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The map of Hernando De Soto's 1539-1543 expedition throughout the southeastern North Americas.

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First European Contact – Hernando de Soto Expedition

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First European Contact – Hernando de Soto Expedition

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Date(s): 1539-1543

Brief description: Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to encounter the Cherokee people during their journey through the southeastern United States. De Soto’s group passed through several towns believed to be part of Mississippian culture, including areas that would later be associated with the Cherokee Nation.

Significance: This event marks the beginning of centuries of interaction between the Cherokee and European powers, setting the stage for future trade, conflict, and treaties. It also represents the earliest documented moment of Cherokee presence in historical records, highlighting their long-standing connection to the southeastern region of North America.

Sources: https://www.cherokee.org/About-The-Nation/History https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/removal-cherokee/early-history.html

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Book written by Benjamin Madley that documents the tragedy and population loss of Native Americans during this period.

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General date(s): 1520-1900

Brief Description: Throughout a period of almost 400 centuries, a devastating string of events that led the Native population to drop by a figure close to 98-99%. This included major events like the smallpox epidemic of 1520 and lasting warfare up until 1890.

Significance: This tragedy highlighted the impact of European Colonization on Native Populations. The Colombian exchange brought diverse arrays of food, technology, and ideas to the Natives, but it simultaneously brought new forms of disease that the natives had no immunities or remedies to combat them with.

Source: https://moodle.isothermal.edu/pluginfile.php/1949282/mod_resource/content/2/Native%20American%20Historical%20Introduction.pdf

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Cherokee Syllabary as developed by Sequoyah.

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Revival of the Cherokee Language, and Sequoyah

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Revival of the Cherokee Language, and Sequoyah

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Date(s): 1809-1821

Brief description: The Cherokee language, typically referred to as Tsalagi Gawonihisdiwas, was spoken by Cherokee people centuries before major European contact. This language is part of a larger family called the Iroquoian Languages, and the official Cherokee syllabary was primarily created by Sequoyah over a period of around 12 years.

Significance: Sequoyah developed 86 characters, each representing a syllable, making literacy accessible to Cherokee speakers. This fostered cultural preservation thanks to the introduction of writing and historical documentation, and led to the development and transmission of new ideas.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cherokee-language

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Date(s): 1830

Brief description - The Indian Removal act was, in its essence, a mission created by Andrew Jackson to make room for eastern expansion by “relocating” Indian tribes in unsettled western lands.  The Cherokee attempted to fight against this mission by pressing claims against the state of Georgia, but were left unsuccessful after Georgia ignored two rulings in favor of the Cherokee Nation.

Significance: This is significant in Cherokee history because it offers an explicit example of how eastern expansion and the ideology of manifest destiny directly conflicted with the Native way of life. This act also led towards one of the most infamous and devastating events in their history, the trail of tears.

Source - https://www.britannica.com/topic/Five-Civilized-Tribes

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Image depicting emotions of tragedy, pain, and grief caused by the forced removal and reorganization of Native Americans.

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Date(s): 1830-1850

Brief description: The Trail of Tears refers to the forced relocation of Native American tribes from their ancestral lands, mainly driven by U.S. policies related to expansion and racial ideologies prevalent among many American settlers.

Significance: The Trail of Tears represents an incredibly painful chapter in the history of Cherokee and Native American history. It displayed the effect that white settlers had on Native lands, sprouting from the aspirations present in Governmental Policies and many settlers of the time.

Source: https://www.cherokee.org/about-the-nation/remember-the-removal/our-journey/

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The three tribal emblems associated with the Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians respectively.

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Formation and Federal recognization of the three tribes

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Formation and Federal recognization of the three tribes

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Date(s): 1830-1946

Brief description: Following the re›moval,  resistance, and reorganization associated with the Indian removal act of 1830, three primary tribes were formed from the larger Cherokee population. These tribes are the Cherokee Nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. These groups each slowly became federally recognized over a period of over 100 years, with the United Keetoowah Band being most recently incorporated in 1946.

Significance: The formation of these three groups highlights the impact of the Native removal, splitting up a once united and powerful nation of people into distinct new tribes. U.S. expansionism played a key role in the formation of these tribes, highlighting one of many crucial involvements of the American colonists on Cherokee culture.

Source: https://americanindian.si.edu/?utm_source=si.edu&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=MyVisitSI

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Political Cartoon that represented the Dawes Act as a kind of monster which tore apart Indian Lands.

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The attempted “Civilization” of Natives - The Dawes Act of 1887

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The attempted “Civilization” of Natives - The Dawes Act of 1887

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Date(s): 1887-1934

Brief description: The Dawes Act broke up tribal lands and allotted it to specific Native Americans based on blood quantum requirements. This meant that mixed-blood Natives could keep full control over their lands, while full-blooded Natives were stripped from their soil for a period of 25 years.

Significance: The Dawes Act shines a light on the American government's priority of blood quantum requirements over more applicable and relevant forms of logic to approach the “Indian Problem”. The Dawes Act also points out a major theme of cultural assimilation in Cherokee history upon the arrival of settlers on their land.

Source: https://moodle.isothermal.edu/pluginfile.php/1949282/mod_resource/content/2/Native%20American%20Historical%20Introduction.pdf

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Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes handing first constitution issued under Indian Reorganization Act to delegates of Confederated Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation, 1935

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Wheeler-Howard Act (Indian Reorganization Act)

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Wheeler-Howard Act (Indian Reorganization Act)

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Date(s): 1934

Brief description: The Wheeler-Howard act put an end to the allotment of land and established tribal self-governance based off of the U.S. government's structure. During this shift of U.S. policy, rigged elections were held that put Native leaders whose views aligned with the American Government’s mission into power.

Significance: In some ways, the IRA represented a positive shift towards a more beneficial relationship between the tribes and the American Government, but it also contributed towards the forced cultural assimilation of the Natives.

Source: https://moodle.isothermal.edu/pluginfile.php/1949282/mod_resource/content/2/Native%20American%20Historical%20Introduction.pdf

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Date(s): 1960s-1970s

Brief description: In the 1950s, relocation efforts pressured Natives towards urban centers and the promise of employment. This created small Native “ghettos” that forged community and heightened political awareness with groups like the American Indian Movement, which was focused on maintaining self-determination, protecting their treaty-given rights, and restoring stolen lands.

Significance: This era was significant because it created a unique cultural identity for the Cherokee who were forcibly assimilated into American society. The movements and motivations present in this era are still relevant even today.

Source: https://moodle.isothermal.edu/pluginfile.php/1949282/mod_resource/content/2/Native%20American%20Historical%20Introduction.pdf