Iroquois AldinaHunjic, Atziry Ayala, Erika Cadme, Monica Kim
People of the Longhouse The Iroquois are a league of Native American nations in North America. They are also known as the Haudenosaunee, which means “People of the Longhouse”. The Iroquois were a matriarchal society. This means that women had a lot of power within the clans.
Iroquois League The Iroquois League was formed between 1450 and 1600.The original Iroquois League consisted of five Native American nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. Then, in 1722, Tuscarora joined this league. According to legends, Dekanawida (Great Peacemaker) and Hiawatha united the bickering Iroquois nations.
Geography The Iroquois lived in northeastern United States and Canada, which consisted of New York, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, North Carolina, southern Quebec, and southern Ontario. This region is the Woodlands. The nations were surrounded by Lake Ontario and the Finger lakes. The Iroquois had a great source of fresh water and rich resources, which were ideal to their farming industry.
Life of the Iroquois • The Iroquois lived in villages. They were farmers so they didn’t move around from place to place like nomadic hunters. • They only moved after 10-20 years when the crops stopped growing. • The Iroquois lived in longhouses, which many families lived together in one. Each family was assigned their own section of the longhouse. • Longhouses were huge, they were up to 200ft long, 25ft wide and 25ft high. The Iroquois measured their longhouses not by feet, but by camp fires.
Marriage & Family Life • Iroquois marriage was by mutual consent. The husband didn’t have any real authority over his wife, the wife could leave her husband whenever she wanted. • When a man married he had to leave his tribe and move in his wife’s longhouse he could only bring a small amount of belonging. It was forbidden to marry anyone from your own clan. • When a baby was born, they were part of the wife’s clan. If it was a boy he would be in his mother’s clan until he got married and then moved in with his wife. • Women controlled the longhouses, the elderly women in the clan would be the one’s who were in charge. • The women were the gatherers who got fruits and vegetables, they made clothes , cooked ,took care of the children, and potters. • The men built and repaired longhouses, they traded, hunted, and prepared for war.
Children • The Children had special names that identified which clan they belonged to. • Children learned from their parents and relatives how to help around , hunt, cook, and etc. Girls helped their mothers and the boys helped their fathers. • At the age of 12, or 13 the boys would go on a vision quest. It was 2 weeks or more , in which they were alone waiting for their guardian spirit. At that age girls would cook and eat food on their own using special pots. • They played games to help build their bodies and have fun.
An alliance of five northeastern Amerindian peoples (after 1722, six nations) that made decisions on military and diplomatic issues through a council of representatives. Allied first with the Dutch and later with the English, it dominated w. New England Most powerful group of Native Americans in the east. A powerful group of Native Americans in the eastern part of the United States that is made up of six nations: the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Tuscarora. Iroquois Confederacy
American Revolution • There were many wars that the Iroquois fought in, but the American Revolution is one of the most important wars. • The Iroquois were neutral at first. But they were pressured to join a side. Finally, “the Tuscarora and the Oneida sided with the colonists, while the Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga and Cayuga remained loyal to Great Britain.” This was the first political split among the Six Nations. • Many of the Iroquois’ homes in New York were burnt down and they were forced to move to Canada.
Melting Pot • The Iroquois were a “melting pot” of other Native American nations. • This was the idea of adopting and assimilating the others to Iroquoian ideas. • When a person died, it was a tradition to symbolically replace them through captives that were taken during the “mourning wars” • The Iroquois “adopted” many nations into their own culture
Iroquois Today There are still Iroquois tribes in northern United States and southern Canada. The Iroquois today are famous for: The Iroquois Nationals - This is an international lacrosse competition. It is the only international sport in which the Iroquois tribes field a team. The Iroquois government issued passports – which aren’t recognized by many governments, but is supported by the United States. As of today, there are approximately 125,000 Iroquoians in the US and in Canada.
