Tsoyaha

Tsoyaha, meaning “Children of the Sun,” is the name the Yuchi people use for themselves. Their distinctive language is unrelated to any other known tongue. In the sixteenth century they lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley, but by the late seventeenth century communities had moved farther south. One Yuchi town, Chestowee, was attacked and destroyed by the Cherokee in 1714, at the urging of two English fur traders. Other Yuchi settlements grew along the Savannah and Chattahoochee rivers.