Yuchi people
The Yuchi ( Euchee and Uchee or spells ) are a North American Indian people who originally lived in the east of the river valley formed by the Tennessee River in what is now Tennessee, northern Georgia and northern Alabama. Today, the tribesmen living mainly in the northeastern Oklahoma. They call themselves Tsoyaha, which translates as "children of the sun". The population of the tribe was clearly decimated by introduced diseases and war with the tribe of the Cherokee in the 18th century. In 2005 there were about 3000 still Yuchi.
History
The origin of the Yuchi is unclear, the language of the Yuchi is not related to any of the other indigenous languages of North America, suggesting a long period of isolation from other tribes.
The first information about the Yuchi are found from the 17th century in the documents of the European colonists. It is considered that the Yuchi and the Westo belonged to a people, however, this theory is controversial. There are significant historical and archaeological evidence for the existence of several Yuchi villages in the 18th century; one of the earlier settlements, Chestowee in southwestern Tennessee, is mentioned in the colonial writings. 1714 Chestowee is attacked and destroyed by Cherokee who were incited by two dealers. The Cherokee were prepared for further settlements of the Yuchi on the Savannah River to destroy, but when the South Carolina government made it clear that they would not tolerate these attacks, the Cherokee withdrew. The destruction of the Yuchi village Chestowee marked the appearance of the Cherokee as a major power in the region.
Another early Yuchi village was located on the banks of the Savannah River at Mount Pleasant, in what is now Effingham County, it existed from about 1722 to 1750. A large settlement in the middle to the end of the 18th century was " Uche Town " at the Chattahoochee River, near the watercourse Uche Creek and about 15 miles downstream of the Creek settlement " Coweta Old Town". Uche Town was visited in the 1770s by William Bartram, who was enthusiastic about the arrangement and thriving population. Another village of Yuchi existed from 1746 to 1751 at Silver Bluff in Aiken County, South Carolina. In the late 1700s there was a village called " Patsiliga " on the banks of the Flint River. Other potentially inhabited by the Yuchi places were on Oconee River near the Uchee Creek in Wilkinson County and on Brier Creek in Burke or Screven County.
In the early 19th century, the Yuchi were violently forced to relocate together with the Creek to Oklahoma. Historically, the Yuchi were always their own people, but that often grouped with other strains or was considered together with them, mostly with the Indians of the Creek nation.
Today's tribe
Most Yuchi are descended from several tribes, and many of them are registered members of the Creek nation, the Muskogee, although some are also among other tribes, such as the Shawnee, Sauk or Fox. The Yuchi have in recent decades, the state recognition repeatedly tried to get as a people by the U.S. authorities, but this seems to show no lasting success. Several organizations have tried to position a tribal government, so far, none of these groups can reach a tribal -wide support.
Yuchi language
The language of the Yuchi is related to an isolated language and with any other known language. The Yuchi and their language are the subject of a chapter in the book written by Mark Abley on endangered languages: Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages . Currently speak only five elderly members of the tribe, the language of the Yuchi, which is on the verge of extinction.