The Cherokee Nation has probably occupied a more prominent place in
the affairs and history of what is now the United States of America,
since the date of the early European settlements, than any other tribe,
nation, or confederacy of Indians, unless it be possible to except the
powerful and warlike league of the Iroquois or Six Nations of New York.
It is almost certain that they were visited at a very early period
following the discovery of the American continent by that daring and
enthusiastic Spaniard, Fernando De Soto.
In determining the exact route pursued by him from his landing
in Florida to his death beyond the Mississippi, many insuperable
difficulties present themselves, arising not only from an inadequate
description on the part of the historian of the courses and distances
pursued, but from many statements made by him that are irreconcilable
with an accurate knowledge of the topographic detail of the country
traversed.
A narrative of the expedition, "by a gentleman of Elvas," was published
at Evora in 1557, and translated from the Portuguese by Richard
Hakluyt, of London, in 1609. From this narrative it appears that after
traveling a long distance in a northeasterly direction from his point
of landing on the west coast of Florida, De Soto reached, in the spring
of 1540, an Indian town called by the narrator "Cutifachiqui." From the
early American maps of De L'Isle and others, upon which is delineated
the supposed route of De Soto, this town appears to be located on the
Santee River, and, as alleged by the "gentleman of Elvas," on the
authority of the inhabitants, was two days' journey from the sea-coast.
The expedition left Cutifachiqui on the 3d of May, 1540, and pursued
a northward course for the period of seven days, when it came to a
province called Chelaque, "the poorest country of maize that was seen
in Florida." It is recorded that the Indians of this province "feed
upon roots and herbs, which they seek in the fields, and upon wild
beasts, which they kill with their bows and arrows, and are a very
gentle people. All of them go naked and are very lean."
That this word "Chalaque" is identical with our modern Cherokee would
appear to be almost an assured fact. The distance and route pursued
by the expedition are both strongly corroborative of this assumption.
The orthography of the name was probably taken by the Spaniards from
the Muscogee pronunciation, heard by them among the Creeks, Choctaws,
and Chickasaws. It is asserted by William Bartram, in his travels
through that region in the eighteenth century, that in the "Muscogulge"
language the letter "r" is not sounded in a single word, but that on
the contrary it occurs very frequently in the Cherokee tongue.[3]
Through this province of Chalaque De Soto passed, still pursuing
his northward course for five days until he reached the province of
"Xualla," a name much resembling the modern Cherokee word Qualla. The
route from Cutifachiqui to Xualla lay, for the most part, through a
hilly country. From the latter province the expedition changed its
course to the west, trending a little to the south, and over "very
rough and high hills," reaching at the end of five days a town or
province which was called "Guaxule," and two days later a town called
"Canasagua," an orthography almost identical with the modern Cherokee
name of Canasauga, as applied to both a stream and a town within their
Georgia limits.
Assuming that these people, whose territory De Soto thus traversed,
were the ancestors of the modern Cherokees, it is the first mention
made of them by European discoverers and more than a century anterior
to the period when they first became known to the pioneers of permanent
European occupation and settlement.
_Earliest map._--The earliest map upon which I have found "Chalaqua"
located is that of "Florida et Apalche" by Cornely Wytfliet, published
in 1597.[4] This location is based upon the narrative of De Soto's
expedition, and is fixed a short distance east of the Savannah River
and immediately south of the Appalachian Mountains. "Xualla" is placed
to the west of and near the headwaters of the "Secco" or Savannah River.