East Tennessee

===Pioneer period===
[[Image:Cantilever-barn-moa-tn1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Early settlers of East Tennessee developed and constructed a unique type of double-[[cantilever]] barn, like this one in [[Norris, Tennessee|Norris]], which evolved from an earlier design in [[Pennsylvania]].]]
The first recorded Europeans to reach the area were three expeditions led by Spanish explorers: [[Hernando de Soto]] in 1540–1541, [[Tristán de Luna y Arellano|Tristan de Luna]] in 1559, and [[Juan Pardo (explorer)|Juan Pardo]] in 1566–1567.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=25–26}}{{sfn|Langsdon|2000|pp=4–5}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hudson |first1=Charles M. |last2=Smith |first2=Marvin T. |last3=DePratter |first3=Chester B. |last4=Kelley |first4=Emilia |author1-link=Charles M. Hudson|title=The Tristán de Luna Expedition, 1559–1561 |journal=Southeastern Archaeology |date=1989 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=31–45 |jstor=40712896 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]}}</ref> Pardo recorded the name "Tanasqui" from a local Native American village, which evolved into the state's current name.<ref name=hudson/> In 1673, [[Abraham Wood]], a British fur trader, sent an expedition led by James Needham and Gabriel Arthur from [[Fort Henry (Virginia)|Fort Henry]] in the [[Colony of Virginia]] into Overhill Cherokee territory in modern-day northeastern Tennessee.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=20–21}} Needham was killed during the expedition and Arthur was taken prisoner, and remained with the Cherokees for more than a year.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=27–28}} [[Longhunter]]s from Virginia explored much of East Tennessee in the 1750s and 1760s in expeditions which lasted several months or even years.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=40–42}}

The Cherokee alliance with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] during the [[French and Indian War]] led to the construction of [[Fort Loudoun (Tennessee)|Fort Loudoun]] in 1756 near present-day [[Vonore, Tennessee|Vonore]], which was the first British settlement in what is now Tennessee.{{sfn|Finger|2001|p=35}} Fort Loudoun was the westernmost British outpost to that date and was designed by [[John William Gerard de Brahm]] and constructed by forces under Captain Raymond Demeré.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=32–33}} Shortly after its completion, Demeré relinquished command of the fort to his brother, Captain Paul Demeré.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|p=33}} Hostilities erupted between the British and the Overhill Cherokees into [[Anglo-Cherokee War|an armed conflict]], and a [[siege of Fort Loudoun|siege of the fort]] ended with its surrender in 1760.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=36–37}} The next morning, Paul Demeré and many his men were killed in an ambush nearby, and most of the rest of the garrison was taken prisoner.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|p=36}} A [[Timberlake Expedition|peace expedition]] led by [[Henry Timberlake]] in 1761 provided later travelers with invaluable knowledge regarding the location of the Overhill towns and the customs of the Overhill Cherokee.

The end of the French and Indian War in 1763 brought a stream of explorers and traders into the region, among them additional longhunters. In an effort to mitigate conflicts with the Natives, Britain issued the [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]] which forbade settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Middlekauff |first1=Robert |title=The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789 |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-1951-6247-9 |pages=58–60 |edition=Revised Expanded |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nya0ODz-B-cC&pg=PA58}}</ref> Despite this proclamation, migration across the mountains continued, and the first permanent European settlers began arriving in northeastern Tennessee in the late 1760s.{{sfn|Langsdon|2000|p=8}}{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=43–44}} In 1769 [[William Bean]], an associate of famed explorer [[Daniel Boone]], built what is generally acknowledged as Tennessee's first permanent Euro-American residence in Tennessee along the [[Watauga River]] in present-day [[Johnson City, Tennessee|Johnson City]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Coffey |first1=Ken |title=The First Family of Tennessee |url=http://graingertnhistory.com/story_2/#more-5 |website=Grainger County Historic Society |publisher=Thomas Daugherty |access-date=August 20, 2020 |date=October 19, 2012 |archive-date=August 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811133037/http://graingertnhistory.com/story_2/#more-5 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="brown">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Fred |title=Marking Time |date=2005 |location=Knoxville |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |isbn=9781572333307 |pages=99–101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sem9B2acPfkC |access-date=October 17, 2020 |format=Paperback |via=Google Books}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, [[James Robertson (explorer)|James Robertson]] and a group of migrants from North Carolina (some historians suggest they were refugees of the [[Regulator Movement|Regulator wars]]) formed the Watauga Settlement at [[Sycamore Shoals]] in modern-day [[Elizabethton, Tennessee|Elizabethton]] on lands leased from the Cherokees. 

In 1772, the Wataugans established the [[Watauga Association]], which was the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians and the germ cell of the state of Tennessee.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=45–47}} Most of these settlers were English or of primarily [[English Americans|English descent]], but nearly 20% of them were [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scotch-Irish]].{{sfn|Corlew|1981|p=106}} In 1775, the settlers reorganized themselves into the [[Washington District, North Carolina|Washington District]] to support the cause of the [[Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War|American Revolutionary War]], which had begun months before.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=60–61}} The following year, the settlers petitioned the Colony of Virginia to annex the Washington District to provide protection from Native American attacks, which was denied. Later that year, they petitioned the government of North Carolina to annex the Washington District, which was granted in November 1776.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=64–68}}

In 1775, [[Richard Henderson (jurist)|Richard Henderson]] negotiated a series of treaties with the Cherokee to sell the lands of the Watauga settlements.<ref>{{cite book|last=Henderson|first=Archibald|author-link=Archibald Henderson (professor)|date=1920|title=The Conquest of the Old Southwest: The Romantic Story of the Early Pioneers Into Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, 1740–1790|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=no5BAAAAYAAJ|location=New York City|publisher=[[The Century Company]]|pages=212–236|via=Google Books}}</ref> Later that year, Daniel Boone, under Henderson's employment, blazed a trail from [[Fort Chiswell]] in Virginia through the [[Cumberland Gap]], which became part of the [[Wilderness Road]], a major thoroughfare for settlers into Tennessee and Kentucky.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|p=197}} That same year, a faction of Cherokees led by [[Dragging Canoe]]— angry over the tribe's appeasement of European settlers— split off to form what became known as the [[Chickamauga Cherokee|Chickamauga faction]], which was concentrated around what is now Chattanooga.{{sfn|Satz|1979|p=66}} The next year, the Chickamauga, aligned with British loyalists, attacked Fort Watauga.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=65–67}} The warnings of Dragging Canoe's cousin [[Nancy Ward]] spared many settlers' lives from the initial attacks.<ref name="king07">{{cite book|editor-last1=King|editor-first1=Duane H.|title=The Memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake : The Story of a Soldier, Adventurer, and Emissary to the Cherokees, 1756–1765|date=2007|publisher=Museum of the Cherokee Indian Press|location=[[Cherokee, North Carolina]]|isbn=9780807831267|page=122|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vHr-cf5j0AEC&pg=PA122|access-date=March 28, 2015|via=Google Books}}</ref> In spite of Dragging Canoe's protests, the Cherokee were continuously induced to sign away most of the tribe's lands to the U.S. government.

During the [[American Revolutionary War|American Revolution]], the Wataugans supplied 240 militiamen (led by [[John Sevier]]) to the frontier force known as the [[Overmountain Men]], which defeated [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|British loyalists]] at the [[Battle of Kings Mountain]] in 1780.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=84–88}} Tennessee's first attempt at statehood was the [[State of Franklin]], formed in 1784 from three Washington District counties.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=73–74}} Its capital was initially at [[Jonesborough, Tennessee|Jonesborough]] and later [[Greeneville, Tennessee|Greeneville]], and eventually grew to include eight counties. After several unsuccessful attempts at statehood, the State of Franklin rejoined North Carolina in 1788.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=81–83}} North Carolina ceded the region to the federal government, which designated it as the [[Southwest Territory]] on May 26, 1790.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=86–87}} [[William Blount]] was appointed as the territorial governor by President [[George Washington]], and Blount and [[James White (general)|James White]] established Knoxville as the territory's capital in 1791.{{sfn|Langsdon|2000|pp=16–17}} The Southwest Territory recorded a population of 35,691 in the [[1790 United States census|first United States census]] that year, about three-fourths of whom resided in what is now East Tennessee.{{sfn|Lamon|1980|p=4}}

In addition to the English and Scotch-Irish settlers, there were also Welsh families who settled in East Tennessee in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.<ref>The Welsh of Tennessee by Y Lolfa, 2012. Pg. 19 – {{ISBN|9781847714299}}</ref> A larger group of settlers, entirely of English descent, arrived from Virginia's [[Middle Peninsula]]. They arrived as a result of large landowners buying up land and expanding in such a way that smaller landholders had to leave the area to prosper.<ref>Tennessee History: The Land, The People And the Culture. University of Tennessee Press, 1998.  Pg. 19, 33–34 – {{ISBN|9781572330009}}</ref><ref>First Families of Tennessee: A Register of Early Settlers and Their Present-day Descendants by The East Tennessee Historical Society, 2000 pg. 77</ref>