Native to present-day New York State and Pennsylvania and Canada’s southern Ontario and Quebec are five to six nations known as the Iroquois Confederacy.
These nations feature among native North American tribes across the United States and Canada.
The Iroquois people, officially called the Haudenosaunee, boast of a cinema-class blend of political, cultural, and religious history dating back to the 15th century and origins that follow down to our day.
Follow along as we discuss the historical development, culture, and facts of the Iroquois tribe.
Iroquois Tribe History
Pre-European Contact
The discovery of Iroquois tools and artifacts infers the people’s origin from Montreal, Canada, near the St. Lawrence River.
However, dates differ across theories as historical accounts primarily stem from Iroquois oral traditions.
Most accounts favored the mid-late fifteenth century when a league of five nations came together to prevent conflicts.
Like Northeast Indians before European contact, inhabitants of these nations were semi-sedentary agriculturalists.
Possibly in AD 1450, the native people of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca tribes formed the Iroquois Confederacy.
However, the inclusion of the Tuscarora in 1772 would later make it six nations of the Confederacy.
European Contact (17th Century – 18th Century)
The Iroquois nations traded furs for European goods but dominated North American lands with ambitious foreign policies, intimidation, diplomacy, and violence as circumstances demanded.
The initial five Iroquois tribes acted independently for over 200 years between 1450 and 1678.
As such, the Confederacy developed a society of equal rights and opportunities, directing warfare and raids to competitors rather than member tribes.
They expanded across North American territories until European contact in the 17th century.
The Iroquois Tribe Confederacy fought against the French in the 17th-century beaver wars that lasted for decades.
However, they formed trading partnerships with the Dutch for guns to attack the Huron tribe that sided with the French.
English alliances would suffice through the Covenant Chain agreement, contributing substantially to the Confederacy’s success against other native tribes and the French.
The 1701 peace treaty with the French saw the Iroquois remain mostly neutral through the British-French conflicts until they entered the war as British allies in late 1758.
They maintained a good relationship with the British, selling their claim to lands between Tennessee and Ohio rivers to protect their territories in New York.
American Revolution (18th Century – 19th Century)
While the Tuscarora people joined the Confederacy in 1772, the American Revolution that had started in 1765 would become the beginning of the end of the Native American tribe.
The Tuscarora and the Oneida tribes allied with the colonists while the other tribes continued with their successful British alliance.
Dealing with two governments plagued the possibility of a neutral stance and eventually broke the Iroquois Tribe Confederacy during the war.
Post-war consequences did not go in the native tribe’s favor forcing them to sign treaties to give up their historical homeland to the newly born American government.
Alcoholism, unrest, and broken families further drenched the Iroquois nations.
Nations in the west, including the Mohawk people, were no better, surviving on Montreal-based employment from the North West and Hudson’s Bay Companies.
Twentieth Century
The United States Congress’ formal statement on August 1, 1953, saw some Iroquois fight for United States citizenship as the government discontinued native peoples’ federal trust relationship and management.
Individuals of terminated tribes would become full United States citizens with all the rights, benefits, and responsibilities of a legal citizen.
The Iroquois Tribe Location
The Iroquois Tribe Confederacy territory featured a relatively narrow range across Northern New York to the Genesee River.
As a result, subsequent expansions saw the people occupy the Great Lakes in the U.S. and Canada, particularly around Erie, Huron, and Ontario.
The Iroquois Tribe’s borders were oblong on the map, resembling the longhouse, the tribe’s traditional residential structure.
The Iroquois Culture
The tribe had some of the Great Lakes Native Americans’ most prominent material cultural elements, like the longhouse (settlement) and lacrosse (sport).
Early Cultural Days
The Iroquois were semi-sedentary residents, settling in one location for a few decades and leaving after using up the resources from the forest, river, and land.
Sometimes, they returned to places they once inhabited after years of regeneration of resources.
The natives held multiple councils, each with distinctive ceremonial activities, rites, and distinguishing membership. These traditions impacted operations throughout the Iroquois Confederation’s existence.
Settlements
Iroquois built and occupied homes made from tree bark and hickory or cedar poles.
These edifices were more than just residential structures but one of the most widely-recognized elements of the Great Lakes Native Americans’ physical culture. As such, longhouses were crucial to the peoples’ survival and social structure.
Many nuclear families could inhabit a longhouse, as some of these structures reached 400 feet long.
Therefore, these buildings, which sometimes comprised a clan, housed the grassroots political unit of the Native American society.
Moieties, societies divided into two groups, were made of a few clans, and two moieties formed a tribe. Longhouses and clans were based on kinship with the maternal line, and women were clan chiefs.
Food
Traditionally, the Iroquois’ main diet came from farming, as their semi-sedentary lifestyle rewarded them with a rich variety of agricultural produce.
Still, their hunting skills provided a healthy amount of meat-based diets. They primarily grew and ate beans, corn, and squash and would hunt deer for food. They also collected syrup from maple trees.
Activities And Division of Labor
The Iroquoian people were industrious people that engaged in several activities, including horticulture, farming, fishing, gathering, and hunting.
Early natives hunted deer for more than just food, as they used the animals’ skins and antlers in various ways.
However, large-scale beaver hunting became the primary economic source of their society after making contact with the Europeans.
Hunting supplied them with beaver fur thanks to the large population of beavers in their territories. The tribe’s fur was a high-quality, expensive, and highly sought-after commodity in the European markets.
They obtained weapons, especially guns and various metal objects, from the Europeans. Men were primarily responsible for hunting and warfare, while women tended to the fields.
Women oversaw the entire farming processes, including planting, maintaining, and harvesting, and managed household duties like cooking.
Men conducted physically intense activities like fishing and hunting game for food and trade. They gathered greens, wild roots, nuts, berries, and herbs for medicine.
Seasonal activities like gathering in the summer were considered feminine.
Clothing
Early Iroquoian natives went naked in the summers, covering only their private parts with a patch, while children had nothing on their bodies.
They were more protective during winters, wearing garments made of sewn animal skin. Generally, they used natural materials, like woven plant fibers and animal hides, in the environment to make clothes.
European contact drastically changed their fashion in the 18th century, as red and blue-colored clothes from the Europeans influenced the people to wear shirts and blouses usually decorated with beadwork and ribbons.
Beliefs
Like many cultures, nations within the Iroquois Tribe Confederacy had their mythology, including creation stories and folktales.
The general notion of creation is linked to a god, “Hahgwehdiyu.” However, they believe a turtle bears the earth on its back.
The Iroquoian people believed in and served several deities, including the Thunderer, the Great Spirit, and the Three Sisters (spirits of plants — beans, corn, and squash). The people also believed in dreams and the afterlife.
Remarkably, Christianity would later spread after European contact.
Art
Iroquois embraced art, evidenced by designs on pottery, bowls, and clay pipes.
These materials show geometrical, animal, and human imagery as decorative effects from animal remains, including moose hair and porcupine quills.
Floral innovations, beadwork, and fabric designs on clothes, bags, moccasins, and pouches also existed, and Euro-Americans acquired them in the 19th century.
Metallic designs evolved in the 18th century, with some natives becoming “excellent silversmiths,” carving silver gorgets, earrings, and rings.
Games And Sports
The natives played field lacrosse between two teams of six to eight players. These teams were usually sets of clans.
They also played the snow-snake game during winter, with two sides of about six players per team.
Gamblers preferred the peach-stone game, a game of peach stones and a wooden bowl where clans bet against themselves. The game possibly brought about present-day casino customs.
Iroquois Tribe Fact
1. The Iroquois Tribe Confederacy was a case of representative democracy used as a political model by America’s founders.
Each nation of the Confederacy had between eight and fourteen representatives in the council, where they formulated policies and made decisions through dialogues and voting.
The Clan Mothers of each tribe elected the representatives or chiefs.
2. The heart of the Iroquoian people’s homeland is present-day New York State.
Many Iroquoian natives still live in New York and in Canada’s states of Ontario and Quebec.
However, the post-American Revolution forced the American Indians to give up their historic homeland to the newly-born American government.
The aftermaths pushed some natives to Wisconsin or Oklahoma in the 1800s and they live there till this day.
3. There were about sixteen Iroquois languages in the Iroquois language group.
There were about sixteen Iroquois languages in the Iroquois language group but only seven are presently spoken.
The Oneida, Seneca, Cherokee, Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Tuscarora dialects are the only existing languages. The term “Iroquois people” represents all six member nations of the Iroquois Tribe Confederacy.
4. The Iroquois were officially called the Haudenosaunee
“Haudenosaunee” is translated as “people building the longhouse.” The longhouse housed the grassroots political unit of the native American society.
5. The Iroquoian people were based on kinship with the maternal line, and women were clan chiefs.
Wrap Up
The Iroquois Tribe Confederacy is among the several Native American tribes in the United States with a rich ancestry and origin.
Sadly, all surviving Iroquoian languages are critically endangered, and their culture is diminishing in their original homelands; unfolding the tribe’s history is worth it.
