Iroquois

Location

• Originally the Iroquois were located in upstate New York, South of Lake Ontario.
• Today many Iroquois Indian tribes still live in New York or across Ontario and Quebec, Canada border. Although, some live in Oklahoma or Wisconsin, because they were forced to move there in the 1800s and their descendants still live there today.

Daily Life

• Men were in charge of hunting, trading, and war. Chiefs of clans were always men, they made military decisions and trade agreements.
• Women were in charge of farming, property, and family. Iroquois clans were ruled by women, they made all of the land and resource decisions for each clan.

Food

• The Iroquois Indians farmed, women did most of the farming, they planted crops of corn, beans, and squash.
• They harvested wild berries and herbs.
• Men did most of the hunting they shot deer and elk.
• Men also fished in rivers.
• Iroquois Indian dishes included cornbread, soups, and stews, they cooked on stone hearths.

Housing

• Iroquois Indians loved in houses called, longhouses, they were large wood-frame buildings covered with sheets of elm bark.
• Iroquois longhouses were up to 100 feet long, each one housed an entire clan, whichwas as many as 60 people.
• Today Iroquois families live in modern houses and apartment buildings.

Transportation

• Iroquois Indians preferred to travel by land, originally they used dogs as pack animals.
• During the wintertime they used laced snowshoes and seds to travel through the snow.
• Sometimes they used elm bark or dugout canoes for fishing trips.

First Contact

• Jacques Cartier, French, met the St. Lawrence Iroquois groups in 1534.
• Samuel de Champlain, French, met the New York Iroquois groups in 1609.

Culture

• The Tree of Peace Pot, made out of clay, was made by Steve Smith, a Mohawk at the Six Nations Reserve, in 1982. The pot shows the most important symbols of the Iroquois: the pine tree of peace and the Eagle flying above it. The figures on the pot that are holding hands represent the Six Nations of the League.

Culture

• The Eagle, a sculpted moose antler, made by Stan Hill, a Mohawk from the Six Nations Reserve, was made in 1980. It is one of the national symbols of the Iroquois, it is often shown atop a pine tree calling out a warning that enemies are approaching.

Weapons

• One of the Iroquois weapons was called a War Club, it had a panther head and a turtle on the handle. It was used to give a hammer blow or it was thrown with stunning accuracy. It was a formidable weapon.

Iroquois Origin

• Name- Iroquois in English is pronounced "eer-uh-kwoy." It comes from an Algonkian word that means "real snakes." This nickname may have been insulting; the Algonkian and Iroquois Indians were traditional enemies. The Iroquois tribes called their Confederacy, Kanonsionni, originally, it means "people of longhouse."

Iroquois Origin

• The Iroquois Indians have a Confederacy made up of five tribes, the Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, and Cayuga. Later a sixth nation joined the Confederation, the Tuscarora tribe, these Iroquois tribes are today called the Haudenosaunee or Six Nations.

Spiritual Beliefs

• The Iroquois Indians believed in The Great Peacemaker and Hiawatha, these are the legendary founders of the Iroquois Confederacy and were architects of the Great Law.

Language

• The Iroquois Indian tribes had six different languages, Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Tuscarora. Some Iroquois Indians could speak more than one language, but important Iroquois men spoke Mohawk because that is the language used at the Great Council and Iroquois religious festivals.

Language

• Today, most Iroquois Indians speak English, but some Iroquois Indians, especially elders, still speak the native language of their tribe.