Section 2:Section 2: Indian Nations in Indian Nations in

GeorgiaGeorgia• ESSENTIAL QUESTION

– Which Indian nations lived in Georgia and how did they live?

Section 2:Section 2: Indian Nations in Indian Nations in

GeorgiaGeorgia

• What peoples do I need to know? – Creek (Muscogee)

– Cherokee

The Creeks (Muscogee)The Creeks (Muscogee)

• Originally from American southwest• Spoke Muskogean• Discovered by early European explorers who

called them Creeks• Lived along Ocheese Creek (today’s

Ocmulgee River)• Lived in italwa and talofa (large villages

surrounded by smaller villages) similar to today’s large city and surrounding suburbs

Creek (Muscogee) LifestyleCreek (Muscogee) Lifestyle • Village center featured a plaza and

rotunda• Games and ceremonies held in plaza• Rotunda was used for council meetings• Wooden huts or log cabins with

chimneys surrounded the plaza• Villages, split from larger villages,

helped form a confederacy• Raised livestock and successful farmers

The CherokeeThe Cherokee • Lived in northwestern mountain region of

the state • Called themselves Awi-yum-wija, which

meant “real people” or “principal people”• Tribal Clans: groups of Cherokee who

believed themselves related by blood• Two tribal chiefs: one for making war and

one for making peacetime decisions• Clans governed on the local level

The Cherokee Family The Cherokee Family

• Family lines were traced through the mother, not the father

• The mother’s brothers took responsibility for raising her children

• Mothers handled most domestic chores; fathers often left home to hunt or trade

• Children played games that prepared them for adulthood

Cherokee LifestyleCherokee Lifestyle • Built homes on high banks or hills along rivers

and streams• Shelters were built from available materials,

often plastered on the exterior to keep out rain and cold

• Log cabins built for winter living • Fishing and raising crops including maize

(corn)• Barter: trading goods and services without

use of money was an economic system

Cherokee Religious BeliefsCherokee Religious Beliefs

• Believed Earth was large island resting on water

• “This World”: tribe was at center of the earth

• “Upper World”: above This World; clean and pure world; Sun and Moon chief gods

• “Under World”: in waters below This World; disorder and change

• Deer and birds were honored; bears were not

Other Cherokee Lifestyle Other Cherokee Lifestyle PracticesPractices

• Drank ginseng potion to shop bleeding or shortness of breath

• Smoked tobacco on ceremonial occasions when seeking the gods’ blessings

• Green Corn Ceremony held to give thanks for corn, the most important food source

• Followed “Law of Retaliation,” avenging a wrong by getting even; this law helped prevent feuds within a tribe

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