the Southeast for thousands of years and that proto-Iroquoian developed here. Other Iroquoian-speaking tribes in the Southeast have been the Tuscarora people of the Carolinas, and the Meherrin and Nottaway of Virginia. James Mooney in
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3192-606: The Mississippian culture-period (1000 to 1500 CE in the regional variation known as the South Appalachian Mississippian culture ), local women developed a new variety of maize (corn) called eastern flint corn . It closely resembled modern corn and produced larger crops. The successful cultivation of corn surpluses allowed the rise of larger, more complex chiefdoms consisting of several villages and concentrated populations during this period. Corn became celebrated among numerous peoples in religious ceremonies, especially
3268-545: The Muscogee. In 1721, the Cherokee ceded lands in South Carolina. In 1730, at Nikwasi , a Cherokee town and Mississippian culture site, a Scots adventurer, Sir Alexander Cuming , crowned Moytoy of Tellico as "Emperor" of the Cherokee. Moytoy agreed to recognize King George II of Great Britain as the Cherokee protector. Cuming arranged to take seven prominent Cherokee, including Attakullakulla , to London , England. There
3344-459: The Nation's capital during the construction of the capitol building at Tahlequah. By mid-1840, the seat of government had been officially moved to Tahlequah. By 1842, Tahlequah was a growing community and had four stores. The town site of 160 acres (65 ha) was surveyed in 1843, and in the same year an intertribal council attracted ten thousand participants representing 21 different tribes. In 1844
3420-465: The National Hotel was built, and the newspaper Cherokee Advocate issued its first edition using a printing press installed in the brand-new Supreme Court building. The first school opened in 1845, and the Tahlequah post office opened in 1847. The Cherokee Male Seminary opened in 1851, offering higher education to Cherokee boys who had already received their primary education. Many linguists believe
3496-459: The Pardo expedition also recorded encounters with Muskogean -speaking peoples at Chiaha in southeastern modern Tennessee. Linguistic studies have been another way for researchers to study the development of people and their cultures. Unlike most other Native American tribes in the American Southeast at the start of the historic era, the Cherokee and Tuscarora people spoke Iroquoian languages . Since
3572-436: The Payne papers describe the account by Cherokee elders of a traditional two-part societal structure. A "white" organization of elders represented the seven clans . As Payne recounted, this group, which was hereditary and priestly, was responsible for religious activities, such as healing, purification, and prayer. A second group of younger men, the "red" organization, was responsible for warfare. The Cherokee considered warfare
3648-497: The Shawnee, Delaware , Mingo , and some Cherokee attacked a scouting and forage party that included Boone's son, James Boone, and William Russell 's son, Henry, who were killed in the skirmish. Faragher, John Mack (1992). Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer . New York: Holt. pp. 93–4. ISBN 0-8050-1603-1 . In 1776, allied with the Shawnee led by Cornstalk , Cherokee attacked settlers in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina in
3724-441: The Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation has been converted into a museum, the Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum and is open to the public. It reportedly is the oldest public building in Oklahoma. It was constructed on the southeast corner of the town square by James S. Pierce in 1844. The first chief justice of the Cherokee Nation, John Martin held court here. The printing press for the early-day Cherokee Phoenix newspaper
3800-439: The United States. In addition, numerous groups claim Cherokee lineage , and some of these are state-recognized. A total of more than 819,000 people are estimated to have identified as having Cherokee ancestry on the U.S. census; most are not enrolled members of any tribe. Of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, the Cherokee Nation and the UKB have headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma , and most of their members live in
3876-851: The White Shaman as a New Version of Cultural Imperialism" (1976), Hobson noted that neo-romantic works by Jeorome Rothenburg, Gary Snyder , and Gene Fowler "prevented others from understanding the works by writers with authentic tribal experiences." Hobson also suggested that the use of traditional language by Snyder and Fowler is a form of "naked cultural imperialism." Cherokee California : large ethnic diaspora community, 22,124 registered tribal members North Carolina : 16,158 (0.2%) Oklahoma : 102,580 (2.7%) – extends to nearby Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri South Carolina : 3,428 The Cherokee ( / ˈ tʃ ɛr ə k iː , ˌ tʃ ɛr ə ˈ k iː / ; Cherokee : ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ , romanized: Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi , or Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩ , romanized: Tsalagi ) people are one of
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#17328985098203952-403: The area. Because they gave up tribal membership at the time, they became state and US citizens. In the late 19th century, they reorganized as a federally recognized tribe. A Cherokee language name for Cherokee people is Aniyvwiya ( ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ , translating as "Principal People"). Another endonym is Anigiduwagi (ᎠᏂᎩᏚᏩᎩ, translating as "People from Kituwah"). Tsalagi Gawonihisdi ( ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ )
4028-468: The government buildings were a complex of log or framed structures. Most of these buildings were destroyed during the Civil War, during which the Cherokee became divided into two bitterly opposing sides. The Cherokee Supreme Court Building, located in downtown Tahlequah and constructed in 1844, is the oldest public building in Oklahoma. Several markers of Cherokee and Native American heritage are found in town: street signs and business signs are noted in both
4104-436: The historic Cherokee and occupied what is now Western North Carolina in the Middle Woodland period, circa 200 to 600 CE. They are believed to have built what is called the Biltmore Mound, found in 1984 south of the Swannanoa River on the Biltmore Estate, which has numerous Native American sites. Other ancestors of the Cherokee are considered to be part of the later Pisgah phase of South Appalachian Mississippian culture ,
4180-461: The honorary status of minor chiefs and/or members of significant delegations. By contrast, a large portion of the settlers encroaching on the Native American territories were Scotch-Irish , Irish from Ulster who were of Scottish descent and had been part of the plantation of Ulster . They also tended to support the Revolution. But in the back country, there were also Scotch-Irish who were Loyalists, such as Simon Girty . The Cherokee lands between
4256-413: The late 19th century recorded conversations with elders who recounted an oral tradition of the Cherokee people migrating south from the Great Lakes region in ancient times. They occupied territories where earthwork platform mounds were built by peoples during the earlier Woodland and Mississippian culture periods. For example, the people of the Connestee culture period are believed to be ancestors of
4332-412: The main high school within the county as well and is fed by other rural Pre-K through 8th grade schools within Cherokee County. The following schools have Tahlequah postal addresses but are in the Park Hill census-designated place . Northeastern State University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of Oklahoma as well as one of the oldest institutions of higher learning west of
4408-436: The origin of the proto-Iroquoian language was likely the Appalachian region , and the split between Northern and Southern Iroquoian languages began 4,000 years ago. By the 19th century, White American settlers had classified the Cherokee of the Southeast as one of the " Five Civilized Tribes " in the region. They were agrarian , lived in permanent villages and had begun to adopt some cultural and technological practices of
4484-416: The population. Out of 6,111 households, 25.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.5% were married couples living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.2% were non-families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size
4560-453: The same metal, a bit of cloth over their private parts, a shirt of the English make, a sort of cloth-boots, and mockasons ( sic ), which are shoes of a make peculiar to the Americans, ornamented with porcupine-quills; a large mantle or match-coat thrown over all complete their dress at home ... From 1753 to 1755, battles broke out between the Cherokee and Muscogee over disputed hunting grounds in North Georgia . The Cherokee were victorious in
4636-525: The state. The UKB are mostly descendants of "Old Settlers", also called Western Cherokee: those who migrated from the Southeast to Arkansas and Oklahoma in about 1817, prior to Indian removal . They are related to the Cherokee who were later forcibly relocated there in the 1830s under the Indian Removal Act . The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is located on land known as the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina. They are mostly descendants of ancestors who had resisted or avoided relocation, remaining in
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#17328985098204712-429: The time by the Coosa chiefdom . This is believed to be a chiefdom ancestral to the Muscogee Creek people , who developed as a Muskogean-speaking people with a distinct culture. In 1566, the Juan Pardo expedition traveled from the present-day South Carolina coast into its interior, and into western North Carolina and southeastern Tennessee. He recorded meeting Cherokee-speaking people who visited him while he stayed at
4788-416: The time that Mooney was studying the people in the late 1880s, the structure of Cherokee religious practitioners was more informal, based more on individual knowledge and ability than upon heredity. Another major source of early cultural history comes from materials written in the 19th century by the didanvwisgi ( ᏗᏓᏅᏫᏍᎩ ), Cherokee medicine men , after Sequoyah 's creation of the Cherokee syllabary in
4864-441: The two peoples spoke different languages. Jack Kilpatrick disputes this idea, noting that he believes the name come from the Cherokee word "tsàdlagí" meaning "he has turned aside". Anthropologists and historians have two main theories of Cherokee origins. One is that the Cherokee, an Iroquoian-speaking people, are relative latecomers to Southern Appalachia , who may have migrated in late prehistoric times from northern areas around
4940-435: The wars ( 1986:131–32 ), later becoming known as the Westo to English colonists in the Province of Carolina. A few historians suggest this tribe was Cherokee. Virginian traders developed a small-scale trading system with the Cherokee in the Piedmont before the end of the 17th century. The earliest recorded Virginia trader to live among the Cherokee was Cornelius Dougherty or Dority, in 1690. The Cherokee gave sanctuary to
5016-431: The western side of the Appalachian Mountains, in present-day southeastern Tennessee. During the late Archaic and Woodland Period , Native Americans in the region began to cultivate plants such as marsh elder , lambsquarters , pigweed , sunflowers , and some native squash . People created new art forms such as shell gorgets , adopted new technologies, and developed an elaborate cycle of religious ceremonies. During
5092-411: The word 'Tahlequah' (Tah-le-quah) and the word 'Teh-li-co' are the same as 'di li gwa', the Cherokee word for grain or rice. (See Cherokee Nation Lexicon (dikaneisdi) at cherokee.org under culture/language). Scholars report the Cherokee word 'di li gwa' describes a type of native grain with a red hue that grew in the flat open areas of east Tennessee. One area, Great Tellico ( Tellico Plains, Tennessee ),
5168-456: Was Keowee . Other Cherokee towns on the Keowee River included Estatoe and Sugartown ( Kulsetsiyi ), a name repeated in other areas. In western North Carolina, what were known as the Valley, Middle, and Outer Towns were located along the major rivers of the Tuckasegee , the upper Little Tennessee , Hiwasee , French Broad and other systems. The Overhill Cherokee occupied towns along the lower Little Tennessee River and upper Tennessee River on
5244-472: Was $ 43,940. Males had a median income of $ 32,475 versus $ 27,939 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 17,003. About 20.7% of families and 33.3% of the population were below the poverty line , including 43.2% of those under age 18 and 21.8% of those age 65 or over. Many people in Tahlequah speak Cherokee , and there is a Cherokee language immersion school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, that educates students from pre-school through eighth grade with
5320-430: Was 15,753 at the 2010 census , an increase of 8.96 percent over the figure of 14,458 reported in 2000. The 2019 estimated population is 16,819. Tahlequah is the capital of the two federally recognized Cherokee tribes based in Oklahoma, the modern Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians . Tahlequah is also the county seat of Cherokee County. The main campus of Northeastern State University
5396-417: Was 2.99. In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.1% under the age of 18, 23.6% from 18 to 24, 24.3% from 25 to 44, 18.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males. As of 2013, the median household income was $ 29,114 and the median family income
5472-600: Was a settlement as early as 1832. After the Western Cherokee agreed in 1834 to let the newer migrants settle near them, they joined their government with the Eastern Cherokee at Tahlequah in 1839. Tahlequah was named long before it was chosen as the Cherokee capital. In 1839, Tahlequah was designated the capital of ancestors of both the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. Initially
5548-484: Was also located in this building, and a reproduction of the press and the newsroom can be seen here. The Cherokee National Capitol building was built on the town square in 1869. It contained the nation's executive and legislative offices until the tribal national government was dissolved in 1906, in preparation for Oklahoma's statehood. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and
5624-671: Was built. The Cherokee Female Seminary, which had originally been constructed in Park Hill, burned in 1887, and was rebuilt in Tahlequah. After statehood, it was taken over by the state to become Northeastern State Normal School and the Northeastern State Teachers College (now Northeastern State University ). The first bank in the Cherokee Nation opened in 1891 on Muskogee Avenue. A major fire destroyed much of downtown Tahlequah in 1895. The buildings destroyed were mostly wooden and were replaced with brick structures. In 1902,
5700-522: Was his headquarters and the colonists tended to call his entire band the Chickamauga to distinguish them from other Cherokee. From here he fought a guerrilla war against settlers, which lasted from 1776 to 1794. These are known informally as the Cherokee–American wars, but this is not a historian's term. The first Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse , signed November 7, 1794, finally brought peace between
5776-466: Was named for the grass with the red seed tops. Others interpret a word 'tel-i-quah' as 'plains'; however, there is no word for 'plains' in the Cherokee lexicon, and the word 'tel-i-quah' is not found in the lexicon. The idea that 'tahlequah' means 'plains' lends weight to the belief that the name refers to the wide open grassy areas of Great Tellico. Local legend states the name is derived from Cherokee words 'ta-li' and 'ye-li-quu' meaning 'just two' or 'two
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