The Cherokee (/ˈtʃɛrəkiː/; Cherokee Ani-Yunwiya (ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ) are a Native American tribe indigenous to the Southeastern United States (principally Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina). They speak an Iroquoian language. In the 19th century, historians and ethnographers recorded their oral tradition that told of the tribe having migrated south in ancient times from the Great Lakes region, where other Iroquoian-speaking peoples were.