In 1830, the Cherokee Indians were one of the most literate peoples on the planet. 90% of the tribe's members were able to read and write in their native language. Their white English-speaking neighbors needed half a century to reach this level of literacy.

The first Europeans who saw the Cherokee in 1540, were the Spaniards. Having convinced of the lack of precious metals in the Indians, the colonialists lost interest in the tribe. In 1629 the Cherokees met with English traders. After the formation of British settlements, contacts with white people became permanent.

Blacksmith Sequoia was fascinated by their "speaking letters" - letters that allowed him to transmit thoughts from a distance. He considered this to be the magic underlying the might of the Europeans.

SISSY

A girl from a noble Cherokee family gave birth to Sequoia around 1770 from a British, fur trader. Mother brought up the boy alone. Like the other Cherokees, Sequoia did not go to school, but grazed the cattle and worked in the field. Even then, he showed the ability to invent: he built feeders for calves and a separator for the dairy shop, which was run by his mother.

Sequoia mastered blacksmithing and jewelry crafts. Earned by making silver coins ornaments for hunters and traders. But after the death of his mother, he was not seen sober for months. He turned his dairy shop into a place for drinking with friends.

Then he suddenly began to paint, stopped drinking and selling whiskey in his store. He returned to the blacksmith's trade: he repaired the old and designed new tools, decorated them with silver. Sequoia became a famous blacksmith.

Sequoia spent a year figuring out the signs for each word - hieroglyphics. Illustration: screenshot with Youtube-channel Kathy Brummett

CRAZY PICTURES

Observing how white people write and read, Sequoia began to look for ways to transfer the Cherokee's thoughts to the distance.

The whole year he spent on inventing signs for each word - hieroglyphics. Friends and neighbors believed that Sequoia became insane: he abandoned the smithy, did not cultivate the garden, only drew pictures.

The wife burned these works, thinking that as witchcraft. But by that time Sequoia had already determined the impracticality of the method of writing, which requires knowing and being able to reproduce a huge number of characters. He began to develop signs for syllables. Such a system of writing is called syllabic.

Some symbols of a self-taught linguist copied from the textbook in English spelling. Unbeknown to English, Sequoia appropriated sound values to the letters at his discretion. He also acted with signs similar to the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet and Arabic numerals. For example, the "V" in the Sequoia alphabet denotes the syllable [do], "4" - [se], "b" - [si].

Sequoia with a manuscript depicting his writing system for the Cherokee language. Illustration: A copy of Charles Byrd King's painting, which was lost as a result of a fire in 1865 / Wikipedia

The Vault: Cherokee Primer (soundcloud)

MIRACLES FOR LEADERS

The first student of Sequoia in 1819 was Aeka's daughter. She very quickly mastered the alphabet and helped her father to popularize the reading and writing among his fellow tribesmen. At first no one perceived Sequoia's invention as useful. The Cherokee searched for the trick in the letters and feared them.

Then Sequoia and Aeka arranged a meeting with the leaders. He asked everyone to say a phrase and wrote it down. Then all together left the house to Aeke, who could not hear the conversations inside. The girl read the notes and reproduced exactly all the replicas. The demonstration convinced the leaders of the usefulness of the invention, and they allowed Sequoia to teach the ABC of the Indians. Writing spread very quickly.

In 1824, the General Council of the Eastern Cherokee awarded Sequoia with a silver medal for his invention, and in 1825 a set of laws was published in the Cherokee language. Soon the newspaper "Cherokee Phoenix" began to appear.

Issue of the newspaper "Cherokee Phoenix" on February 21, 1828. Source: Duke University Libraries

CHAIN REACTION

The news of how an illiterate Indian created a syllabic alphabet spread throughout North America. Canadian missionary James Evans was inspired by the achievements of Sequoia and in the 1830s he created a syllable letter for the Crees. A missionary from China, learning about the Cree alphabet, compiled a syllabic alphabet for one of the Chinese dialects.

Several former slaves, trained by the Cherokee, emigrated to Liberia after liberation. There they persuaded native speakers of the bass to create their own syllabic system. As a result, many West African tribes composed their alphabet on the principle of Sequoia. In total, thanks to him were created more than 20 syllabic alphabet used in 65 languages.

The Cherokee's writing, invented in the 19th century, exists today. The Cherokee is read and written by the Indians in the reservations of Oklahoma and North Carolina. Knowledge of this language is a prerequisite for obtaining the status of a full member of the tribe, which now owns real estate, casinos, industrial and construction enterprises with a total cost of about $ 1 billion.

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