Iroquois Indians: Considered the Most Important Native Group in North American History
The Iroquois' original homelands were between the Adirondack Mountains and Niagara Falls in upstate New York, however through migration and conquest, these lands expanded to include most of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada (Iroquois). By 1680, the Iroquois empire spanned west from the north shore of Chesapeake Bay through Kentucky to the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, then north to the south end of Lake Michigan, then east of lower Michigan, southern Ontario and adjacent part of southwestern Quebec, then finally south through northern New England through the Hudson and upper Delaware Valley across Pennsylvania back to the Chesapeake (Iroquois). The Iroquois are considered the most important native group in North American history, yet culturally there was little difference between them and their Iroquian-speaking neighbors (Iroquois). The women owned all property and determined kinship, while each individual tribe was divided into three clans, the turtle, bear, and wolf, each of which was headed by the clan mother (Iroquois). The Seneca and Huron tribes had an additional five clans, the crane, snipe, hawk, beaver, and deer (Iroquois). When a man married, he moved into his wife's longhouse,
In 1990, there were over 50,000 Iroquois in the United States, including some 17,000 Mohawk and 11,000 Oneida (Iroquois1). Moreover, there are roughly 10,000 people of Seneca or mixed Seneca-Cayuga heritage (Iroquois1). Most Iroquois are either Christians or followers of Handsome Lake, a Seneca prophet of the 18th century who was influenced by the Quakers (Iroquois1). and the children became members of her clan (Iroquois). Villages were large and fortified, and the communal longhouses of the different clans could be could be over 200 feet in length, the framework of which were covered with elm bark, the Iroquois' choice material for all manner of things (Iroquois). Villages were permanent, however they could be moved for defense purposes or when the soil became exhausted (Iroquois). In 1570, to eliminate intertribal warfare and the practice of cannibalism, the prophet Deganawidah and his disciple Hiawatha founded the confederacy, and the longhouse became the symbol of the Five Nations (Iroquois1). Metaphorically, the longhouse represented the Five Nations: the door on the eastern end was guarded by the Mohawk, who geographically were in the east, the western door was guarded by the Seneca, who were in the extreme west, while the Onondaga were keepers of the council fires and the wampum records and were between the Cayuga on the west and the Oneida on the east (Iroquois1). The main Onondaga village served as the capital or meeting center of the federated council (Iroquois1). Voting in the council was conducted by tribe, and a unanimous decision was needed to wage war (Iroquois1). However, it was the Iroquois political system that made them unique and is the reason why they dominated the first two hundred years of colonial history in Canada and the United States (Iroquois). Amazingly, there were only about 20,000 for all the five tribes in 1600, yet they often defeated enemies twice their size due to their unity, sense of purpose and their sup
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Approximate Word count = 1328
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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