The Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations, are a group of northeastern Indigenous nations, originally the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca, joined later by the Tuscarora, united under the Great Law of Peace into one of the oldest continuously operating participatory governments in the world, traditionally dated to sometime between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries CE. Haudenosaunee territory spanned present-day upstate New York and adjacent Ontario and Quebec, and the confederacy played a major diplomatic and military role in the colonial contest between Britain and France before the American Revolution split its member nations between opposing sides. The Haudenosaunee's matrilineal clan system and the Three Sisters companion planting of corn, beans and squash remain central to its enduring cultural legacy.
Facts
Group TypeConfederacy of Iroquoian-speaking indigenous nations 1 Typical RegionNortheast North America; at its 1700 peak from New York State north into Ontario and Quebec and south into Virginia, Kentucky and the Ohio Valley 1 Population Estimatemore than 45,000 enrolled Six Nations people in Canada and over 81,000 in the United States as of 2010 1 Primary LanguageIroquoian languages, including Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca 1 Subsistence ModeHistorically agricultural (the Three Sisters: maize, beans and squash) combined with hunting and fishing 1 Connections
Associated With
Iroquois kinship terminology was documented by Lewis Henry Morgan from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, whose matrilineal clan system is its original ethnographic source.
Source Wikipedia: Iroquois Kinship
Sources
1. Haudenosaunee (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHaudenosaunee (Wikipedia), lead paragraph, classification
is a confederacy of Iroquoian-speaking indigenous peoples in northeast North America.
Haudenosaunee (Wikipedia), lead paragraph, territorial extent
At its peak around 1700, Haudenosaunee power extended from what is today New York State, north into present-day Ontario and Quebec along the lower Great Lakes-upper St. Lawrence, and south on both sides of the Allegheny Mountains into present-day Virginia, Kentucky, and the Ohio Valley.
Haudenosaunee (Wikipedia), closing paragraph
In 2010, more than 45,000 enrolled Six Nations people lived in Canada, and over 81,000 in the United States.
Haudenosaunee (Wikipedia), lead paragraph, member nations
The peoples of the Haudenosaunee included (from east to west) the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca.
Haudenosaunee (Wikipedia), Beliefs paragraph
Generally, the Haudenosaunee believed in numerous deities, including the Great Spirit, the Thunderer, and the Three Sisters (the spirits of beans, maize, and squash).
Haudenosaunee (Wikipedia), lead paragraph, alternate names
They were known by the French during the colonial years as the Iroquois League, and later as the Iroquois Confederacy. They have also been called the Six Nations (Five Nations before 1722).
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