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East South-Central States: Kentucky, Tennessee

buried important people, tools, and objects their society valued. Several hundred of these mounds are found in the state. The mound building culture disappeared around 1300 CE . Some of the best-preserved mounds are at Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site in western Kentucky. The first Europeans to see Kentucky were French fur traders who explored the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. They passed through the area, but did not stay. Native Americans did not build permanent settlements in Kentucky either, but many tribes claimed Kentucky as their hunting grounds and visited regularly. The Shawnee in the north and west, the Cherokee in the southeast, and the Chickasaw in the southwest tip of the state were the Native tribes that most strongly resisted European settle- ment. As of 2014, the Southern Cherokee Nation of Kentucky and the Ridgetop Shawnee are the only tribes recognized by the state. Kentucky was originally was part of Virginia Colony, but because the mountains of the Cumberland Plateau

Kentucky has a four-season climate with warm, humid summers and cool winters. Summer highs average around 87ºF (31ºC) and winter lows average around 23ºF (–5ºC). Average precipitation is 46 inches (120 cm) per year. The southern part of the state gets more rain than the northern part. In the winter, snow falls in the mountains. The coldest temperature, –37ºF (–38ºC), was recorded in 1994. Violent weather is common in Kentucky. Ice and snowstorms can occur in winter. Tornadoes often rip across the state in spring, and flooding of the state’s rivers is a common occurrence. Heat waves often bake the state in summer. The highest recorded temperature was 114 ºF (46 ºC) in 1930. History The area that is now Kentucky was inhabited long before European set- tlers arrived. Around 1000 BCE , a group of people called the Adena set- tled in the Ohio Valley. What we know about them comes from the artifacts found in large mounds where they