-->

• The Cherokee are an aboriginal people of North America who inhabited what is now the Eastern and Southeastern United States. According to numbers from the 2000 U.S. census, the Cherokee are the largest of the nation's 563 recognized indigenous tribes. They are also the largest of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast, a term applied to groups who were considered civilized by Europeans in that they had generally peaceful interactions with settlers and adopted some of their customs and habits.

  In the 1830s, most of the Cherokee were relocated from their native homes in Georgia and the Carolinas west to Oklahoma in a migration dubbed the Trail of Tears.

• Fast Facts

  1. Population: Over 300,000
  2. Region: Eastern and Southeastern United States
  3. Languages: English and Cherokee
  4. Related tribes: Seminole, Chickasaw, Creek and Choctaw
  5. Fought in: The Tuscarora and Yamasee wars
  6. Headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma

• Key Figures

  1. Sequoyah, also known as George Guess, pioneered the Cherokee writing system
  2. Ned Christie was a Cherokee patriot and independence fighter
  3. Elias Boudinot wrote the first Native American novel, Poor Sarah
  4. Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Depp, Lou Diamond Phillips, Steven Tyler, Chuck Norris and Burt Reynolds are also of Cherokee ancestry

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Trail of Tears | Indian Removal Act | Cheyenne Tribe | Sioux Tribe | Comanche Tribe | Apache Tribe | Iroquois Confederacy | California Gold Rush | Chippewa Tribe

Categories

• View History
• Discuss on the Message Board
• Embed this Page
• Share this page