European migration into Appalachia began in the 18th century . As lands in eastern Pennsylvania , the Tidewater region of Virginia and the Carolinas filled up , immigrants began pushing further and further westward into the Appalachian Mountains . A relatively large proportion of the early backcountry immigrants were Ulster Scots — later known as " Scotch-Irish " — who were seeking cheaper land and freedom from Quaker leaders , many of whom considered the Scotch-Irish " savages " . Others included Germans from the Palatinate region and English settlers from the Anglo-Scottish border country . Between 1730 and 1763 , immigrants trickled into western Pennsylvania , the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia , and western Maryland . Thomas Walker 's discovery of Cumberland Gap in 1750 and the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 lured settlers deeper into the mountains , namely to upper east Tennessee , northwestern North Carolina , upstate South Carolina , and central Kentucky . Between 1790 and 1840 , a series of treaties with the Cherokee and other Native American tribes opened up lands in north Georgia , north Alabama , the Tennessee Valley , the Cumberland Plateau regions , and the Great Smoky Mountains along what is now the Tennessee-North Carolina border . The last of these treaties culminated in the removal of the bulk of the Cherokee population ( as well as Choctaw , Chickasaw and others ) from the region via the Trail of Tears from 1831 until 1838
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Appalachia