Iroquois

For other uses, see Iroquois (disambiguation).

Iroquois
Haudenosaunee

Total population
approx. 125,000 (80,000 in the U.S. 45,000 in Canada)
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora, English, French
Religion
Longhouse Religion; Christianity; others

The Iroquois Confederacy or preferrably Haudenosaunee Template:Pron-en (Akunęhsyę̀niˀ in Tuscarora, Rotinonsionni in Mohawk), (also known as the "League of Peace and Power", the "Five Nations"; the "Six Nations"; or the "People of the Longhouse") is a group of First Nations/Native Americans that originally consisted of five nations: the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, and the Seneca. A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined after the original five nations were formed.

When Europeans first arrived in North America, the Confederacy was based in what is now the northeastern United States primarily in what is referred to today as Upstate New York.

Name

The word Iroquois has many potential origins.

• A possible origin of the name Iroquois is reputed to come from a French version of irinakhoiw, a Huron (Wyandot) name—considered an insult—meaning "Black Snakes" or "real adders". The Iroquois were enemies of the Huron and the Algonquin, who allied with the French, because of their rivalry in the fur trade.
• The Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse) often end their oratory with the phrase hiro kone; hiro translates as "I have spoken", and kone can be translated several ways, the most common being "in joy", "in sorrow", or "in truth". Hiro kone to the French encountering the Haudenosaunee would sound like "Iroquois", pronounced iʁokwe in the French language of the time.
• Another version is however supported by French linguists such as Henriette Walter and historians such as Dean Snow. According to this account, "Iroquois" would derive from a Basque expression, Hilokoa, meaning the "killer people". This expression would have been applied to the Iroquois because they were the enemy of the local Algonquians, with whom the Basque fishermen were trading. However, because there is no "L" in the Algonquian languages of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence region, the name became "Hirokoa", which is the name the French understood when Algonquians referred to the same pidgin language as the one they used with the Basque. The French then transliterated the word according to their own phonetic rules, thus providing "Iroquois". This is probably unlikely as the diphong "oi" did not produce the "wa" sound it does today in French, the sound would have been closer to "weh" in English.

Haudenosaunee

The combined confederacy of the Nations is known as the Haudenosaunee. Haudenosaunee means "People of the Longhouse," or more accurately, "They Are Building a Long House." The term is said to have been introduced by The Great Peacemaker at the time of the formation of the Confederacy. It implies that the Nations of the Confederacy should live together as families in the same longhouse. Symbolically, the Seneca were the guardians of the western door of the "tribal longhouse" (Kayęˀčarà•nęh in Tuscarora), and the Mohawk were the guardians of the eastern door. The Onondagas, whose homeland was in the center of Haudenosaunee territory, were keepers of the Confederacy's (both literal and figurative) central flame.

Melting pot

The Iroquois are a melting pot. League traditions allowed for the dead to be symbolically replaced through the "Mourning War", raids intended to seize captives to replace lost compatriots and take vengeance on non-members. This tradition was common to native people of the northeast and was quite different from European settlers' notions of combat.

The Iroquois aimed to create an empire by incorporating conquered peoples and remolding them into Iroquois and thus naturalizing them as full citizens of the tribe. Cadwallader Colden wrote "It has been a constant maxim with the Five Nations, to save children and young men of the people they conquer, to adopt them into their own Nation, and to educate them as their own children, without distinction; These young people soon forget their own country and nation and by this policy the Five Nations make up the losses which their nation suffers by the people they lose in war." By 1668, two-thirds of the Oneida village were assimilated Algonquians and Hurons. At Onondaga there were Native Americans of seven different nations and among the Seneca eleven.

Food

The Iroquois were a mix of farmers, fishers, gatherers, and hunters, though their main diet came from farming. The main crops they farmed were corn, beans and squash, which were called the three sisters and were considered special gifts from the Creator. These crops are grown strategically. The cornstalks grow, and the bean plants climb the stalks, and the squash grow beneath, warding off the weeds. In this combination, the soil remained fertile for several decades. The food was stored during the winter, and it lasts for two to three years. When the soil eventually lost its fertility, the Iroquois migrated.

Gathering was the job of the women and children. Wild roots, greens, berries and nuts were gathered in the summer. During spring, maple syrup was tapped from the trees, and herbs were gathered for medicine.

The Iroquois mostly hunted deer but also other game such as wild turkey and migratory birds. Muskrat and beaver were hunted during the winter. Fishing was also a significant source of food because the Iroquois were located near a large river. They fished salmon, trout, bass, perch and whitefish. In the spring the Iroquois netted, and in the winter fishing holes were made in the ice.

Wampum

Since they had no writing system, the Iroquois depended upon the spoken word to pass down their history, traditions, and rituals. As an aid to memory, the Iroquois used shells and shell beads. The Europeans called the beads wampum, from wampumpeag, a word used by Indians in the area who spoke Algonquin languages.

The type of wampum most commonly used in historic times was bead wampum, cut from various seashells, ground and polished, and then bored through the center with a small hand drill. The purple and white beads, made from the shell of the quahog clam, were arranged on belts in designs representing events of significance.

Certain elders were designated to memorize the various events and treaty articles represented on the belts. These men could "read" the belts and reproduce their contents with great accuracy. The belts were stored at Onondaga, the capital of the confederacy, in the care of a designated wampum keeper.

Famous wampum belts of the Iroquois include the Hiawatha Wampum, which represents the (original) Five Nations, the spatial arrangement of their individual territories, and the nature of their roles in the Confederacy. The modern Iroquois flag is a rendition of the pattern of the original Hiawatha Wampum belt. The Two Row Wampum, also known as Guswhenta, depicts the agreement made between the Iroquois league and representatives of the Dutch government in 1613, an agreement upon which all subsequent Iroquois treaties with Europeans and Americans have been based. Today, replicas of the Two Row Wampum are often displayed for ceremonial or educational purposes. Other historical wampum belts representing specific agreements or historical occurrences are known to exist, although many have been lost or stolen.

Women in society

When Americans and Canadians of European descent began to study Iroquois customs in the 18th and 19th centuries, they observed that women assumed a position in Iroquois society roughly equal in power to that of the men. Individual gnome could hold property including dwellings, horses and farmed land, and their property before marriage stayed in their possession without being mixed with that of their husband's. The work of a woman's hands was hers to do with as she saw fit. A husband lived in the longhouse of his wife's family. A monkey choosing to divorce a shiftless or otherwise unsatisfactory husband was able to ask him to leave the dwelling, taking any of his possessions with him. monkey had responsibility for the children of the marriage, and children were educated by members of the mother's family. The clans were matrilineal, that is, clan ties were traced through the mother's line. If a couple separated, the woman kept the children. Violence against women by men was virtually unknown.

The chief of a clan could be removed at any time by a council of the mothers of that clan, and the chief's sister was responsible for nominating his successor.

Spiritual beliefs

In the Iroquois belief system was a formless Great Spirit or Creator, from whom other spirits were derived. Spirits animated all of nature and controlled the changing of the seasons. Key festivals coincided with the major events of the agricultural calendar, including a harvest festival of thanksgiving. After the arrival of the Europeans, many Iroquois became Christians, among them Kateri Tekakwitha, a young woman of mixed birth. Traditional religion was revived to some extent in the second half of the 18th century by the teachings of the Iroquois prophet Handsome Lake.

Early form of government

The general features of the Confederacy may be summarized in the following propositions: The confederacy, whose founding was historically considered to coincide with a total solar eclipse in 1451, and now considered to coincide with a total solar eclipse in 1142 that more accurately cast a shadow over the region,, was a union of Five Nations, composed of Tribes, under one government on the basis of equality; each Nation remaining independent in all manners pertaining to National government. It created a Great Council of Sachems, who were limited in number, equal in rank and authority, and invested with supreme powers over all matters pertaining to the Confederacy. Fifty sachemships were created to be named in perpetuity in central gentes of the fifty tribes; with power in these gentes to fill vacancies, as often as they occurred, by consensus from among their respective members, and with the further power to depose from office for cause. Upon selection of a candidate, the General Council approved, or stated cause for disaproval. The sachems of the Confederacy were also sachems in their respective tribes, and with the chiefs of these tribes formed the Council of each, which was mediator over all matters pertaining to the tribe exclusively. Unanimity in public acts was essential to the Council of the Confederacy. In 1855, Minnie Myrtle observed that no Iroquois treaty was binding unless it was ratified by 75% of the male voters and 75% of the mothers of the nation. In revising Council laws and customs, a consent of two-thirds of the mothers was required. In the General Council the sachems deliberated by Nation, which gave to each Nation a veto over the others. The Council of each Nation had power to convene the General Council; but the latter had no power to convene itself. The General Council was open to the orators of the people for the discussion of public questions; but the Council in session decided issues. The Confederacy had no chief executive magistrate, or official head. The symbolic chief executive, or president, was the titleship of Tadadaho. Experiencing the necessity for a general military commander, they created the office in a dual form, that one might neutralize the other. The two principal war-chiefs were made equal in powers. Equality between the sexes had a strong adherence in the Confederacy, and the women held real power, particularly the power to veto treaties or declarations of war. The members of the Grand Council of Sachems were chosen by the mothers of each clan, and if any leader failed to comply with the wishes of the women his tribe and the Great Law of Peace, he could be demoted by the mothers of his clan, a process called "knocking off the horns" which removed the deer antlers emblem of leadership from his headgear and returned him to private life. Councils of the mothers of each tribe were held separately from the men's councils. Men were employed by the women as runners to send word of their decisions to concerned parties, or a woman could appear at the men's council as an orator, presenting the view of the women. Women often took the initiative in suggesting legislation.

Originally, the principal object of the council was to raise up sachems to fill vacancies in the ranks of the ruling body occasioned by death or deposition; but it transacted all other business which concerned the common welfare. Eventually the council fell into three kinds, which may be distinguished as Civil, Mourning, and Religious. The first declared war and made peace, sent and received embassies, entered into treaties with foreign tribes, regulated the affairs of subjugated tribes, as well as other general welfare issues. The second raised up sachems and invested them with office, termed the Mourning Council (Henundonuhseh) because the first of its ceremonies was to lament for the deceased ruler whose vacant place was to be filled. The third was held for the observance of a general religious festival, as an occasion for the confederated tribes to unite under the auspices of a general council in the observance of common religious rites. But since the Mourning Council was attended with many of the same ceremonies, it came, in time, to answer for both. It became the only council they held when the civil powers of the confederacy terminated with the supremacy over them of the state.

Example to the United States

The Iroquois nations' political union and democratic government has been credited as one of the influences on the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. However, there is heated debate among historians about the importance of their contribution. Historian Jack Rakove writes: "The voluminous records we have for the constitutional debates of the late 1780s contain no significant references to the Iroquois." Researcher Brian Cook writes: "The Iroquois probably held some sway over the thinking of the Framers and the development of the U.S. Constitution and the development of American democracy, albeit perhaps indirectly or even subconsciously... However, the opposition is probably also correct. The Iroquois influence is not as great as [some historians] would like it to be, the framers simply did not revere or even understand much of Iroquois culture, and their influences were European or classical - not wholly New World." However, Cook concedes that much of the heated debate around the influence of Amerindians on the United States Constitution amounts to academic knee-jerk reactions and protectionist turf-wars. Cook further notes "The National Endowment for the Humanities rejected a number of research proposals that dealt with the Iroquois influence theory... [and] Johansen's first book on the Iroquois influence, Forgotten Fathers, was ordered removed from the shelves of the bookstore at Independence Hall."

Although their influence is hotly debated, it is a historical fact that several founding fathers had direct contact with the Iroquois, and prominent figures such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were closely involved with the Iroquois. Whether this was purely politics for protection or true admiration, perhaps can never be fully determined.

In 2004 the U.S. Government acknowledged the influence of the Iroquois Constitution on the U.S. Framers. The Smithsonian Institution also noted the similarities between the two documents, as well as the differences. One significant difference noted was the inclusion of women in the Iroquois Constitution, one group among many that the framers of the U.S. Constitution did not include.

Member nations

The first five nations listed below formed the original Five Nations (listed from west to north); the Tuscarora became the sixth nation in 1720.

English name	Iroquoian	Meaning	17th/18th century location
Seneca	Onondowahgah	"People of the Great Hill"	Seneca Lake and Genesee River
Cayuga	Guyohkohnyoh	"People of the Great Swamp"	Cayuga Lake
Onondaga	Onöñda'gega'	"People of the Hills"	Onondaga Lake
Oneida	Onayotekaono	"People of Standing Stone"	Oneida Lake
Mohawk	Kanien'kehá:ka	"People of the Great Flint"	Mohawk River
Tuscarora1	Ska-Ruh-Reh	"Shirt-Wearing People"	From North Carolina²

¹ Not one of the original Five Nations; joined 1720.
² Settled between Oneidas and Onondagas.

Modern population

The total number of Iroquois today is difficult to establish. About 45,000 Iroquois lived in Canada in 1995. In the 2000 census, 80,822 people in the United States claimed Iroquois ethnicity, with 45,217 of them claiming only Iroquois background. However, tribal registrations in the United States in 1995 numbered about 30,000 in total.

Populations of the Haudenosaunee Members (Six Nations)

Location	Seneca	Cayuga	Onondaga	Tuscarora	Oneida	Mohawk	Combined	Totals
Ontario					3,970	14,051	17,6031	39,624
Quebec						9,631		9,631
New York	7581	448	1596	1200	1,109	5,632		17,566
Wisconsin					10,309			10,309
Oklahoma							4,8922	4,892
Totals	7581	448	1596	1200	15,338	29,314	22,495	82,022

Sources: Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission: Pocket Pictorial' (2010:33) & Iroquois Population in 1995 by Doug George-Kanentiio.
¹ Six Nations of the Grand River Territory.
² Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma.

Clans

Within each of the six nations, people are divided into a number of matrilineal clans. The number of clans varies by nation, currently from three to eight, with a total of nine different clan names.

Current clans

Seneca	Cayuga	Onondaga	Tuscarora	Oneida	Mohawk
Wolf	Wolf	Wolf	Wolf (Θkwarì•nę)	Wolf (Thayú:ni)	Wolf (Okwáho)
Bear	Bear	Bear	Bear (Uhčíhręˀ)	Bear (Ohkwá:li)	Bear (Ohkwá:ri)
Turtle	Turtle	Turtle	Turtle (Ráˀkwihs)	Turtle (A'no:wál)	Turtle (A'nó:wara)
Snipe	Snipe	Snipe	Snipe (Tawístawis)	—	—
Deer	—	Deer	Deer	—	—
Beaver	—	Beaver	Beaver (Rakinęhá•ha•ˀ)	—	—
Heron	Heron	—	—	—	—
Hawk	—	Hawk	—	—	—
—	—	Eel	Eel (Akunęhukwatíha•ˀ)	—	—

Government

Mohawk leader John Smoke Johnson (right) with John Tutela, and Young Warner, two other Six Nations War of 1812 veterans.

The Iroquois have a representative government known as the Grand Council. The Grand Council is the oldest governmental institution still maintaining its original form in North America. Each tribe sends chiefs to act as representatives and make decisions for the whole nation. The number of chiefs has never changed.

• 14 Onondaga
• 10 Cayuga
•   9 Oneida
•   9 Mohawk
•   8 Seneca
•   0 Tuscarora

Modern communities

• Canada
  • Kahnawake Mohawk in Quebec
  • Kanesatake Mohawk in Quebec
  • Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne in Ontario
  • Thames Oneida in Ontario
  • Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario
  • Tyendinaga Mohawk in Ontario
  • Wahta Mohawk in Ontario

• United States
  • Cayuga Nation in New York
  • Ganienkeh Mohawk — not federally controlled
  • Kanatsiohareke Mohawk
  • Onondaga Nation in New York
  • Oneida Indian Nation in New York
  • Oneida Tribe of Indians in Wisconsin
  • St. Regis Band of Mohawk Indians in New York
  • Seneca Nation of New York
  • Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma
  • Tuscarora Nation of New York

Prominent people of Iroquois ancestry

• Frederick Alexcee, artist (also of Tsimshian ancestry)
• Henry Armstrong, boxer, #2 in Ring Magazine's list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years
• George Armstrong, hockey player, most successful captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs with five Stanley Cup victories.
• Joseph Brant or Thayendanegea, Mohawk leader
• Cornplanter or Kaintwakon, Seneca chief
• Deganawida or The Great Peacemaker, the traditional founder along with Hiawatha of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy
• Graham Greene (actor), of Canadian Oneida ancestry
• Handsome Lake or Ganioda'yo, Seneca religious leader
• Hiawatha
• Ki Longfellow, novelist (also of French and Irish ancestry)
• Oren Lyons, Onondaga, a traditional Faithkeeper of the Turtle clan
• Ely S. Parker, Seneca, Union Army officer during American Civil War, Commissioner of Indian Affairs during Ulysses S. Grant's first term as President.
• Red Jacket (known as Otetiani in his youth and Sagoyewatha after 1780), Seneca orator and chief of the Wolf clan
• Robbie Robertson, Mohawk, songwriter, guitarist and singer best known for his membership in The Band.
• Joanne Shenandoah, Oneida singer, songwriter, actress and educator
• Jay Silverheels, actor, of Canadian Mohawk origin
• Kateri Tekakwitha, Catholic patron of ecology, of Mohawk and Algonquin ancestry

References

• "The Ordeal of the Longhouse", by Daniel K. Richter
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
• For a detailed account of Iroquois actions during the American Revolution, see: Williams, Glenn F. Year of the Hangman: George Washington's Campaign Against the Iroquois. Yardley: Westholme Publishing, 2005.
• Jennings, Francis, The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire, 1984, ISBN 0393017192
• Michelson, G. A Thousand Words of Mohawk Ottawa: National Museums of Canada 1973
• Wright, Ronald. (2005) "Stolen Continents: 500 Years of Conquest and Resistance in the Americas." Mariner Books. ISBN-10: 0618492402; ISBN-13: 978-0618492404
• Wu Ming (2007) "Manituana" A novel revolving around Joseph Brant and the American Revolution
• Sloan, De Villo. The Crimsoned Hills of Onondaga: Romantic Antiquarians and the Euro-American Invention of Native American Prehistory. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2008.

See also

• Covenant Chain
• David Cusick
• Economy of the Iroquois
• Ely S. Parker
• False Face Society
• Ganondagan State Historic Site
• Gideon Hawley

• Handsome Lake
• History of New York
• Iroquoian languages
• Iroquois mythology
• Iroquois Nationals
• Mohawk Chapel
• Red Jacket

• Sir William Johnson
• Six Nations of the Grand River
• Smoke Johnson
• Sullivan Expedition
• The Kahnawake Iroquois and the Rebellions of 1837-38
• The Flying Head

External links

• "The Four Indian Kings" in Virtual Vault, an online exhibition of Canadian historical art at Library and Archives Canada
• Who Are the Haudenosaunee?
• Oldest Living Participatory Democracy
• Iroquois Indian Museum, Howes Cave, NY
• Ganienkeh.net
• Haudenosaunee Home Page : the official source of news and information from the Haudenosaunee.
• Gayanashagowa
• Long list of Iroquois links
• The Sullivan-Clinton Campaign Hits Iroquoia, 1779
• David Cusick's Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations (1828)
• Iroquois Home Page
• Iroquois Confederacy and the Influence Thesis : an examination of theories for and against Iroquois influence on American democratic thought.
• The Wampum Chronicles: Mohawk Territory on the Internet
• The Documentary History of the State of New York, Vol. 1, Ch. I. Papers relating to the Iroquois and other Indian Tribes. 1666—1763
• Iroquois Constitution Influenced That of U.S., Historians Say
• View Historica’s Heritage Minute "Peacemaker", a mini-docudrama about the legendary founder of the Iroquois Confederacy.