Cherokee is largest Native American group in the U.S. Formerly the largest and most important tribe in the Southeast, they occupied mountain areas of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. The Cherokee language belongs to the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan languages.

    The Cherokee tribe was in the shadows until the Virginia settlement happened in 1609. The treaty with South Carolina in 1684 that engaged trading in deerskins and Indian slaves, really started the beginning of the Cherokee importance into the European trading crafts.

    These trading relations between the Cherokee and the English settlers had a serious outcome. Not only did this bring the Cherokee to the front of the Native American political picture, but also led them to side with the British in future wars.

    The Cherokee was the largest Native American group in the United States. All through this, the Cherokee however continued their battles with the neighboring Native Americans.  Many wars with neighboring tribes proved too costly for the Cherokee. Their towns were destroyed and their food supplies limited, forcing them to settle again for a peace treaty. According to the treaty, the Cherokee tribe had to give up large pieces of their land east of Carolina.

    More blood and humiliation was in store for the Cherokee as they went into war against the Chickasaw tribe. A horrible defeat in their hands at the Chickasaw Old fields forced the Cherokee to explore newer avenues to forge native alliances to resist the colonists.