Тахилекуа: Шеруки ұлтының тарихы мен мәдени орталығы

Tahlequah ('/t//æ//l//ə//k//w//ɑː/ TALəkwah; Cherokee: ᏓᎵᏆ, daligwa ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as part of the new settlement in Indian Territory after the Cherokee Native Americans were forced west from the American Southeast on the Trail of Tears. The city's population was 15,753 at the 2010 census, an increase of 8.96 percent over the figure of 14,458 reported in 2000. The 2019 estimated population is 16,819. Tahlequah is the capital of the two federally recognized Cherokee tribes based in Oklahoma, the modern Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. Tahlequah is also the county seat of Cherokee County. The main campus of Northeastern State University is located in the city.

Tahlonteeskee was the first established governmental capital of any kind in what was to become Oklahoma. It was established in 1828—in land that was part of 1816's Lovely Donations, becoming the first Cherokee Nation–West capital city. It continued as the capital until 1839 when new arrivals from the Trail of Tears flooded the area. At that time, Takatoka briefly became the Nation's capital during the construction of the capitol building at Tahlequah. By mid 1840, the seat of government had been officially moved to Tahlequah. efn|The Cherokee Female Seminary, which performed a parallel function for Cherokee girls, also opened in 1851 at Park Hill. Several markers of Cherokee and Native American heritage are found in town: street signs and business signs are noted in both the Cherokee language and English. Such signs use the syllabary created by Sequoyah, a Cherokee scholar of the 1820s who created the writing system.

After the war, a brick capitol was built and first occupied in 1870. In 1907, at the time of Oklahoma statehood, the building was converted into the Cherokee County courthouse. It was returned to the Cherokee Nation in 1970. In 1886, the first telephone company in Indian Territory was built. The Cherokee Female Seminary, which had originally been constructed in Park Hill, burned in 1887, and was rebuilt in Tahlequah. After statehood, it was taken over by the state to become Northeastern State Normal School and the Northeastern State Teachers College (now Northeastern State University). The first bank in the Cherokee Nation opened in 1891 on Muskogee Avenue. A major fire destroyed much of downtown Tahlequah in 1895. The buildings destroyed were mostly wooden and were replaced with brick structures. In 1902, the Ozark and Cherokee Central Railway built a line into Tahlequah. The city is west of the Arkansas state line.

Tahlequah, like most of the Southern United States, has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) with uncomfortably hot and humid summers, generally warm but very variable springs and autumns, and cool winters with frequent frosts and occasional spells of severe weather dominated by cold, dry Canadian air.

As of the 2010 census, there were 15,753 people, 6,111 households, and 3,351 families residing in the city. The population density was There were 6,857 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the city was 53.8% White, 2.4% African American, 30.0% Native American, 1.3% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 3.7% from other races, and 8.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.8% of the population. Out of 6,111 households, 25.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.5% were married couples living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.2% were non families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.99. In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.1% under the age of 18, 23.6% from 18 to 24, 24.3% from 25 to 44, 18.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males. As of 2013, the median household income was $29,114 and the median family income was $43,940. Males had a median income of $32,475 versus $27,939 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,003. About 20.7% of families and 33.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 43.2% of those under age 18 and 21.8% of those age 65 or over. Many people in Tahlequah speak Cherokee, and there is a Cherokee language immersion school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, that educates students from pre school through eighth grade with the Cherokee language as the medium of instruction, and no English.

Northeastern State University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of Oklahoma as well as one of the oldest institutions of higher learning west of the Mississippi River. Tahlequah is home to the capital of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and about 25 percent of the students at NSU identify themselves as American Indian. The university has many courses focused on Native American linguistics, and offers Cherokee language Education as a major. Cherokee can be studied as a second language, and some classes are taught in Cherokee for first language speakers as well.

The building that once housed the Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation has been converted into a museum, the Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum and is open to the public. It reportedly is the oldest public building in Oklahoma.

The Cherokee National Capitol building was built on the town square in 1869. It contained the nation's executive and legislative offices until the tribal national government was dissolved in 1906, in preparation for Oklahoma's statehood. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and is designated as a National Landmark. The museum contains of space for permanent exhibits and of rotating gallery space. Exhibits include not only works by Cherokee artists, but also artifacts loaned by the collections of the Cherokee Nation Archives, Gilcrease Museum, Smithsonian Institution and the Oklahoma Historical Society.

Tahlequah is featured in the well known books Where the Red Fern Grows and Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls. Tahlequah was once named as the fictional "home office" for the Top Ten Lists on Late Night with David Letterman. Tahlequah is mentioned several times in Mark Twain's 1892 novel The American Claimant as the origin of a bank robber named One Armed Pete. Tahlequah is visited by the main characters in "Westward of the Law" by Matt Braun. Tahlequah is the principal location in Larry McMurtry's "Zeke and Ned." In The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan, Cherokee demigoddess Piper McLean relocates to Tahlequah. Starcarbon by Ellen Gilchrist takes place largely in Tahlequah. Tahlequah is featured in the Newbery Medal winning civil war novel Rifles for Watie written in 1957 by Harold Keith.