|
The Cherokee believe the ancient settlement of Kituwa (also spelled Kituwah, Keetoowah, Kittowa, and other similar variations) or ''giduwa'' (Cherokee:ᎩᏚᏩ), on the Tuckasegee River is their original settlement and is one of the "seven mother towns" in the Southeast. It is in Swain County, North Carolina, in the Great Smoky Mountains, near present-day Bryson City. ==History== ''Kituwa'' is the site of an ancient earthwork mound, likely built by the Mississippian culture about 1000 CE. The Cherokee held the site sacred after settling here in a later time. Although the vegetation on the mound was burned repeatedly by the Cherokee for agriculture during the colonial period and plowed over for corn cultivation since Indian Removal in the 1830s, the mound is still visible. During the period of European-American agricultural uses, the larger property was called Ferguson's Field. The mound is in diameter and five feet tall, although it was once taller. The Cherokee built a structure on top that housed their sacred flame, which was to be kept burning at all times.〔("Kituwah Mound, NC (Eastern Cherokee), 2004" ), ''The Pluralism Project'', Harvard University, accessed 3 Mar 2009〕 Moundbuilding by people of the various Woodland and Mississippian cultures was common throughout the Mississippi Basin and Ohio Valley. This included Tennessee to the west, Georgia to the southeast, Louisiana to the southwest, and Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri to the northwest. The Mississippian culture was documented as established in western North Carolina from 1000 CE.〔(David G. Moore, Robin A. Beck, Jr., and Christopher B. Rodning, "Joara and Fort San Juan: culture contact at the edge of the world" ), ''Antiquity'', Vol. 78, No. 229, Mar. 2004, accessed 26 Jun 2008〕 ''Joara'' was a regional chiefdom in this culture. Additional Mississippian-culture sites have been identified extending southwest to the village later called ''Kituwa''. The Mississippian culture peoples were part of vast trade networks that connected chiefdoms throughout the present-day eastern United States. Archaeologists believe the people of the smaller chiefdoms were eventually absorbed by the developing, larger Catawba and Cherokee tribes. The inhabitants of ''Kituwah'', the ''Ani-kitu-hwagi'', influenced all of the towns along the Tuckasegee and Little Tennessee rivers. The people of this region became known as the ''Kituwah'', also spelled ''Keetoowah''. Because the ''Kituwah'' were responsible for the protection of the northern border from the Iroquois and the Algonquian peoples, the name became synonymous with the Cherokee among the people. The Cherokee who later occupied ''Kituwa'' were also part of extensive trade networks. The ancient site of the Mother Town ''Kituwa'' is visible in the general area of the Qualla Boundary, territory of the Cherokee. During the Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761), British general James Grant used his army to destroy the ancient town. Its inhabitants migrated westward and settled in ''Mialoquo'' (Great Island Town) on the Little Tennessee River among the Overhill Cherokee. A later headman of this group was Dragging Canoe, son of ''Attakullakulla''. When he led his warriors southwest to continue fighting the colonists of Upper East Tennessee, the entire population went with him, including those formerly of Kituwa.〔Klink and Talman, ''The Journal of Major John Norton'', p. 62〕 In the 1820s the Cherokees lost control of the Kituwa area when making land cessions to the United States. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kituwa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|