Top 10 Facts about The Native Appalachian Mountains People

Cherokee Indians. Photo by Boston Public Library on Wikimedia

Top 10 Facts about The Native Appalachian Mountains People

Appalachia region typically refers to the cultural region of the central and southern portions of the range. They range from the Catskill Mountains of New York southwest to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Native Americans first began to gather in the Appalachian Mountains approximately 16,000 years ago. Cherokee Indians are believed to be the main Native American group of the Southern Appalachian and Blue Ridge regions. However, there were also more clans like Iroquois, Powhatan and Shawnee people.

Later on, there was the arrival of enslaved Africans in the area who joined the Native Appalachian clans which date back to the 16th century. The two groups of enslaved Africans had a tremendous influence on the culture of Appalachia.

Below are the Top 10 Facts about The Native Appalachian Mountains People:

1. The Cherokee Occupied Numerous Towns Along River Valleys and Mountain Ridges

The Cherokee Indians are known to be the native population of the Appalachian Mountains. They occupied these areas way before the 16th century when the enslaved Africans joined them. Their culture was so unique as was clear from how they lived.

The Cherokee Indians majorly occupied several towns throughout the river valleys and mountain ridges of their homelands. Some of their towns were called the Lower towns. These Lower towns were found in what is present-day Western Oconee County, South Carolina along the Keowee River. This area was also known as the Savannah River in its lower portion.

The biggest and principal town of the Cherokee Indians in the Lower Towns was Keowee. This town was densely populated by the Cherokee Indians who lived in harmony. Some other Cherokee Indian towns on the Keowee River included Etastoe and Sugartown.

Throughout western North Carolina, the Cherokee Indians also lived in what was known as the Valley, Middle and Outer Towns. These were located along the major rivers of the Tuckasegee, upper Little Tennessee, Hiwasee, French Broad and others. Over-hill Cherokee occupied towns along the Little Tennessee River and upper Tennessee River on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains.

2. Agriculture was their Main Commercial Activity

Cherokee Indians. Photo by Boston Public Library on Wikimedia

Unlike other native communities that were made up of hunters and gatherers, the Cherokee’s main activity was engaging in agriculture. Living along rivers and mountain ridges helped them cultivate the crops they needed for their daily livelihood. They began by cultivating plants such as marsh elder, lambs-quarters, pigweed, sunflowers and some native squash.

As time went by, they created new art forms and adopted new technologies. From 1000 to 1500 CE in the regional variation known as the South Appalachian Mississippian culture, local women were the farmers. The women developed a new variety of maize/corn known as eastern flint corn.

The eastern flint corn closely resembled modern corn and produced larger crops. These agricultural techniques of cultivating corn had surpluses which allowed the rise of larger, more complex chiefdoms which consisted of several villages and concentrated populations over this period. Corn later became celebrated among numerous people during religious ceremonies including the Green Corn Ceremony.

3. Women were Powerful and Controlled Property

Unlike in other cultures, the Cherokee women were more powerful than their men. Although polygamy was common among the Cherokee, especially by elite men, their women controlled property such as their dwellings. Their children were considered born into their mother’s clans rather than their fathers where they gained hereditary status.

To get a leadership position among the Cherokee Indians, it was subject to approval by the women elders who held the final decision. In their marriage, the Cherokee couples lived with or near the woman’s family to get aid from her female relatives. What was more surprising is that her oldest brother was a more important mentor to the sons than their father who belonged to another clan. Women could also get divorced freely.

4. Cherokee Men Couldn’t Marry European-American Women until 1825

From PhC.184 Massengill Postcard Collection, initial donation, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC. Photo by State Archives of North Carolina Raleigh on Wikimedia

Marriage was an important stronghold for the Cherokee Indians throughout their culture and regions. The Cherokee men were required to marry their women who in return were more powerful than them in several decision-making matters. It was unusual for a Cherokee Indian man to marry a European-American lady.

This came as a disadvantage to the children from this union as they could not be recognised as children from their nation. These children could be born outside their clan and never be considered Cherokee citizens because of the matrilineal aspect of their culture.

However, the Cherokee began to adopt some elements of European-American culture at the beginning of the 19th century which brought some changes. Elite young men such as John Ridge and Elias were sent to American schools for education who in turn got their couples from Connecticut and Boudinot respectively. In 1825, the Cherokee Council passed a law which allowed children from such unions to be fully recognised as their own.

5. The Cherokee Participated in Slavery

Before European colonisation, slavery was a component of the Cherokee Indians’ society. The Cherokee Indians could frequently enslave enemy captives taken during times of conflict with other indigenous tribes.

Slavery was viewed by the Cherokee Indians as the result of an individual’s failure in warfare and as a temporary status. Usually, these slaves could be released later or they could be adopted into the tribe as they wished. However, during the colonial era, several aspects changed on slavery as Carolinian settlers started purchasing or impressing Cherokees as slaves in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

To avoid getting enslaved, the Cherokee started selling Indian slaves to traders for use as labourers in Virginia and further north. These started happening after taking them as captives during raids on enemy tribes.

After adopting some European-American customs, the Cherokee started purchasing enslaved African Americans to serve as workers on their farms and plantations. They also moved with them after being forcibly removed on the Trail of Tears.

6. The Iroquois were Mixed Horticulturalists, Farmers, Fishers, Gathers and Hunters

Another tribe of native people who lived in the Appalachian Mountains are the Iroquois. The Iroquois were a mix of horticulturalists, farmers, fishers, hunters and gatherers but their main diet used to come from farming.

The main crops that the Iroquois cultivated were corn, beans and squash. They called these the three sisters as they considered them special gifts from the Creator which could be ground up into hominy and soups in clay pots.

Farming was traditionally the work of women and the entire process of planting, maintaining, harvesting and cooking were done by women. Women and children were also given the duties of gathering wild roots, greens, berries and nuts during summer.

In the spring season, the sap was tapped from the maple trees and boiled into maple syrup and herbs were gathered for medicine. During the European migration, the Iroquois started growing apples, pears, cherries and peaches. Their diet also included artichokes, leeks, cucumbers, turnips, pumpkins and different berries.

The Iroquois also hunted deer as their main animals but they also hunted for other game animals and wild turkeys and migratory birds. Bones of bison, elk, deer, bear, raccoon and porcupines were found by archaeologists at Iroquois villages. They also participated in fishing salmon, trout, bass, perch and whitefish in some of the Lakes within the Appalachian region.

7. Clothing of the Iroquois was Influenced by the European

Culture of Iroquois, tribal chief garments. Photo by Korzun Andrey on Wikimedia

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Iroquois had their traditional style of clothing. In the 17th century, the Iroquois women went topless during the warm months while wearing a buckskin skirt overlapping on the left. During winter, they covered their upper bodies with a cape-like upper garment with an opening for their heads.

Children under the age of ten and some who were aged twelve to fourteen could go stark naked. Men could go naked only covering their private parts with a patch. During winter, they could cover themselves in the fur and skin of the animals they had hunted especially deer, bear and panther skins.

However, during the 17th century, everything changed as a result of the intricate of scissors and needles which were obtained from the Europeans. Cloths coloured red and blue obtained from Europeans became the standard material for clothing for the Iroquois. Men and women started wearing blouses and shirts that were usually decorated with beadwork and ribbons and were often worn alongside silver brooches.

8. The Cherokee Originally Travelled on Foot or Via Canoes

Moving from one place to another, or one village to the other was a very tiring experience for the Cherokee people. There were no clear roads and the terrain was mountainous and full of forests and swampy areas.

Travelling from one place to another was on foot. The Cherokee Indians could travel for several days to their destinations before the 17th century. If they were heading towards a village which was along the river, they could travel via canoes which were made from hollowing out large logs.

The Cherokee could row their boat using huge paddles or large sticks up to their destinations and back to their villages. However, their means of transport changed over the years after the Europeans came to the United States. There was the introduction of horses and horseback riding became a common mode of transportation among the Cherokee Indians.

9. The Cherokee Mode of Dressing was Influenced by Europeans

Dennis Wolfe, a full-blooded Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith on Wikimedia

Earlier on, the Cherokee has their unique way of clothing and their outlooks. The men original used to wear breechcloths and leggings which were made from deer hides.

Their women could also cover their bodies fully unlike the Iroquois people who could leave their upper bodies topless. The Cherokee women also ensured that they were presentable because they held more power and influence than their men.

Men could shave their heads leaving just a long scalp lock. An early explorer stated that some of the traditional Cherokee Indian men could have their hair plucked off from the root and remain with the back scalp lock which was their culture.

The men could wear ornamented hats made of beads, feathers, wampum, stained deer hair and baubles. Their ears could be slit and stretched to an enormous size which put the person undergoing the operation in incredible pain that prevented them from lying down for forty days. However, this was done each ear on different occasions.

The Cherokee women kept their hair long and wore deerskin skirts and dresses with moccasins on their feet. However, their traditional wear changed after the Europeans introduced clothes. They started wearing cotton blouses and skirts became more popular among the Cherokee Indians.

10. Political Power was Decentralised until an Epidemic Reduced Their Numbers

Cherokee Indians clan. Photo by Joshua Reynolds on Wikimedia

Even though the Cherokee women held more power on the family level, the general political power was always decentralised and towns acted autonomously. The Cherokee were said to have sixty-four towns and villages with an estimated fighting force of six thousand men in 1735. However, their decentralisation and fighting power was affected between 1738 and 1739.

Between 1738 and 1739, smallpox epidemics broke out among the Cherokee villages. They had no natural immunity to the new infectious disease which was brought about by the visiting Europeans.

The smallpox epidemics were one of the worst nightmares of the Cherokee Indians as nearly half their population was swiped within a year. With this occurrence, hundreds of other Cherokee committed suicide due to the losses they had incurred and disfigurement from the smallpox disease.