East Tennessee

===Native Americans===
Much of what is known about East Tennessee's prehistoric Native Americans comes as a result of the Tennessee Valley Authority's reservoir construction, as federal law required archaeological investigations to be conducted in areas that were to be flooded. Excavations at the [[Icehouse Bottom]] site near [[Vonore, Tennessee|Vonore]] revealed that Native Americans were living in East Tennessee on at least a semi-annual basis as early as 7,500 B.C.<ref name=chapman>{{cite journal |last1=Chapman |first1=Jefferson |author1-link=Jefferson Chapman |title=Tellico Archaeology: 12,000 Years of Native American History |journal=Publications in Anthropology |date=1985 |volume=41 |issue=1 |publisher=University of Tennessee |location=Knoxville}}</ref> The region's significant [[Woodland period]] (1000 B.C. – 1000 A.D.) sites include [[Mialoquo#Rose Island|Rose Island]] (also near Vonore) and [[Moccasin Bend]] (near Chattanooga).<ref name=chapman /><ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1965&ResourceType=District|title=Moccasin Bend Archeological District|access-date=July 1, 2008|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310082850/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1965&ResourceType=District|archive-date=March 10, 2009}}</ref> 

During what archaeologists call the [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian period]] (c. 1000–1600 A.D.), East Tennessee's indigenous inhabitants were living in complex [[agrarian societies]] at places such as [[Toqua (Tennessee)|Toqua]] and [[Hiwassee Island]], and had formed a minor chiefdom known as [[Chiaha]] in the French Broad Valley.{{sfn|Satz|1979|pp=8–11}} [[Kingdom of Spain|Spanish]] expeditions led by [[Hernando de Soto (explorer)|Hernando de Soto]], [[Tristán de Luna y Arellano|Tristan de Luna]], and [[Juan Pardo (explorer)|Juan Pardo]] all visited East Tennessee's Mississippian-period inhabitants during the 16th century.<ref name=hudson>{{cite book |last=Hudson |first=Charles M. |author-link=Charles M. Hudson |date=2005 |title=The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Explorations of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566–1568 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NyAD-F3Q85kC |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |publisher=[[University of Alabama Press]] |pages=10–13, 36–40, 104 |isbn=9780817351908 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Some of the Native peoples who are known to have inhabited the region during this time include the [[Muscogee|Muscogee Creek]], [[Yuchi]], and [[Shawnee]].{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=16-17}}{{sfn|Satz|1979|pp=8–11}}

By the early 18th century, most Natives in Tennessee had disappeared, very likely wiped out by diseases introduced by the Spaniards, leaving the region sparsely populated.{{sfn|Satz|1979|pp=8–11}} The [[Cherokee]] began migrating into what is now East Tennessee from what is now [[Virginia]] in the latter 17th century, possibly to escape expanding European settlement and diseases in the north.{{sfn|Satz|1979|pp=34–35}} The Cherokee established a series of towns concentrated in the Little Tennessee and Hiwassee valleys that became known as the [[Overhill Cherokee|Overhill towns]], since traders from [[North Carolina]], [[South Carolina]], and Virginia had to cross over the mountains to reach them. Early in the 18th century, the Cherokee forced the remaining members of other Native American groups out of the state.