Historic Cherokee settlements

The historic Cherokee settlements were Cherokee settlements established in Southeastern North America up to the removals of the early 19th century. Several settlements had existed prior to and were initially contacted by explorers and colonists of the colonial powers as they made inroads into frontier areas. Others were established later.

In the early 18th century, an estimated 2100 Cherokee people inhabited more than sixteen towns east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and across the Piedmont plains in what was then considered Indian Country.^{[1][2][page needed][3][notes 1]} Generally, European visitors noted only the towns with townhouses. Some of their maps included lesser settlements, but "the centers of towns were clearly marked by townhouses and plazas."^[4]

The early Cherokee towns east of the Blue Ridge Mountains were geographically divided into two regions: the Lower Towns (of the Piedmont coastal plains in what are now northeastern Georgia and western South Carolina), and the Middle/Valley/Out Towns (east of the Appalachian Mountains). A third group, the Overhill Towns, located on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains, made up the remainder of the Cherokee settlements of the time.^[3] Within each regional group, towns exhibited close economic, linguistic, and religious ties; they were often developed for miles along rivers and creeks.^[1] Satellite villages near the regional towns often bore the same or similar names to the regional centers. The minor settlements shared architecture and a common culture, but they maintained political autonomy.^[1]

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