Kentucky was first inhabited around 10,500 BC when Native Americans finally managed to filter down from Alaska. The first Kentuckians were probably hunter-gatherers. There is evidence that agriculture in Kentucky began around 2000 BC, with the first crops being squash, gourds, and sunflowers.
The Adena are the first known Indians in Kentucky. They can be traced back to around 450 BC. The Adena used burial mounds to bury their dead. They were located in central to northern Kentucky, up to around where Louisville is today.
Corn started to be harvested in large amounts and beans were starting to be grown sometime after 1000 AD. This is also around the time that the bow and arrow appeared in Kentucky.
After 1000 AD there were two main Indian cultures. They were the Mississippian in western Kentucky, and Fort Ancient in eastern Kentucky. Both cultures were conservation minded. They believe that the gods meant for them to kill game but not to the point of extinction. They believed in preserving the land for future generations. The most powerful tribe was a Fort Ancient tribe called the Shawnee.
Most likely the first white man to enter Kentucky was a French fur trader or explorer around the 17th century from New France in Canada (around modern day Quebec).
Kentucky Indians' first major challenge was by another Indian tribe (The Iroquois Invasion). The Iroquois Indians invaded Kentucky they drove the Shawnee, Cherokee, and Chickasaw out. The Iroquois mostly attacked the Shawnee because they were the strongest Indian tribe present in Kentucky. Once the Iroquois had plundered the areas that had been inhabited by Kentucky Indians they left. This left Kentucky wide open for whites to move in.
When the white man started coming into Kentucky, the only Indians that were encountered were hunting and trading parties. These encounters further weakened the Indians. Diseases such as measles, influenza, and small pox, which were spread by the whites; killed large populations of Indians; small pox was the disease that killed the most.
The Shawnee tried to resettle Kentucky in the mid 18th century. The Cherokee withdrew to North Carolina and the Chickasaw withdrew to Mississippi. The Shawnee allied with the English during the American Revolution to try and drive out the whites. The Shawnee lost any chance of resettling Kentucky in 1794 at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The battle was fought around Toledo, Ohio. The Shawnee were holed up in a thicket of chopped trees, hence the name Fallen Timbers. US Army Regulars and Kentucky settlers fought the Shawnee. The regulars charged into the timbers with bayonets and the Kentuckians circled around and out flanked the Shawnee. The battle was over in about an hour. The Shawnee never gave up hope of resettling Kentucky until after the War of 1812.
Eskippakithi was the last Shawnee town in Kentucky. It was located in present day Clark County, and was gone by 1750.
