The Cherokee had 7 different clans, the wolf, the wild potato, the paint, the blue, the long hair, the bird, and the deer. They are expert farmers; they grow squash, beans, corn, pumpkin, sunflowers, and tobacco. Their houses were made of mud straw, reed, and grass. Men wore deerskin moccasins, and a breachout.(A piece of fabric that goes between the knees and held by a belt.)They mostly hunt, fish, and chop trees to make canoes. Women wore furs or woven fibers of plants. Knee-high skirts, deerskin, and moccasins too. They mostly gathered berries and nuts, and sew baskets as well as pottery. The Cherokee used bows and arrows to hunt deer, bear, rabbit, and other forest animals.

In the 1540’s, Spanish explorer, Hernando DeSoto, searched Cherokee land in search of gold. They treated the Cherokee badly but they started a tra

In 1830, the Indian Removal Act was passed. This meant that now all of the Indians East of the Mississippi had to move to an Indian Territory, which would be later known as Oklahoma. In 1832 The Indian Land Lottery was passed, people who won got a part of Cherokee land. Chief Ross pleaded Andrew Jackson to help, but he ignored them. Many famous defenders helped defend the Cherokee, some of those were Noah Webster, John Adams, Sam Houston, and Davy Crockett. In 1835 300 Cherokees signed the Treaty of New Echota, this offered their land to the U.S. if they could control their territory in Oklahoma. The treaty was confirmed, and now in 1838, Chief Ross would have to lead his people on a long journey to the Indian Territory.

When oil was discovered in 1904 in Cherokee land, this meant that the Cherokee were doomed. Like when gold was discovered, greedy white men would push them out of their land. Then the territory was changed to the state of Oklahoma.

Despite some problems with the colonist, they got along well. Traders were now marring into Cherokee families. They started adopting traits of the white men, but they remembered that a Child of a Cherokee mother was first and always a Cherokee. Once the Revolutionary war came, the Cherokee supported the British and fought against the settlers. Men were killed and women and children were captured, the Cherokees got a reputation for being savage beasts. After the war the Cherokee had to pay a big penalty for losing, white men wanted more land and revenge. Many of them drove Cherokees out of their homes. They couldn’t stand the abuse anymore so they singed the Treaty of Tellico in 1789 and the Treaty of Holston in 1791. These treaties made the Cherokee move to another place, they still would have 43,000 square miles in Georgia and in the lands of the Great Smokey Mountains. Many more Treaties were signed and much more land was lost.

The removal of the Cherokees didn’t move all the Cherokee out of their land. A small band of Cherokees hid from the soldiers, protected by a man named Tsali. General Scott wanted Tsali found and punished, but the chances of finding him was small. So, Scott said he would leave the Cherokees alone if Tsali turned himself in. He did and he was executed, but because of him the hiding Cherokees became the East Band.

Some topics in this essay:
North Carolina, Indian Territory, Band Schools, Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Nation, Cherokee Syllabary, Cherokee Revolutionary, John Ross, , Hernando DeSoto, cherokee land, andrew jackson, cherokee phoenix, chief john ross, british war, laws cherokee, police force, territory oklahoma, chop trees, war cherokee, chief ross,