Rome

Rome was founded in 1834, after Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, and the federal government committed to removing the Cherokee and other Native Americans from the Southeast. It developed on former indigenous territory at the confluence of the Etowah and the Oostanaula rivers, which together form the Coosa River. Because of its strategic advantages, this area was long occupied by the historic Creek. Later the Cherokee people expanded into this area from their traditional homelands to the east and northeast. National leaders such as Major Ridge and John Ross resided here before Indian Removal in 1838.

The city has developed on seven hills with the rivers running between them, a feature that inspired the early European-American settlers to name it for Rome, that was also built on seven hills. The American Rome developed in the antebellum period as a market and trading city due to its advantageous location on the rivers.