The Iroquois Indian Nation Essay

The Haudenosaunee is one of the best known Native American Indian groups that lived in the northern New York region. They are referred to as the Iroquoians. They are a group of five allied nations – the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk. Their league of confederation is called the “League of Iroquois”. Tuscarora, a sixth nation joined them later. They were very strong militarily and feared by Europeans and fellow Indians alike. The rivers in the region ran into Lake Ontario. The winters were cold and snowy and the summers were pleasant but humid. They had extensive varieties of animals both large and small. The language spoken was the Iroquoian language by both the northern

Central Pennsylvania was never known as to have been the permanent settlement for any large group of Native Americans. It was more of a stop for traveling tribes or a place of refuge. The Cherokees once passed through here in the early 17th century (Wallace, 1970). The Susquehannock Indians were an Iroquois Indian tribe that settled the Susquehanna watershed before they migrated to Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay (Cadzow, 1936). The tribe that stayed the longest and had the most influence on Central Pennsylvania was the Shawnee. The Shawnees were an Algonkian people whose original home was most likely the Cumberland River in Tennessee. This southern position gave them the name Shawnee, meaning "southerners" in the Algonkian language. The Shawnees split up often and moved around a lot, they are noted to have lived in parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Their first known appearance in Pennsylvania in great numbers was in 1697 (Harvey, 1855). The tribe had five main groups: Chillicothe, Kispokotha, Pique, Sawekela, and the Makostrake (Johnson, 1937). These became so intermixed that they are now indistinguishable. The reasons for these groups were mainly for political and ritual purposes and did not affect

The Cherokee are another Native American tribe. While the Oneida originated in the Northeastern United States, the Cherokee are known to come from the Southeastern United States. They had villages in the areas of Appalachia, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. The Cherokee were different than other Indian tribes of that same Appalachia region. The Cherokee were tall rather than short and stocky and their language was very similar to the language of the Iroquois tribes in New York.

Before 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, there were many tribes living in North America. Two equally similar and different ones were the Iroquois tribe and the Cherokee tribe. On one hand, they are similar because of their geographies and their economies. On the other hand, they are different because of their cultures and religious beliefs.

To begin with, the Cherokee tribe was one of the three primary Native American tribes in South Carolina that called themselves “the real people.” Upward in the mountains, they lived in these villages called “longhouses.” For the girls, their daily lives consisted of doing work in the field, planting and hoeing corn, then harvesting it. On the other hand, the boy’s daily lives consisted of being taught to fish and hunt. Their food was examples of fruits, nuts, corn, pole beans, squash, pumpkins, bottle gourds, and tobacco. Next, the Catawba tribe was another one of the three primary Native American tribes in South Carolina that called themselves the “river people. They used Carolina clay to make their pottery which they were known for. The Catawba dwellers lived in villages that had an open rounding on the top. The Catawbas were primarily farmers because every day they planted crops by the river, fished and hunted. Therefore, the Yemassee tribe was the third primary tribe in South Carolina that was from Spanish Florida. Throughout the summer, they lived on a beach, staying in Wigwams concealed in palmetto leaves. However, during the fall, winter, and spring they stayed in wattle and daub homes with a roof of leaves like the Cherokee. Every day they would eat clams which were part of their diet and equip the land for crops. Women were obligated for child rearing, making clothes, and served food and the men congregated the rest of the food in fishing and hunting.

There are hundreds of Native American tribes and millions of people that are within North America that identify themselves as Native Americans. Each tribe has their own unique customs, language, and myths. However, within the confines of this paper I will take a broad view with regards to Native American customs and traditions from a small sample of tribes that were observed prior to the vast expansion of colonizing the west.

Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.

Iroquois Confederacy was a band of five tribes from upper New York in the 17th and 18th century. The representatives were the Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk and Seneca which they call themselves “the people of the lighthouse”. The group was identified by non-aggression pact between the five tribes, recognition of shared concern which brought them closer. The complex of the group as a form

The Ojibwa or known as the Chippewa in European are people of northeastern North America. The term Ojibwa is said to mean the puckered moccasin people or they say the French said the word meant pictograph. The Chippewa Indians mainly lived in the Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and Michigan. There was 35,000 Ojibwa on the continent in the mid seventeenth century. They used the word Anishinabeg to describes themselves which means “original people.” The Ojibwa has its own cultural values like honesty, generosity, endurance, wisdom, and strength of character. All these values have been instilled through education and religious practice. The tribe has had ties with the French and even helped the French fight against the British in the French and Indian war. The French traders would even wed Chippewa women. The family was of great importance to the Ojibwa tribes.

The Iroquois Confederacy, also known as Five Nations or Six Nations after the 1720 inclusion of the Tuscarora, was a collective of tribes that occupied the upper region of New York state around Lake Ontario, Pennsylvania, and Southern Ontario and

The Ottawa tribe and culture of the tribe is eminently fascinating and beautiful. The Ottawa tribe has a great deal of history behind it. The name “Ottawa” is originally spelled “Odawa” in their native language. The language that they speak is mostly English, but their native language is Ojibwa, which is related to Anishinaabe language. The tribe’s original homeland, according to bigorrin.org, is mostly in southern Ontario in Canada, which is where the name of “Ottawa” or “Odawa” came from, and Michigan. There are multiple Ottawa tribes, but there is one here in Manistee, Michigan, they are the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. There is a legion amount of people that are in the Little River Band that are exceedingly close to me. The Little River Band is full and rich in culture. “The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, a Michigan tribe that has survived to the present day despite the expansionist and assimilationist policies that nearly robbed it of its identity in the late nineteenth century”, explained James McClurken who published the book “Our People, Our Journey”. He then explains that they Little River Band was forced onto a reservation on the Pere Marquette and Manistee Rivers in 1858. The tribe was getting pushed and shoved around for countless years and their culture was disintegrating. In fact, my boyfriend, Andrew, his grandmother, Margaret Chandler, was a strong and tough working representative that helped and pushed the people of their tribe for over

die. The Red Chief was also in charge of the lacrosse games which were called

Across Canada and the United States there are many First Nations languages which are a part of the Algonquian language family, all of which with varying states of health. Although these languages share many characteristics of the Algonquian language family, the cultures, systems of beliefs, and geographic location of their respective Nations differentiate them. In being shaped by the landscape, cultures, and spirituality of the First Nations, the language brings the speakers closer to their land and traditions while reaffirming their identity as First Peoples. Using the Blackfoot Nation to further explore this concept, this paper will show that while language threads together First Nations culture, spirituality,

1). The reason for the construction of the Iroquois confederacy, or the league of the Iroquois, (Haudenosaunee) was the impeding factor of disunity between the tribes. Hienwatha, a Mohawk Iroquois, lived in Ontario and observed the disunity between the Iroquois tribes. In an attempt to unify the nations, he approached rival tribes and argued the benefits of unification. Initially, his idea is shut down by the elders of each tribe. The changing climate that started to occur, however, increased confrontations between tribes. Hienwatha yet again tries to explain to the Iroquois people about the possibility of peace and is rejected again. He then alludes the nations to a weaved belt of wampum shells which supposedly illustrated the connectedness of the five Iroquois nations. He traveled among the nations, of which all then supported the idea of unity, and was able to form a seemingly impenetrable force.

Don’t be confused when an Indian tribe is called the Chippewa or the Ojibway because they are the same tribe. French settlers could not pronounce Ojibway correctly so they called the tribe the Chippewa. Have you ever wanted to know about the Ojibway Indians? If you read on, you will learn many interesting facts about this tribe.