Indigenous Settlements of Tennessee

Indigenous Settlements of Tennessee

Early Native Americans in Tennessee

Native Americans were the first people to live in Tennessee. The lesson below describes some of the early Native American tribes of Tennessee, as well as the origin of the name of the state.

Prehistoric Native Americans

Tennessee prehistoric Native American civilizations can be split up into four time periods: Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods.

Four Prehistoric Indian Periods in Tennessee

Paleo-Indian Period 9500 B.C. - 7900 B.C.

Archaic Period7900 B.C. - 1000 B.C.

Woodland Period1000 B.C. - A.D.900

Mississippian PeriodA.D. 900 - A.D. 1500

Paleo-Indians

 The first people to live in Tennessee were the Paleo-Indians. They lived in the area around 10,000 years ago. They used spears with stone points to hunt animals and did not stay in one place for a long time. One important Paleo-Indian site in Tennessee is the Coats-Hines Site, located in Williamson County. This site shows evidence that Paleo-Indians hunted the mastodon. Mastodons were large, furry mammals with tusks and trunks and have now been extinct for thousands of years. The Coats-Hines Site is one of only a few sites in eastern North America to show that humans lived near and hunted mastodons.

Eastern Archaic Indians

The next culture in Tennessee was the Eastern Archaic Indians. They hunted, gathered fruits and nuts, and fished in order to get food. They made new tools such as knives and axes.

Woodland Culture

 The Woodland culture lived in Tennessee beginning in about 1000 B.C. This culture began to plant crops as a source of food. They also began making clay pots to cook and store food. They buried their dead in mounds that they built out of earth. Two important sites from the Woodland Period in Tennessee are the Pinson Mounds and the Old Stone Fort.

Mississippian Culture

 The Mississippian culture emerged between 900 and 1000 AD. The Mississippian culture lived throughout the central part of the present-day United States, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Cahokia, a large city near the Mississippi River, was the center of this culture. It was located near present-day St. Louis, Missouri. They built more than 5,000 earthen mounds. Most mounds were built for religious temples, but some were built as meeting places for people in the cities. They were skilled farmers and grew corn, beans, and squash. In Tennessee, the Chucalissa Indian Village was an important site from the Mississippian culture.

Multiple Choice

The Pinson Mounds is an area located south of Jackson, Tennessee. The area includes roughly 12 mounds made from earthen materials. What was one purpose of the mounds?

• to hunt animals

• to worship gods

• to bury the dead

• to grow crops

Multiple Choice

• constructed around a central plaza

• located in present-day Memphis

• dates back to 1000 A.D.

Which site is described above?

• Coats-Hines

• Old Stone Fort

• Chucalissa Village

• Pinson Mounds

Later Groups

Four major tribes were living in the Southeastern region of the United States when Europeans first began exploring the area: the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Creek. The Creek was the largest tribe in both population and land ownership. They held much of the land in present-day Georgia. The Creek helped the English drive the Spanish out of Georgia in the 1700s.

Origin of the name Tennessee

 The state of Tennessee's name has evolved over time. The first mention of the territory's name was in 1567 by a Spanish explorer who recorded that a Native American had called the area "Tanasqui." Over time, the name has had numerous spellings, all resembling Native American terms and words. The first known use of the modern spelling of Tennessee was by the governor of South Carolina in the 1750s. Many people believe that the name "Tennessee" originally came from a Yuchi word meaning "where the rivers come together."

Multiple Choice

Many people believe that the name "Tennessee" originally came from

• a Yuchi word meaning "where the rivers come together."

• a Chickasaw word meaning "land where the hunting is good."

• a French word meaning "widest part of the river."

• a Spanish word meaning "place of many waterfalls."

Native Americans (TN)

Native American tribes lived in the Southeastern part of the United States before the Europeans came and settled the land. Four of those tribes were the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw and Shawnee.

Cherokee

Some important facts about the Cherokee are:

Their tribal name was Tsalagi. They first came to Great Smoky Mountains around 1000 C.E. Their homes were wood frames with woven vines covered in mud. They were the largest tribe in the southeast of what is now the U.S. The Cherokee had a special title that they would give to important women in their community. These women were called Ghigau, which meant "Beloved Woman." They had a society based on farming. In the 1700s, the Cherokee started to form a central government. They gave the head of this government the title Principal Chief. This is still the title of the head of the modern Cherokee nation. The Cherokee alphabet was created by a man named Sequoyah in 1821. In 1827, they established themselves as the Cherokee Nation.

Multiple Choice

In the late 1700s, the Cherokee created a formal political structure. At the head of this structure was the

• beloved woman.

• principal chief.

• clan leader.

• vice president.

Multiple Choice

The Cherokee people were each members of a special group called a

• council.

• household.

• clan.

• village.

Creek

Some important facts about the Creek are:

They called themselves the Muscogee (or Muskogee). They were actually a group of tribes, rather than just one people. The Creeks had what is called a clan system. Think of a clan as a person's extended family, including aunts and cousins. A person was part of the clan of his or her mother. Creeks were not allowed to marry people from their own clan. The Creek religion had a central god named the Master of Breath. They believed this god lived in the sky. The sun and moon were messengers of the Master of Breath. In the 1500s, they occupied areas in what is now the southeast United States. Europeans called them "Creeks" because many of their villages were located at rivers and creeks. Encouraged by a Shawnee named Tecumseh, the Creek fought against the United States in the Creek War of 1813-14. After the Creek War, the Creek signed a treaty giving about two-thirds of their land to the United States. They were later moved west to Oklahoma.

Multiple Choice

Many native peoples lived in Tennessee and other parts of the southeast before the arrival of Europeans. Which of these groups called itself the Muscogee?

• Chickasaws

• Iroquois

• Creek

• Cherokee

Chickasaw

Some important facts about the Chickasaw are:

They lived in what is now Mississippi and western Tennessee. Their spoken language was very similar to that of the Choctaw tribe. The Chicksaw people worshiped a god named Inki Abu, which means "Father Above." They often fought with their neighbors the Choctaw, the Creek, the Cherokee, and the Shawnee. Land conflicts between the Chickasaw and the French and English resulted in other wars. In the 1830s, they were forced to sign a treaty that moved them to Oklahoma.

Multiple Choice

Before the Europeans came, there was a native tribe living in what is now Mississippi and Western Tennessee. Their spoken language was very similar to the Choctaws. These native people are called the

• Cherokee.

• Iroquois.

• Creek.

• Chickasaws.

Shawnee

Some important facts about the Shawnee are:

They lived mainly in present-day Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. They followed animal populations during the winter but settled in villages during the summer. The women of the tribe tended crops while the men hunted. Their homes were made of bundles of saplings covered with bark. In the 1600s, they began trading furs with the French and British. Late in the century, they were driven from the Ohio Valley to present-day Georgia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania by the Iroquois Confederacy. They returned to the Ohio Valley during the 1700s, but fought for land with European settlers. They fought on the side of the French during the French and Indian War. Under the leadership of Tecumseh, they resisted American settlement of the Ohio Valley in the early 1800s. There were defeated by General William Henry Harrison and the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Following the death of Tecumseh in 1813, they were forced onto three reservations in Ohio. Later they were forced to move first to Kansas and then to Oklahoma in 1869.

Multiple Choice

• Cherokee

• Creek

• Chickasaw

All three of these tribes

• died from diseases brought from Europe to Tennessee.

• lived in Tennessee at the time of European settlement.

• shared their villages with the white settlers of Tennessee.

• were forced to leave Tennessee when the English arrived.

Early Native Americans in Tennessee

Native Americans were the first people to live in Tennessee. The lesson below describes some of the early Native American tribes of Tennessee, as well as the origin of the name of the state.