Sequoyah

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How Sequoyah invented the Cherokee writing system

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Sequoyah

Cherokee leader

Also known as: George Gist, George Guess, Sequoia, Sequoya, Sikwayi

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Quick Facts

Also spelled:: Sequoya or Sequoia

Cherokee:: Sikwayi

Also called:: George Gist

Born:: c. 1775, Taskigi, North Carolina colony [U.S.]

Died:: August 1843, near San Fernando, Mexico

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Sequoyah (born c. 1775, Taskigi, North Carolina colony [U.S.]—died August 1843, near San Fernando, Mexico) was the creator of the Cherokee writing system (see Cherokee language). Sequoyah was probably the son of a Virginia fur trader named Nathaniel Gist. Reared by his Cherokee mother, Wuh-teh of the Paint clan, in the Tennessee country, he never learned to speak, read, or write English. He was an accomplished silversmith, painter, and warrior and served with the U.S. Army in the Creek War in 1813–14. Sequoyah became convinced that the secret of what he considered the white people’s superior power was written language, ...(100 of 287 words)

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