The Great Smoky Mountains are the homeland of the Cherokee Indians. Long before Columbus discovered the “New World,” they ruled a vast land that is now part of eight states of the USA. After contact with Europeans, the Cherokee population dropped by half, but began to recover in the early 19th century. The Cherokee adopted elements of European culture. They ran plantations and owned slaves. Unique among the many tribes in North America, the Cherokee have their own written language, created in the 1820's. They published a tribal newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. In 1827, the Cherokee nation adopted a constitution modeled on the United States Constitution, and voters elected a president. The Cherokee coexisted peacefully with the early settlers, but the white man’s lust for gold and land chipped the Cherokee territory. Eventually, the U.S. government forced them to move to Oklahoma. Their trek on foot is now known as the Trail of Tears. Only a few avoided the removal by hiding in the forest. Today, their descendants call themselves the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.
Cherokee community was divided into seven even in hierarchy clans. Each clan was identified by a different color. A council ruled every village where all clans had its representation. The main government had separation of duty in peace and war organizations. The reason for this separation was in fact that the warriors engaged in war become unclean through killing the enemies or even touching a dead body. They ware kept out of peace organization. After a battle a warrior had to wash himself seven times every morning and evening for a period of four days. It was a ritual to clean up a death.
The villages of Cherokee were usually located near small creeks. Indians originally lived in simple huts, later they adopted log cabins with fireplaces. Cherokee women strung beads and wove baskets. Men used blowguns to hunt small animals. Cherokee originally did not know metal. It was a work lasting up to 6 month to make one canoe with small fires on the tree trunk. Later, when metal tools began to be used, the work became much simpler.
