A Little History
CHEROKEE NATION
The Cherokee originally occupied vast areas in what are now the states of North and South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama.� Under the removal policy of the United States Government, the 1835 Treaty of New Echota provided for the forcible relocation of the entire tribe to Indian Territory.� There followed a tragic time in Cherokee history, which even today they remember as �The Trail of Tears.�� About 14000 Cherokee began the 800 mile journey on foot to what is now Oklahoma.� At the time of the exodus, about 1,000 Cherokee, resisting removal, hid in the mountains.� After a long struggle, they won recognition as a tribe, since known as the Eastern Band of Cherokee, and were allocated lands that today make up the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina.