Native Americans : The Iroquois Tribe

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In today’s post we are going to write about The Iroquois Tribe. This people are Native American Indians who lived in the Eastern Woodlands, around New York. The Iroquois called themselves Kanonsionni, meaning people of the Longhouse, but today they are known by the name Haudenosaunee.

The Iroquois were not really a tribe but a confederacy of five tribes. Moreover, in 1722, a sixth tribe joined to the Iroquois nation and finally they became known as the Six Nations, and each nation had their own language:

· Cayuga

· Mohawk

· Oneida

· Onondaga

· Tuscarona

· Seneca

The Longhouse was a home to many members of an Iroquois family. This building extended more than the length of a football field. Their society was matrilineal, when a marriage transpired, the family moved into the longhouse of the mother, and the family lineage was traced from her.

The Iroquois tribe were hunters, gatherers, farmers and fishermen but they were best known as farmers. They harvested corn, beans and squash as well as tobacco for smoking. Their crops were grown and harvested by the women of the tribe, around their crops they danced four anual ceremonies.
Women of the tribe gathered wild berries, roots, greens, barks and nuts for both cooking and medicine. However, men were gone during the winter months for hunting deer, elk and fowl, and other Woodland animals. They also caught several types of fish like salmon, trouta and bass.

Stone axes, various size of arrowheads, wooden hoes and knives were the main tools used for hunting and farming, the spears were also used in fishing.

They were united and could be a strong enemy or friend. In the French and Indian War, the Iroquois Confederacy were important allies for the English colonists. Because the Iroquois helped the English to defeat the French in a war that ended up giving to the English the land east of the Mississippi River.

Benjamin Franklin admired the Iroquois tribe because each tribe ran its own affairs, nevertheless they met together to settle arguments between tribes and to fight against any enemy; and their way to organized their meetings were totally democratic so anyone was allowed to speak.

They used two important instruments: drums and flutes for making music. The drums were often filled with water to give them a distinctive sound, different from the drums of other tribes. The Iroquois music was very rhythmic and consisted of drumming and lively singing.