Science Fair Project Encyclopedia American Indians of North
America |Overall population history|| |Primary locations
today:|| - Alternate meanings: Cherokee (disambiguation) The
Cherokee are a people native to North America who first
inhabited what is now the eastern and southeastern United States
before most were forcefully moved to the Ozark Plateau. They
were one of the tribes referred to by Native Americans as the
Five Civilized Tribes. Ethnologists today recognize that 5 to 7
million people of Cherokee heritage live worldwide. Bands
recognized by the United States government, but representing
only 250,000 Cherokees, have headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma
(Cherokee Nation, and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee
Indians), and at Cherokee, North Carolina (Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians). State-recognized Cherokee tribes have
headquarters in Georgia and Alabama. Other large and small non-
recognized Cherokee organizations are located in Arkansas,
Missouri, Tennessee, and other locations in the United State