The Land: Understanding Why the Land Is Important to the Cherokee Nation

Most Americans have at least some vague image of the Trail of Tears, but not very many know of the events that led to that tragic removal of several thousand Indians from their homeland. Indian lands were held hostage by the states and the federal government, and Indians had to agree to removal to preserve their identity as tribes. Trail of Tears is an excellent snapshot of a particular situation and will be eye opening to those who are not familiar with the story of the southern tribes and their interactions with the burgeoning American population. The Trail of Tears has become the symbol in American history that signifies the callousness of American policy makers toward American Indians in 1839 and 1839.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are indigenous of parts of the Southeastern United States. They have members all the way south as Georgia and are spread out across the Appalachian mountain trail in both North and South Carolina and stretching across into Tennessee. The land in which each tribe is from has a particular way is shaping how they live and defines the important aspects of that culture. In the Eighteenth Century the Cherokee Indians were one of the most heavily populated Indian societies in the Southeastern United States. These Indians have many unique political and spiritual ideas and world views.

Cherokee Indians were found in the south and southeast commonly in these states North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, West Virginia/Virginia, Alabama, and Tennessee. Old artifacts show that they lived in this region about 11,000 years ago to the present day and that they had very natural reliable resources that they used on a daily basis. The Cherokee Indians had a well-managed system in which they had villages of 60 or less for housing, the women did the cooking, cleaning, farming/harvesting and the men did the hunting and gathering. In the region where the Cherokee’s were known to live at they modified their own weapons, arts/crafts, and clothing also using trees and plants for medicinal uses. The Cherokee Indians were one of

The Hopi Legend and The World on the Turtle’s Back are two Native American myths that tell the story of how their world was created. Both myths are somewhat similar; however, the two myths are precisely different. In other words, both stories began with different events and views of understandings. To exemplify, the Hopi Legend begins with two Gods, Tawa and Spider Woman, who created a world using the forces of nature and magic to form life. The story later ends with a rich feeling of relief as Spider Woman leaves the people with rules to follow on, almost as if life can be perfected. To contrast with the Iroquois’ myth, The World on the Turtle’s Back are filled with flaws. The first event that led to how the world was created was when the pregnant woman fell from the Sky-World after coming near the Great Tree. The story ended after her daughter grew up and had two twins of her own, who created more of the world with the exception of perfection. Above all, two different myths share and differentiate features of symbolism, culture, and the

Currently, when the losses suffered by the Cherokee Nation as a result of their forced removal are discussed, there is a focus on the loss in numbers. However, Russell Thornton’s “Cherokee Population Losses During Trail of Tears: A New Perspective and a New Estimate” clearly presents a new, suitably researched perspective that argues the focus should not be only on those that died, but also on those that never lived. Thornton is a professor at UCLA in the Anthropology department. He has a number of degrees related to this study, including a Ph.D. in Sociology and a postdoctoral in Social Relations from Harvard, and specializes in Native American studies. He is clearly appropriately acquainted with this field, and his knowledge of the subject matter is evident in this piece. However, he also cites a number of papers and books by other authors, so as not to rely purely on his knowledge.

With the discovery of the New World came a whole lot of new problems. Native American Indians lived in peace and harmony until European explorers interrupted that bliss with the quest for money and power. The European explorers brought with them more people. These people and their descendants starting pushing the natives out of their homes, out of their land, far before the 1800s. However, in the 1800s, the driving force behind the removal of the natives intensified. Thousands of indians during this time were moved along the trail known as Nunna dual Tsung, meaning “The Trail Where They Cried” (“Cherokee Trail of Tears”). The Trail of Tears was not only unjust and unconstitutional, but it also left many indians sick, heartbroken, and dead.

Having little knowledge of the Cherokee removal and the history that took place in this moment in America’s past, the book Trail of Tears: Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle, offers an insight to the politics, social dynamics and class struggles the Cherokee Nation faced in the late 1830s. The book was very comprehensive and the scope of the book covers nearly 100 years of Native American History. Ehle captures the history of the Native American people by showing the readers what led to the events infamously known as the Trail of Tears. The author uses real military orders, journals, and letters which aid in creating a book that keeps

To think in the "Indian Way" according to Fixico (pg. xvi) was to have "a circular philosophy based on close relations with the natural environment." Fixico (pg. 1) goes on to add "that 'Indian Thinking ' is seeing things from a perspective emphasizing that circles and cycles are central to the world and that all things are related in the universe." And all things are believed to be capable of possessing spiritual energy and therefore all things should be respected (Fixico, 2003). The 'seeing ' mentioned by Fixico involves not only seeing but also listening, practicing patience and mentally experiencing the relationships between the tangible and nontangible in the world and universe. The following passage by Black Elk referenced by Fixico encapsulates many of these components of the Native American ethos. Black Elk spoke of his experience on top of Harney Peak in the Black Hills and said "I was standing on the highest

There was a time in history about two hundred years ago when the white settlers wanted to expand further into America. The government of this time wanted only the white settlers to live on their newly independent land. Though as the white settlers started to expand, the land was already occupied by the Native Americans, but the white setter less did not like that because they only wanted the land for farming or gold hunting. The Cherokees call this event the Nunadautsun’s or “the trail where we cried.” The Trail of Tears seems to be more focused on the Cherokee Nation who suffered most because of Jackson. The journey the Cherokees took was caused by the government and they suffered most during the journey and after, though it did make our country

The Cherokee is a Native American tribe local to the Southeastern United States. The Cherokee Indians were one of the main tribes of the five Native American tribes, they were initially from the Great Lakes territory, but then eventually established closer to the east coast. The Cherokee name translates into “those who live in the mountains”. They were religious individuals who always believed in spirits, they performed rituals in order to ask the spirits to help them.

Many myths begin by trying to explain the beginnings of the universe or how everything that they know to be true came to be. The Cherokee explain this with their creator

I decided to research about Native Americans, specifically the Cherokee tribe. This culture interests me because they were the first people to cultivate America. I have limited knowledge about Native Americans other than what I learned in grade school around Thanksgiving.

The Apache believed that there were once supernatural beings that lived with people. They would bathe in a lake to cleanse the spirit. The quote show how the Apache believed that they were blood relatives with Mother Nature and they also believed they were the mountains, the trees, rocks and the wind. Today they still believe that spirits live with humans in certain mountains and realms in underground places in which they own. Thomas Mails, the author of The People Called Apache, describes the story of Child of the Water.

One day in a land where only the, “Birds of the sea and creatures of the deep lived”(25), a woman fell from a hole in the Sky-World, where the gods lived. Animals from below saw her falling, and braced the fall on the back of a turtle. To survive the woman found earth from the bottom of the ocean. “The

The Cherokee Indians lived along the eastern part of the United States mainly inhabiting the fertile valleys of southeastern Appalachia and the Piedmont. This territory was covered with thick forests, rolling hills, broad hardwood forests of oak and chestnut, numerous alluvial valleys with rivers and streams. The mixture of forested hills and fertile valleys made the land ideal for small farms, a variety of animals and excellent fishing. The climate in the region was marked with generally mild winters and warm humid summers. There were the Western Cherokees who were forcibly moved to the west to live on Indian reservations and the Eastern Cherokees who refused to be relocated by evading removal. Their language is known as Cherokee, a Southern Iroquoian language related to those spoken in the Northeastern culture. There were at least four different dialects spoken and one of their own had invented an alphabet for their language that consisted of 86 letters. Most Cherokee adults were able to read and write Cherokee.