THE CHEROKEE AND THEIR NEIGHBORS

SHOWING THE TERRITORY HELD BY THEM AT VARIOUS TIMES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

 

The **Traditionary Period of the Cherokee** marks the earliest era of recorded **Cherokee history**, preserved through oral tradition, migration legends, and early ethnographic accounts. This foundational period explains where the Cherokee came from, how they settled the southern Appalachian region, and how they became one of the most powerful Native nations in the Southeast.

Long before European contact, the Cherokee occupied approximately 40,000 square miles across present-day:

* Tennessee
* North Carolina
* Georgia
* South Carolina
* Alabama
* Virginia

Their homeland stretched from the Blue Ridge Mountains west to the Cumberland Mountains and from the headwaters of the Tennessee River south toward modern Atlanta.

Major Cherokee towns were located along the Little Tennessee, Hiwassee, Savannah, and Tuckasegee Rivers. Itsâtĭ (Echota), on the Little Tennessee River, was widely regarded as the Cherokee capital.

## Cherokee Territory and Tribal Conflicts

Like most Indigenous nations, Cherokee territorial boundaries were fluid and often contested. Throughout the Traditionary Period, the Cherokee defended their lands against neighboring tribes.

They faced conflict with:

* The Creek Confederacy to the south
* The Shawnee and Chickasaw to the west
* The Tuscarora and Catawba to the east
* The powerful Iroquois Confederacy to the north

Despite these pressures, the Cherokee asserted influence over lands extending at times from northern Georgia to the Ohio River, including valuable Kentucky hunting grounds.

Their mountain homeland also gave them strategic control between English coastal colonies and French and Spanish territories along the Mississippi River.

Cherokee Origins and Migration Traditions

Cherokee oral tradition, supported accounts from neighboring tribes, suggests that the Cherokee once lived north of the Ohio River before migrating south into the Appalachian Mountains.

Delaware (Lenape) traditions describe a powerful people called the Talligewi who were driven south after a prolonged war. Many historians associate the Talligewi with the Cherokee.

According to these traditions:

* The Talligewi built ancient earthworks in the Ohio Valley.
* They were defeated northern tribes.
* Survivors migrated into the southern mountains.

These migration stories align with linguistic evidence linking the Cherokee to the Iroquoian language family.

The Cherokee Language and Dialects

The Cherokee language belongs to the Iroquoian family but developed separately over thousands of years.

Historically, Cherokee had three primary dialects:

* Eastern Dialect (now nearly extinct)
* Middle (Kituhwa) Dialect
* Western Dialect (later the literary standard)

Today, the Middle dialect is preserved the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, while the Western dialect is widely spoken within the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.

Language preservation remains central to modern Cherokee cultural identity.

The “Moon-Eyed People” and Ancient Mounds

Cherokee oral traditions also describe an earlier group sometimes referred to as “moon-eyed people,” believed to have lived in parts of Tennessee and North Carolina before Cherokee settlement.

While some traditions connect the Cherokee to mound-building cultures in the Ohio Valley, many Cherokee accounts state that the large mounds in their southern homeland were already ancient when they arrived. Archaeological research attributes most of these structures to earlier Indigenous civilizations.

Why the Traditionary Period Matters in Cherokee History

The Traditionary Period explains:

* The origins of the Cherokee people
* Early Cherokee migration routes
* The establishment of Cherokee towns in the Appalachians
* The development of Cherokee language and identity
* Pre-colonial Cherokee territorial claims

Understanding this early era provides essential context for later historical events, including European contact, treaty negotiations, and the eventual forced removal known as the Trail of Tears.

The Traditionary Period is the foundation of Cherokee history—revealing a people deeply rooted in the mountains of the Southeast long before the arrival of Europeans.