The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: History, Resilience, and Sovereignty in the Great Smoky Mountains

For thousands of years prior to European contact, the Cherokee people—who refer to themselves as the Aniyunwiya ("The Principal People")—inhabited a vast ancestral homeland spanning parts of present-day North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. Nestled in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains, these river valleys and dense forests shaped Cherokee culture, agriculture, and spiritual traditions. Today, their direct descendants in the region belong to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), a sovereign nation centered on the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina.

The history of the Eastern Band is defined by remarkable resilience in the face of federal policies aimed at total displacement. During the early nineteenth century, the Cherokee established a constitutional government, established a bilingual newspaper, and adopted a written language created by the scholar Sequoyah using a distinct 85-character syllabary. Despite these diplomatic adaptations, European-American settlers continuously encroached upon tribal lands. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the federal government to force Southeastern tribes from their lands. This brutal military-enforced march to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma became known as the Trail of Tears (Nunna daul Isunyi), resulting in the deaths of thousands of Cherokee people due to exposure, disease, and malnutrition.