Editing Cherokee (section)

==Early culture==
Much of what is known about pre-18th century Native American cultures has come from records of Spanish expeditions. The earliest ones of the mid-16th century encountered peoples of the [[Mississippian culture]] era, who were ancestral to tribes that emerged in the Southeast, such as the Cherokee, [[Muscogee]], [[Cheraw]], and [[Catawba (tribe)|Catawba]]. Specifically in 1540–41, a Spanish expedition led by [[Hernando de Soto]] passed through present-day South Carolina, proceeding into western North Carolina and what is considered Cherokee country. The Spanish recorded a ''Chalaque''{{refn|Or ''Achalaque''.<ref name="clark">{{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Patricia Roberts |title=Tribal Names of the Americas: Spelling Variants and Alternative Forms, Cross-Referenced |date=21 October 2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5169-2 |page=11 |language=en}}</ref>}} people as living around the [[Keowee River]], where western North Carolina, South Carolina, and northeastern Georgia meet. The Cherokee consider this area to be part of their homelands, which also extended into southeastern Tennessee.<ref>Mooney</ref>

Further west, De Soto's expedition visited villages in present-day northwestern Georgia, recording them as ruled at the time by the [[Coosa chiefdom]]. This is believed to be a chiefdom ancestral to the [[Muscogee Creek people]], who developed as a Muskogean-speaking people with a distinct culture.<ref name=NGE>[http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-573 "Late Prehistoric/Early Historic Chiefdoms (ca. A.D. 1300-1850)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004040944/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-573 |date=October 4, 2012 }}. ''New Georgia Encyclopedia''. Retrieved July 22, 2010.</ref>

In 1566, the [[Juan Pardo (explorer)|Juan Pardo]] expedition traveled from the present-day South Carolina coast into its interior, and into western North Carolina and southeastern Tennessee. He recorded meeting Cherokee-speaking people who visited him while he stayed at the [[Joara]] chiefdom (north of present-day [[Morganton, North Carolina]]). The historic Catawba later lived in this area of the upper Catawba River. Pardo and his forces wintered over at Joara, building Fort San Juan there in 1567.

His expedition proceeded into the interior, noting villages near modern [[Asheville, North Carolina|Asheville]] and other places that are part of the Cherokee homelands. According to anthropologist [[Charles M. Hudson]], the Pardo expedition also recorded encounters with [[Muskogean languages|Muskogean]]-speaking peoples at [[Chiaha]] in southeastern modern Tennessee.