Cherokees in transition: a study of changing culture and environment prior to 1775

Goodwin, Gary C.

Book

Cherokees in transition: a study of changing culture and environment prior to 1775

University of Chicago Press • (181) • Published In 1977 • Pages: x, 207

By: Goodwin, Gary C..

Abstract
The author's stated intention in this document is to answer two related questions: 1) how was ecological variation in the Cherokee territory affected by cultural processes during the aboriginal and early post-contact periods? and 2) how did ecological variation affect aboriginal and post-contact Cherokee cultural ecology and the process of culture contact and acculturation? These questions are not fully answered, however. Topics receiving a detailed treatment include the geography and native flora and fauna of the Cherokee territory, aboriginal settlement pattern and subsistence strategies, the impact of European contact on Cherokee settlement pattern and subsistence strategies during the 17th and 18th centuries and the impact of changes in settlement pattern and subsistence strategies on the Cherokee environment. The author's discussion of European contact is confined mainly to the topic of trade. Some of the most useful ethnohistorical information in this document relates to the Cherokee settlement pattern: the author provides detailed maps, tables and text presenting the location, names, and characteristics of Cherokee settlements prior to and subsequent to contact with Europeans.

Historical reconstruction

Acculturation and culture contact