The 6 Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy

© duncan1890/iStock.com

The Iroquois (Haudenosaunee; “People of the Longhouse”) Confederacy of upper New York state and southeastern Canada is often characterized as one of the world’s oldest participatory democracies. The confederacy’s constitution, the Great Law of Peace (Gayanesshagowa), is believed to have been a model for the U.S. Constitution, partly because Benjamin Franklin was known to have been much interested in the structure of the confederacy and partly because of the balance of power embodied in the Great Law. According to their founding tradition, the Peacemaker story, these Iroquois peoples—who had warred with each other for decades—came together between 1570 and 1600 to live in peace and harmony after Hiawatha, a mourning Onondaga, joined the itinerant Peacemaker (Dekanawidah) in pursuing unity among the Iroquois. The resulting confederacy, whose governing Great Council of 50 peace chiefs, or sachems (hodiyahnehsonh), still meets in a longhouse, is made up of six nations: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora.

• Mohawk

  The Mohawk, or Kanien’kehá:ka (“People of the Flint”), were the easternmost people of the early Iroquois Confederacy. Called the “Keepers of the Eastern Door,” they were the protectors of the confederacy’s eastern border. Today they are perhaps most often identified with the extreme haircut that takes its name from them, which leaves a strip of hair in the middle of an otherwise shorn head. According to some historians, Mohawk warriors actually shaved different parts of their head in an attempt to make their scalps more attractive targets for their enemies than those of the women and children. After fighting for the British in the French and Indian War and then in the American Revolution under the leadership of Chief Joseph Brant, most Mohawks relocated to Ontario and Quebec, Canada. There, the kindness, faith, and heroic suffering of one young Christianized Mohawk woman, known as “Lily of the Mohawks,” would eventually (2011) earn her canonization as St. Kateri Tekakwitha. Beginning in the late 19th century, Mohawks—particularly from Kahnawake Reserve in Quebec—became known as iron and steel construction workers, first on high bridges and then on skyscrapers.

• Oneida

  For most of the historic era, the Oneida lived in a single village near Lake Oneida in north-central New York state. Their name, Oneida—or Onᐱyoteʔa∙ká, meaning “People of the Standing Stone”—is derived from a legend, according to which a large stone periodically would appear to lead the people to the location of their next village. Today the Oneida stone rests outside the council house of the Oneida Homelands in New York. The Oneida had only three clans (which, like all Iroquois clans, were matrilineal and named for animals): the Wolf, the Bear, and the Turtle. Unlike the bulk of the confederacy and largely because of the influence of clergyman Samuel Kirkland, the Oneida fought alongside the colonists during the American Revolution. Called “America’s first allies,” they were remembered for having traveled hundreds of miles to bring corn (maize) to the starving Continental Army at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. In the 19th century a significant contingent of Oneida relocated to Wisconsin, while a smaller group resettled in London, Ontario, Canada.

• Onondaga

  The Onondaga, or Onoñda’gega’ (“People of the Hills”), nation was both the geographical and political center of the early Iroquois Confederacy. According to the Peacemaker story, the confederacy’s Grand Council fires were to burn among the Onondaga, who became known as the “Keepers of the Central Fire” and were responsible for retaining the confederacy’s wampum. The Onondaga also supplied 14 sachems (hodiyahnehsonh) to the Grand Council as well as its chairman. In April 1779 Onondaga settlements became the initial target of a brutal American wartime campaign against the Iroquois, which was led by Gen. John Sullivan. Following the Revolution, a small number of Onondaga joined other Iroquois in relocating to the Grand River section of Ontario, Canada. From 1788 to 1822 the state of New York took possession of about 95 percent of Onondaga land. Today some 7,300 acres (30 square km) south of Syracuse, New York, constitute the land of the Onondaga nation.

• Cayuga

  Historically, the Cayuga, or Gayogo̱hó:nǫ’ ̱(“People of the Great Swamp”), often allowed other groups to join their communities. Cayuga women cultivated corn, and Cayuga men hunted the plentiful game and fish of their traditional homeland, which stretched from the northern shore of the St. Lawrence River south to the Finger Lakes region. The Cayuga were prominent allies of the British in the French and Indian war, and at the beginning of the American Revolution many Cayuga relocated to Canada. Following the Revolution, the Cayuga who had remained in central New York state sold their land and joined the Iroquois diaspora in Ontario, Canada, and the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Ohio.

• Seneca

  The Seneca, or Onödowa’ga:’ (“People of the Great Hill”), were the largest of the nations that made up the early Iroquois Confederacy. With eight clans, they were represented by eight sachems on the Great Council. Through war during the 17th century, the Seneca expanded their original territory between Seneca Lake and the Genesee River to encompass all of western New York state from Niagara county south along the Allegheny River into Pennsylvania. As the farthest west and most remote nation of the confederacy, they were called the “Keepers of the Western Door.” The Seneca were able to assemble as many as 1,000 warriors, roughly the equivalent of the forces of the other Iroquois nations combined. Among the notable chiefs of the Seneca were Cornplanter, Ganioda’yo (”Handsome Lake”), and Red Jacket. As allies of the British, the Seneca, like the Cayuga and the Onondaga, suffered greatly as a result of the “Sullivan Campaign” during the Revolution. In 1797, having lost much of their land, the Seneca secured 12 tracts as reservations.

• Tuscarora

  The final, late-coming member of the Iroquois Confederacy, the Tuscarora, or Skarù∙ręʔ (“People of the Shirt”), did not join until 1722, after the Tuscarora migrated north from North Carolina, where they had been frequently kidnapped and sold into slavery by the British. They settled in south-central New York. Many Tuscarora supported the colonists in the Revolution. Those who favored the British were granted lands on the Grand River reservation in Ontario, Canada.

by Jeff Wallenfeldt