Shawanoe

Shawanoe recalls the Shawnee people, whose villages and hunting grounds extended into the Cumberland River country. Early French maps called the Cumberland the River of the Shawnees. By the 1670s Shawnee hunters and traders were active along its course, and French traders later established posts in the valley.

The Cumberland country was also claimed as a hunting ground by the Cherokee and used by the Chickasaw. Competition led to fighting, and in 1714 Cherokee and Chickasaw forces drove the Shawnee from the region. French influence in the valley was diminished as well. Shawnee communities moved to other parts of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, carrying their relationships and trading connections with them. Some later settled among the Creeks farther south in Alabama.