First Contact with Europeans - Cherokee

[Okwes]

First Contact with Europeans - Cherokee

The first recorded European contact with the Cherokee was Hernando De Soto's
expedition of 1540. Records of the expedition refer to the tribe as
"Chalaque", probably from the Mobilian trade language (a corrupted Choctaw
jargon used by the tribes of the Southeast), probably meaning "cave people".
This word in the southern Cherokee dialect was pronounced "Tsa-la-gi" but in
the eastern area pronounced "Tsa-ra-gi", from which the name "Cherokee" is
derived. The Cherokee called themselves "Ani-Yun-wiya", the principal
people. The Cherokee also referred to themselves as "Ani-Kituhwagi", the
people of Kituhwa -- an ancient town which was probably the original nucleus
of the tribe.

In April of 1540, De Soto crossed through the Cherokee country looking for
gold. The Spanish explorers found the first Cherokee village they
encountered practically deserted. The Cherokee were aware of the outrageous
conduct of the Spaniards toward neighboring tribes so they abandoned their
towns before the arrival of the expedition, leaving behind only those who
could not travel. In need of food and receiving no help from the Cherokee,
the expedition quickly moved on to the north.

Turning to the west, across the Blue Ridge, De Soto again entered the
Cherokee country and received a much warmer welcome. The Cherokee were
reportedly very hospitable and provided the travelers with much needed
food -- corn, wild turkey, and other small game.

De Soto moved on to the Muscogee, Creek, country but sent two soldiers back
into the Cherokee country to look for reported copper and gold mines. One
report states that they found mines of a fine species of copper with
indications of gold and silver but De Soto chose not to return to search for
the mines.

The two soldiers were given a dressed buffalo skin, the first obtained by
white men, and described it as "an ox hide as thin as a calf's skin, and the
hair like a soft wool between the coarse and fine wool of sheep." It should
be noted that buffalo (actually the correct name is "bison") did not just
roam the "Great Plains" but could be found all the way to the Atlantic
Coast.

The next reported contact with Europeans came in the fall of 1566. The
Spanish had established Fort San Felipe near present Port Royal, SC and a
small expedition was sent into the interior of the region. Joined the
following summer by another detachment of troops, the combined force
returned to their fort. Most reports were that they received a friendly
reception everywhere along the their route.

The Spanish carried on mining and smelting of gold and other metals within
the Cherokee country in the mid to late 1600's. Although these operations
were kept secret by the Spanish, they were well known in the Spanish
settlements of Santa Elena and Saint Augustine.

cherokeehistory.com/firstcon.html

[Okwes]

First Contact With Whites - Cherokee

There are a few stories concerning the first contact of the Cherokee with
whites and negroes. They are very modern and have little value as myths, but
throw some light upon the Indian estimate of the different races.

One story relates how the first whites came from the east and tried to enter
into friendly relations, but the Indians would have nothing to do with them
for a long time. At last the whites left a jug of whisky and a dipper near a
spring frequented by the Indians. The Indians came along, tasted the liquor,
which they had never known before, and liked it so well that they ended by
all getting comfortably drunk. While they were in this happy frame of mind
some white men came up, and this time the Indians shook hands with them and
they have been friends after a fashion ever since. This may possibly be a
Cherokee adaptation of the story of Hudson's first landing on the island of
Manhattan.

At the creation an ulûñsû'tï was given to the white man, and a piece of
silver to the Indian. But the white man despised the stone and threw it
away, while the Indian did the same with the silver. In going about the
white man afterward found the silver piece and put it into his pocket and
has prized it ever since. The Indian, in like manner, found the ulûñsû'tï
where the white man had thrown it. He picked it up and has kept it since as
his talisman, as money is the talismanic power of the white man. This story
is quite general and is probably older than others of its class.

When Sequoya, the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, was trying to introduce
it among his people, about 1822, some of them opposed it upon the ground
that Indians had no business with reading. They said that when the Indian
and the white man were created, the Indian, being the elder, was given a
book, while the white man received a bow and arrows. Each was instructed to
take good care of his gift and make the best use of it, but the Indian was
so neglectful of his book that the white man soon stole it from him, leaving
the bow in its place, so that books and reading now belong of right to the
white man, while the Indian ought to be satisfied to hunt for a
living.--Cherokee Advocate, October 26, 1844.

The negro made the first locomotive for a toy and put it on a wooden track
and was having great fun with it when a white man came along, watched until
he saw how to run it, and then killed the negro and took the locomotive for
himself. This, also, although plainly of very recent origin, was heard from
several informants.

Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney. From the Nineteenth Annual Report of
the Bureau of American Ethnology 1897-98, Part I. [1900] and is now in the
public domain.