The Cherokees
Main Characteristics
• They controlled a large portion
of land of 40,000 square miles
(100,000 square km) of
the Appalachian Mountains
• The Cherokee nation was
composed of a confederacy of
symbolically red (war) and
white (peace) towns.
• The Cherokee possessed a
variety of stone implements,
including knives, axes,
and chisels. They wove baskets,
made pottery,
and cultivated corn (maize), bea
ns, and squash. Deer, bear,
and elk furnished meat and
clothing.
Culture
• Cherokee culture is based on
seeking balance in the world and
embracing harmony. Being in
balance means being responsible for
one's actions and remembering the
good of the whole-the family, the
tribe, and the earth.
• Cherokee music originally was used
for dancing, welcoming visitors,
courting, and ceremonies.
Instruments included water drums,
gourd rattles, turtleshell rattles, and
rivercane flutes. Singing was in
unison, or with call-and-response for
dancing.
Economy
• As previously said in the
culture slide, their beliefs
were of intimacy
and balance with the
nature meaning that their
principal economic
activities were being one
with the nature by hunting
planting
and don´t disturbing the
ecosystem in general.
Impact of White Settlement &
Trail of Tears
• When the " white skin" as the
Cherokees called the white people,
came they destroyed everything, their
culture, their way of living, their families
and their lands. The Cherokees were
forced to live by the white men rules.
• The Cherokees of course fought with
them, but the whites gun power
were enormously bigger than
the indians, lefting them in disadvantage
in which made them lose most of
the battles.
• In current times the Cherokee have
adapted to the white man way of living
and currently make good
progress politically on the USA.
Testimony