Archeologists suggest that the first natives to inhabit the Great Smokies were Paleolithic hunters and gatherers who migrated from Asia across the Bering Strait. The oldest evidence of human life in the Smokies dates back 12,000 years, when the Cherokee began to populate the southeastern mountains.
The first Europeans to discover the Cherokee were Spanish explorers in 1540. Traveling north from Florida, Hernando de Soto and his soldiers were searching for gold. When they found none, they quickly moved on to other exploits.
Over a century would pass before other explorers entered Cherokee territory in any significant numbers. By the time the Scot-Irish began to arrive, the Cherokee had developed an advanced civilization of nearly 22,000 people living in organized villages spread across more than 40,000 square miles.
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 Archeologists believe the ancient symbols on Judaculla Rock could be 3,000 years old.
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The survival of the Cherokee Nation is
attributed to their large numbers, their
infatuation with the British and the
impenetrable mountains they called home. Despite
the eventual betrayal by the British and the
introduction of small pox by the settlers, the
Cherokee still admired European culture. As
difficult as it was, they wanted to co-exist
with their new neighbors.
Around 1809, a young Cherokee named Sequoyah
realized that the only way his nation would
thrive in a white man's world was to master the
hallmark of civilization itself... the written
word. In less than a dozen years, Sequoyah
adapted a series of letters, dashes, and curls
to make a distinctive letter for each of the 86
syllables in the spoken Chrokee language, a task
that took the Phoenicians, Egyptians and Greeks
ages to develop.
Virtually overnight, the Cherokee were
assimilated into a new way of life.
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This 1762 portrait of a Cherokee warrior named
"Cunne Shorte" shows him wearing strings of Cherokee beadwork and traditional English attire while brandishing his long knife. |
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