European Cultural Adoption of the Cherokee Indians Essay

European Cultural Adoption of the Cherokee Indians - Essay Example One of the most talked about and studied groups of Native Americans are the Cherokee Indians, a group of native occupants of the American continent. Historians believe that the Cherokee Indians occupied the southeast part of America ling before the forces of civilization and the American colonization took center stage. â€Å"Cherokee lands covered parts of Tennessee, North Carolina, south Carolina, Virginia, west Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas.† The tribe was one of the strongest tribes in the American continent and had significant influence during the 14th and 15th century. They existed in smaller groups and sub-tribes ruled by chiefs and kings and other religious leaders who had significant influence on this group of people. â€Å"The various Cherokee villages formed a confederacy. There were two chiefs per village a red (or war) chief and a white chief (most beloved man or woman) who was associated with civil, economic, religious, and judicial functions . Chiefs would be male or female and there was little or no hereditary component† The history of the Cherokee Indians is highly complex and is characterized by episodes of resistance, war conflicts and revolutions that rocked the American continent. Thirteen colonies of North America decided to break from British rule. To register their displeasure towards the new occupants of the American continent who were now fighting against the British, the Indian Cherokees fought from the British side against the Americans. â€Å"Cherokee support towards the British during the American Revolutionary war (1755-1783 brought retaliatory attacks from southern states militia†5 During this time and prior times, the interaction of the Indian Cherokees with the British and other foreign occupants of the country flourished; the tribe experienced a major tribal revolution that resulted into adoption of new cultural and significant cultural assimilation and integration. â€Å"After the Amer ican Revolution, the Cherokee adapted British style farming, cattle ranching, business relation, and government becoming cohesive and prosperous†6 In the paper, the cultural assimilation and adoption that occurred during the 17th and 18th century among the Cherokee Indians will be highlighted. It will thus seek to provide a description of the events that characterized the cultural changes and integration during this period. The adoption of foreign and new cultures significantly affected the lifestyle of the Cherokee Americans that resulted into assimilation and the loss of the prior cultural identity that the tribe enjoyed. The first documented history of the contact between the Cherokee Indians and the Europeans was around 1540. â€Å"The Cherokee encountered Hernando De Soto around 1540, probably not long before they arrived in their historic homeland†¦