Chota (also spelled Chote, Echota, Itsati, and other similar variations) is a historic Overhill Cherokee town site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States.

Developing after nearby Tanasi, Chota (Cherokee: ᎢᏣᏘ, romanized: Itsati) was the most important of the Overhill towns from the late 1740s until 1788.

A number of prominent Cherokee leaders were born or resided at Chota, among them Attakullakulla, Oconostota, Old Hop, Old Tassel, Hanging Maw, and Nancy Ward.

Major Cherokee towns were centered around a large townhouse or council house, the site of community meetings of hundreds of people.

The Chota monument, situated directly above the ancient townhouse site, consists of eight pillars —one for each of the seven Cherokee clans, and one for the nation.

Both Chota and Tanasi were developed by the Cherokee on a relatively flat terrace along the river, flanked by steep hills rising to the south.

Later that year, South Carolina sent engineer William de Brahm with 300 men to build Fort Loudoun, which was completed on the Little Tennessee River in March 1757.

[9] After the fall of Fort Loudoun, British forces launched another offensive against the Cherokee, and the Overhill towns sued for peace.

Virginia authorities dispatched a friendship delegation led by colonist and military officer Henry Timberlake to solidify peace with the Overhill towns.

Timberlake spent the night in Old Hop's "hot-house" (a circular dwelling used by the Overhill Cherokee in cooler months) before proceeding to Citico the next day.

In 1776, Dragging Canoe (the head man at Mialoquo), Old Abraham of Chilhowee, and The Raven led an unsuccessful three-pronged attack against Heaton's station, Fort Watauga, and Carter's Valley, respectively.

Christian's force entered the Little Tennessee Valley unopposed and negotiated a truce with chiefs Attakullakulla (Dragging Canoe's father) and Oconastota.

When Dragging Canoe refused to negotiate, however, Christian destroyed the towns of Great Tellico, Citico, Mialoquo, Chilhowee, and Toqua.

[11] In 1780, John Sevier, who had just returned from the Battle of Kings Mountain, led an invasion of the Overhill country in response to several attacks by Cherokee on American settlements.

[12] Largely in response to this atrocity, the Chickamauga Cherokee moved their capital further south to Ustanali, near what developed as modern Calhoun, Georgia.

[13][14] In the late 1790s, the Duke of Orleans paid a visit to the American fort known as Tellico Blockhouse while on a tour of East Tennessee.

In 1939, a University of Tennessee team, mainly under the auspices of Thomas Lewis and Madeline Kneburg, conducted excavations at the Chota site.