Land area
Land of the Cherokee in Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee, ceded 1785 (area 3)
- 1785
Ceded to the United States
In the record
Recorded in the 1899 federal record as a Cherokee cession: in the 1785 Treaty of Hopewell the Cherokee gave up all claim north and east of a boundary line, in North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee. The area covers about 4.4 million acres in what is now Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee.
The 1899 record names Cherokee as the people of this land.
How it was taken: a treaty or agreement. The OSU text and the Mississippi Encyclopedia show a council with a large Cherokee delegation, though some Cherokee leaders protested.
Today, Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians carry the history of the people named here.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.
Shapes come from C. C. Royce’s 1899 maps as georeferenced by the US Forest Service. They are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land. Royce recorded land the United States treated as ceded; the shape does not show a nation’s territory.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named for this land 3, matched by the Forest Service, under review
- Cherokeesuggested
- Eastern Band of Cherokee Indianssuggested
- United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indianssuggested
Located in 3
Agreements recorded for this land 1
- Treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokee, 17851785suggested
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1785-11-28primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1785-11-28primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Tennessee and Bordering States (Library of Congress)primary record
- USDA Forest Service, Tribal Lands Ceded to the United States (digitized Royce maps)reference work
The record’s fields
- Area number in the 1899 record
- 3
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1785-11-28
- Kind of instrument
- Treaty or agreement
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Cherokee
- States
- KY; NC; TN
- Counties
- Buncombe; Cannon; Cheatham; Clay; Clinton; Cumberland; Davidson; De Kalb; Dickson; Henderson; Houston; Jackson; Lyon; Madison; Montgomery; Overton; Pickett; Pulaski; Putnam; Russell; Rutherford; Smith; Stewart; Sumner; Trigg; Trousdale; Wayne; Williamson; Wilson; Yancey
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Tennessee and Bordering States
- Geometry
- Approximate shape from Royce’s 1899 maps
Research notes
geometry_role is 'cession' for every USFS feature: no field in the source distinguishes cessions from reservations.
- Kind
- Land area
- Confidence
- Medium