History of Cherokee Culture and Food

Before there was a United States of America, there were tribes of Native Americans living off the land. In the southeastern part of the country, the largest group of Native Americans were the Cherokee people (Boulware, 2009). Cherokees are networked through vast kinship lines that separates them from other tribes in the region (Boulware, 2009). They once occupied a territory that ran throughout the Appalachian Mountains (Boulware, 2009). Cherokees spoke a common language known as Iroquoian, different from the surrounding tribes (Boulware, 2009).

For the Cherokees, life centered around local villages. These villages were divided into different regions, the Overhill Towns, the Middle Towns, the Out Towns, the Valley Towns, and the Lower Towns (Boulware, 2009). Trade and relations with other tribes in their respective regions, made for many regional differences among the Cherokee villages (Boulware, 2009). For example, the Lower Towns location on the upper Savannah River in Georgia and South Carolina made it possible for the Cherokees residing there to interact with the Creek Indians of the area. While, the Overhill Towns location in Tennessee made them neighbors with the Shawnees and Iroquios Indians (Boulware, 2009).

The early history of the Cherokee peoples puts them in the southeast for many generations before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century(Boulware, 2009). Cherokees were a part of the Mississippian Period chiefdoms from A.D. 800-1600 along with the Creek Indians. During this period they built huge mounds in the region(Boulware, 2009). The chiefdoms collapsed shortly after the arrival of the Spanish, who brought with them new diseases crippling the population of Native Americans in the region(Boulware, 2009). After...

... middle of paper ...

...eesofsouthcarolina.com/projects-HealthandDiet.html

Conley, R. (2014). Cherokees. Retrieved from http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Cherokees.html

Carter , T., Morse, K., Giraud, D., & Driskell, J. (2008). Few differences in diet and health behaviors and perceptions were observed in adult urban native american indians by tribal association, gender, and age grouping. Nutrition Research, 28(12), 834-841. doi: 10.1016/j.nutres.2008.10.002

Wiedman, D. (2005). American indian diets and nutritional research: Implications of the strong heart dietary study, phase ii, for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 105(12), 1874–1880. doi: 10.1016/j.jada.2005.10.016

Story, M., Bass, M., & Wakefield, L. (1986). Food preferences of cherokee indian teenagers in cherokee, north carolina. Ecology of Food & Nutrition, 19(1), 51-59.