THE CHEROKEE NATION OF INDIANS. 
By CHARLES C. ROYCE. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
An historical atlas of Indian affairs has for some time past been in 
course of preparation under the direction of the Bureau of Ethnology, 
Smithsonian Institution. 
The chief aim of this atlas isto show upon a series of State and Terri- 
torial maps the boundaries of the various tracts of country which have 
from time to time been acquired through the medium of treaty stipula- 
tion or act of Congress from the several Indian tribes resident within the 
present territory of the United States from the beginning of the Federal 
period to the present day. 
Accompanying this atlas will be one or more volumes of historical 
text, wherein will be given with some detail a history of the official re- 
lations between the United States and these tribes. This will treat of the 
various negotiations for peace and for the acquisition of territory, the 
causes rendering such negotiations necessary, and the methods observed 
by the Government through its authorized agents in this diplomacy, as 
well as other matters of public concern growing out of the same. 
The following monograph on the history of the Cherokees, with its 
accompanying maps, is given as an illustration of the character of the 
work in its treatment of each of the Indian tribes. 
‘The maps are intended to show not only the ancestral but tle present 
home of the Cherokees, and also to indicate the boundaries of the va- 
rious tracts of territory purchased from them by the Colonial or Federal 
authorities from time to time since their first contact with the European 
settlements. A number of purchases made prior to the Federal period 
by individuals were unauthorized and unrecognized by the Colonial au- 
thorities, and their boundaries, though given in the text, are not laid 
down upon the map, because the same areas of territory were after- 
wards included within the limits of Colonial purchases. 
In the preparation of this article, more particularly in the tracing out 
of the various boundary lines, much careful attention and research 
have been given to all available authorities or sources of information. 
The old manuscript records of the Government, the shelves of the Con- 
d ETu——9 129 
