The Colonization of the Cherokee People
Marla Corliss
University of Phoenix
The Colonization of the Cherokee People
White settlers came to America to find a new land where they could live in freedom. Their dream was to own land and prosper. To the Cherokee People that were already established on this soil, the settler’s dreams became the Cherokee’s own personal nightmare. Always searching for more and better land to colonize, early pioneers went further South and West at an alarming speed. Never happy with what they found for long, they continued to press forward. The Cherokee People were to pay a high price for the settler’s dreams. The colonization of the Southern United States forced the Cherokee people to leave their native lands, and the consequences following this event were the loss of homelands, lives, freedom and their way of life.
The Cherokee way of life before colonization was a simple, uncomplicated and peaceful life. The Cherokee people came to Southern America sometime in 1450. They settled the land and made it their home. Christopher Columbus did not “discover” America until 1492. I am sure that the many natives that lived on the land would have disagreed about who discovered this land. Columbus departed, just like the Vikings before him. The Pilgrims came to America in 1620 and began to settle in the East. By 1650 the Cherokee inhabited 40,000 square miles of land. The settling of the White settlers would soon cause problems for the Cherokee. ("Cherokee Nation", 2009).
By 1721 the colonists were starting to invade Cherokee territory and a treaty with the colonists became necessary. The governor of South Carolina drew up a treaty with the Cherokee people which established a boundary between the Cherokee territory and the colonists. Encroachment was already becoming a problem, but there were more problems to come. In 1738 a smallpox epidemic eradicates 25% of the Cherokee population and then another epidemic came in...