US History: Traditional Cherokee family

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U.S. History
Topic 1: Select a major Native American tribe or nation and briefly describe its culture and history
Traditional Cherokee family
The Cherokee people are a Native American Indian tribe of Iroquoian lineage, the second-largest Indian tribe in the United States. Cherokee people derived their name from a creek word meaning “people of different speech.” According to historians, the tribe originated in the north and south Allegheny of what is currently the United States in 1540 and settled in the current Oconee County, South Carolina, lower and upper Tennessee River and the western side Appalachian Mountains presently Georgia (Strickland). In 1650, the tribe comprised 22,500 tribe members living in forty thousand square miles, and the population has grown to three hundred thousand members. A majority of the tribe members today live in Oklahoma and in Arkansas, where they were forcibly relocated after the 1838 Indian Removal Act (Strickland).
The Cherokee people’s lived in red and white towns, red denoting war and white peace. The tribes were led by chiefs, each ruling over a village comprising of thirty to sixty houses. The tribe primarily survived on hunting and warfare but soon became agriculture people to supplement hunting. The men hunted while women tilled the gardens, cooked, engaged in pottery and raised children. The women were the determinant of lineage in the tribe, making them superior beings in the tribe (U.S Department of the Interior). The tribe developed a strong political presence by coming up with native alphabets and a constitution that guided their political, social and economic lives. According to Cherokee National Culture, the tribe’s culture encompasses coming up with their language, spirituality and holding traditional festivals to commemorate the First New Moon of Spring, The Green Corn Ceremony and The Mature Green Corn festivals. These celebrations were characterized by dancing, food, story-telling, sharing and purification (Strickland).
The Spanish, French and English explorers were the primary enemies of the Cherokee tribe. The enmity developed due to their attempts to colonize the southeast territories, which they inhabited. The Shawnee tribe also became an enemy of the Cherokee tribe in the 1660s, af...