Cherokee Maps

The map below was created in 1884 by C. C. Royce. It shows the gradual shrinking of Cherokee territory beginning in 1721 with land ceded to the colony of South Carolina and ending with the secessions resulting from the Treaty of New Echota between the Cherokee and the United States government in 1835.


Larger image

To Start You Thinking -

Click on the key in the upper right corner of the map to bring up a readable copy of the key. Click on the body of the map and bring up a larger copy of the entire map.

1) Describe according to the information in the map where and when the first 5 secessions of Cherokee land occurred.

2) Approximately one third of the Cherokee population migrated west to Arkansas after the secessions of 1819. From where did they move?

3) Examine a biography of Daniel Boone and explain how his explorations are reflected in the shrinking limits of Cherokee territory.

C.C. Royce, "Map of the former territorial limits of the Cherokee Nation of Indians", part of the Map Collections, The Library of Congress, American Memory Collection.

Last modified in July, 2008 by Rick Thomas