After contact, Cherokee society and culture continued to develop, progressing with acquisitions from European settlers.
Cherokee culture thrived for thousands of years in the southeastern United States before European contact. Since earliest contact with European explorers in the 1500’s, the Cherokee Nation has been identified as one of the most advanced among Native American tribes.
Today, it is the same spirit leading the Cherokee. It was a spirit of survival and perseverance that carried the Cherokee to Indian Territory on the Trail of Tears.
