According to some accounts, before the coming of the Europeans, the Cherokee were forced to migrate to the southern Appalachians from the northwest after a defeat at the hands of the Iroquois and Delaware. Some Delaware traditions also support this, but the Iroquois have no memories of such a conflict. While there is probably some historical basis, it is difficult to imagine a tribe as large and powerful as the Cherokee being forced to move anywhere, although they may have lost some territory in the north to the Susquehannock, Erie, or Delaware. Considering their language differences with other Iroquian groups, the Cherokee probably have been a distinct group for a considerable period. It seems more reasonable to assume that the Cherokee had occupied their mountain homeland for a long time before the arrival of the Europeans. They were, in fact, the largest Indian nation. So for all purposes, I will say that the Cherokee moved after the introduction of many Europeans and everything else falsely contradicts this.
At the time of this fateful contact, the Cherokee were a settled, agricultural people living in approximately 200 fairly, large villages. The typical Cherokee town consisted of 30 to 60 houses and a large council house. Homes were usually "wattle and daub, a circular framework interwoven with branches (like an upside-down basket) and plastered with mud." The entire structure was partially sunken into ground, as many old pictures now trashed have shown. In later periods, log cabins (one door with smokehole in the bark-covered roof) became the general rule. Go Here for a picture of their village. The large council houses were frequently located on mounds from the earlier Mississippian culture, although the Cherokee themselves did not build mounds during the historic period. Used for councils, general meetings, and religious ceremonies, the council houses were also the site of the sacred fire and religious ceremonies, which the Cherokee had kept burning from time immemorial.
"Like other Iroquian people, kinship and membership in seven matrilineal clans were determined through the mother, although the women's role never achieved the importance that it enjoyed among the Iroquois League in New York." In most ways, the Cherokee more closely resembled the Creek and other southeastern tribes, including the celebration of the Busk, or Green Corn festival. Agriculture relied heavily on corn, beans, and squash, supplemented by hunting and the gathering of wild plants. Cherokee villages were largely independent in daily matters, with the whole tribe only coming together for ceremonies or times of war. Beats your avergae family dinner. Leadership was divided according the circumstances: "red" chiefs during war and "white" chiefs in times of peace.
