Nation

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Not yet reviewed by this nation. What follows comes from public records and research. It does not speak for the nation.

Official name: Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
Recorded status: Listed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (91 FR 4102, January 30, 2026)

In the record

This nation carries the history of Cherokee in the treaty record.

Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources. This is what the United States’ treaty record says, not the nation’s own account.

Treaty or agreementTreaty under documented pressureRemoval treatyAct of CongressShapes from the 1899 federal record: approximate, not legal boundaries.

Names

Each name shows where it comes from. A nation’s own name is shown as the nation writes it.

Official names

Eastern Band of Cherokees

Recognition, as each source states it

Recognition is a legal and political status that governments assign; it is not a measure of who a people are.

Recognized by a state, NCN.C. Gen. Stat. § 143B-407(a): among 'Indian groups that are recognized by the State of North Carolina' seated on the State Commission of Indian Affairssource

Land recorded as ceded

This nation carries the history of peoples named in Royce’s schedule. Their record:

Cherokee About 45 million acres recorded as ceded by the end of 1894

Treaty or agreement33 million
Treaty under documented pressure680 thousand
Removal treaty11 million

Estimate from Royce’s maps; overlapping cessions counted once. Not a survey or legal measure.

32 cessions. Follow Cherokee through the years on the map

Who is doing the work

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

These links were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.

Land recorded in this nation’s name 26, matched by the Forest Service, under review

Show all 26

Carries the treaty history of 1

Cherokee

Organizations that work with this nation 1

Cherokee Preservation Foundation

Sources

okhistory.org/publications/enc/entryunclassified
The other federally recognized Cherokee government groups are the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma and the Eastern Band, headquartered in North Carolina.
Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the BIA, 91 FR 4102 (Jan. 30, 2026)primary record
Listed in 91 FR 4102 (Jan. 30, 2026).
ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_143B/GS_143B-407.htmlreference work
the Indian groups that are recognized by the State of North Carolina and are principally geographically located as follows: ... the Eastern Band of Cherokees

Kind: Nation
Confidence: High
Nation review: Not yet reviewed by this nation

Correct this record