Cherokee

 **//What was early Cherokee transportation like? Did they paddle canoes?//**  Yes--the Cherokee Indians used to make long dugout canoes from hollowed-out logs. Over land, the Cherokees used dogs as pack animals. There were no horses in North America until colonists brought them over from Europe. Today, of course, Cherokee people also use cars... and non-native people also use canoes.  **//Where do the Cherokee Indians live?//**  The Cherokees are original residents of the American southeast region, particularly [|Georgia], [|North] and [|South Carolina], [|Virginia], [|Kentucky], and [|Tennessee]. Most Cherokees were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1800's along the Trail of Tears. Descendants of the Cherokee Indians who survived this death march still live in Oklahoma today. Some Cherokees escaped the Trail of Tears by hiding in the Appalachian hills or taking shelter with sympathetic white neighbors. The descendants of these people live scattered throughout the original Cherokee Indian homelands.

 **//What was the Cherokee Trail of Tears?//**  //**Trail of Tears**// was the Cherokee name for what the Americans called **//Indian Removal//**. During the 1800's, the US government created an "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma and sent all the eastern Native American tribes to live there. Some tribes willingly agreed to this plan. Other tribes didn't want to go, and the American army forced them. The Cherokee tribe was one of the largest eastern tribes, and they didn't want to leave their homeland. The Cherokees were peaceful allies of the Americans, so they asked the Supreme Court for help. The judges decided the Cherokee Indians could stay in their homes. But the President, Andrew Jackson, sent the army to march the Cherokees to Oklahoma anyway. They weren't prepared for the journey, and it was winter time. Thousands of Cherokee Indians died on the Trail of Tears. Many Native Americans from other tribes died too. It was a terrible time in history.

 **//What were some Cherokee weapons and artifacts?//**  Cherokee hunters used bows and arrows or blowguns to shoot game. Fishermen generally used spears and fishing poles. Warriors fired arrows or fought with a melee weapon like a tomahawk or spear. Other important tools used by the Cherokee Indians included stone adzes (hand axes for woodworking), flint knives for skinning animals, wooden hoes for farming, and pots and baskets for storing corn.

 **//What were Cherokee homes like?//**  The Cherokee Indians lived in settled villages, usually located near a river. Cherokee houses were made of rivercane and plaster, with thatched roofs. These dwellings were about as strong and warm as log cabins. Here are some pictures of [|Native American houses] like the ones Cherokee Indians used. The Cherokees also built larger seven-sided buildings for ceremonial purposes, and each village usually had a ball field with benches for spectators. Many Cherokee villages had **//palisades//** (reinforced walls) around them for protection. Today, Cherokee families live in a modern house or apartment building, just like you

 **//How do Cherokee Indian children live?//**  They do the same things all children do--play with each other, go to school and help around the house. Many Cherokee children enjoy hunting and fishing with their fathers. In the past, Cherokee kids had more chores and less time to play, just like colonial children. But they did have [|dolls], toys, and games to play. In one popular game, Cherokee kids tried to throw a dart through a moving hoop. Anejodi, a [|//stickball//] game related to the Iroquois game of lacrosse, was a popular sport among Cherokee teenagers and adult men. Like many Native Americans, Cherokee mothers traditionally carried babies in [|cradleboards] on their backs--a custom which many American parents have [|adopted] now.

Language:
Iroquian, but Cherokee differs significantly from other Iroquian languages.

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