What Are The Cherokee Indians

The Cherokee Indians are of Iroquoian descent and originally from the Great Lakes region of the country. They were one of the largest of five Native American tribes who settled in the American Southeast portion of the country in the areas that we today call Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Virginia. The Cherokees believed that the earth belonged to no one readily shared the land they called home and taught the early settlers how to hunt, fish, and farm in their new environment. They introduced them to crops such as corn, squash, and potatoes; and taught them how to use herbal medicines for illnesses. Easily adapting to the colonist’s European culture early the Cherokee replaced their traditionally made products with European made pots and knives, guns, and gunpowder.

Guns were especially important. Indians used guns to defend themselves against other armed tribes. This trade created problems. As the Indians expanded their hunting grounds to find more deer for the colonists, would sometimes trespass on settlers’ farms or to bump into other tribes. They also began depleting the game animals that were native to the area. As more and more European settlers moved into Cherokee, land conflicts between the Cherokees and the whites began to arise. In an effort to rid themselves of the settlers, many Cherokee sided with the British during the American