The History and Culture of the Cherokee Civilization

Introduction

The Cherokee, a very large tribe, lived in the region of the Smokey Appalachians Mountains. The Cherokee were forced to relocate to the Appalachian Mountains after they were defeated at war by the Delaware. The tribe was divided into seven clans. The tribe’s men were not allowed to marry within there tribes, this was a great taboo in the Cherokee society. The seven tribes inhabited North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia and Georgia. Once the man married he left his tribe and went to live with his wife’s tribe. They spoke the Iroquoian language.

Way of living

The Cherokee had the highest standards of living and level of education among the tribes living in Sothern East United States (Perdue 115). They lived in communities with thirty to sixty households. The different Cherokee communities carried on their daily activities independently. They only came together in time of war and major ceremonies. They built there houses such that, they were sunken into the ground partially. The houses were made of barks of trees and wattle. Some of the clans made there houses with logs. The houses had one entrance and with a smoke hole at the top.

The Cherokee made a living through pottery, farming, carving stone and weaving baskets. The Cherokee had special tools and implements which they used when carving. There staple plants include; corn, beans and squash. Latter started planting cotton to provide wool for weaving. The diet of the Cherokee was mostly made with vegetable but also ate meat from time to time. The Cherokee wore belts made of animal hind and jewelry made of bones.

The Cherokee had their own constitution adopted in the year 1800. They had there own courts that arbitrated in both civil and criminal ...

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...nued. The Cherokee lost a portion of their land to white settlers through treaties with the government. The final blow came when President Jackson came into power in 1802 and gold was discovered in the region. Miners encroached most of the land and the president denounced the laws of the Cherokee extending his territory to cover there land. When the Cherokee resisted, the government retaliated by arrest and murder of the Cherokee people. For fear of the violence most of the families voluntarily started to migrate to the west. Other families were relocated forcibly by the government to Oklahoma.

Works Cited

Perdue, Theda. Cherokee women: gender and culture change, 1700-1835. USA: University of Nebraska Press, (1999) Print.

Zeman, Scott. Chronology of the American West: from 23,000 B.C.E. through the twentieth Century. Califonia: ABC-CLIO Inc, (2002) Print.