Cherokee Republic (No USA After 1782)

The Cherokee Republic (Cherokee: Republik Tsalagi) is a country in North America, covering much of the Appalachian Mountains.

Bordering to the north is the Ohio River, to which beyond lies the Iroquois Republic. To the south, lies Texas, Louisiana and Florida.

History
After the Iroquois and Cherokee victory over the English and Spanish armies, the Treaty of the Ohio River was signed. The treaty also allowed for peaceful trade between the Native American nations and the European settlements.

Over time, the Cherokee and Iroquois adopted Christianity, and adopting the Latin alphabet for the Cherokee and Iroquois languages. Jacob Kanuna standardized a Latin script for the Cherokee language, and eventually founded the Kanuna Language Academy.

Under the leadership of Isaac Degataga (Stand Watie in our timeline), the Cherokee Republic began to re-establish ancient trade and cultural links with the East Asian and Southeast Asian civilizations. A large number of East Asian migrants begin to come en masse to the Cherokee Republic. Elements of Buddhism, Shintoism and Shamanism begin to re-enter Cherokee religion, despite most Cherokees having converted to Christianity.

President Degataga sent a writ of good will to the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, in turn, the Emperor sent gifts in the form of silk, gold, and sweet foods to President Degataga and the Cherokee government.

During the communist revolutions in Eurasia, at first, the ideas of Karl Marx appealed to the Cherokee. Vladimir Lenin established friendly ties with President Paul Yonaguska, however, the suppression of all spiritual movements soured relations. President Yonaguska soon banned all communist or communist-influenced movements in the Cherokee nation.

In addition, the Cherokee government sent fighters to resist and fight the Bolsheviks, but at the same time, did not side with pro-Western European right-wing movements, seeing Western Europeans as an equally-corrupt society.

Religion
Christianity is the predominant religion in the Cherokee Republic. Although nominally, Protestant and Roman Catholicism are the two most-practiced faiths, it is combined with ancient pre-Christian practices, as well as elements of Buddhism, Shamanism and Shintoism, practices that both the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant faiths have considered heretical.

For example, Cherokee churches do not believe that the crucifixion was to save sin, but a purpose of showing humans how to progress. Crucifixion is a syncretic practice in the Cherokee Republic, but only high church leaders go through it. Most Cherokees are actually opposed to traditional Western Christianity.

Protestantism is primarily practiced in the Appalachian Mountain and Ohio River regions, while regions near Texas, especially in southern Oklahoma, are Roman Catholic.

Other than Christianity, other spiritual faiths, such as Buddhism are also prevalent, introduced by East Asian migrants, and practiced by the Chinese Cherokee community.