The Cherokee Nation has a long and rich history. They made their first contact with Europeans in about 1540 when Hernando de Soto and his conquistadors were traveling through Cherokee territory, which is now much of the Southeast of the United States. Cherokee territory spanned over modern West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Caroline, Georgia and Alabama. Over time, with the increase of European settlers and their demand for land, the Cherokee land became increasingly smaller.
In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the removal of Native Americans from their lands and forcing them farther west. By the end of his presidency, his removal treaties had relocated 50,000 Natives from their homelands. In 1936, the Treaty of New Echota was put into effect. About 4,000 of the 16,000 Cherokees died in what became known as the Trail of Tears in American history. This tragedy wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last when it came to Natives interacting with European settlers
