The Cherokee, also known as the Tsalagi people, are an Indigenous group from the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Historically, they were concentrated in ancestral homelands located along river valleys across a wide geographic area.
These traditional lands encompassed approximately 40,000 square miles and included regions that currently comprise southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, parts of western South Carolina, northern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama. Their hunting grounds also extended into Kentucky prior to the 18th century.