Society-IROQUOIS

At the time of European contact (1535), the Iroquois constituted a
Confederacy or League of five nations in upstate New York. The five
nations thought of themselves as an extended family and called themselves
the "people of the longhouse." The symbol was taken from the traditional
dwelling place, the longhouse, in which a matron, her daughters, their
husbands and children lived. The matrons controlled the clans, and
children belonged to their mother's clan. In each nation there were
several clans that divided into two moieties and performing recipropcal
services in political and ceremonial rituals.

The five nations were spread from east to west across New York State
from approximately the location of present day Albany to that of Buffalo.
The Mohawk were the Keepers of the Eastern Door of the symbolic longhouse,
and they were also known as the People of Flint. The Oneida were the
People of Stone. The Onondaga were the People on the Hill, the Cayuga
the People at the Mucky Land, and the Seneca were the Great Hill People
and the Keepers of the Western Door. Each nation was said to constitute
a "fire," symbolizing the line of hearths that runs down the center
of the longhouse, with each fire designating two nuclear family units,
one on either side of the fire. The Onondaga were also known as the
Keepers of the Central Fire and thus the Wampum Keepers. Accordingly,
all League councils met at Onondaga.

The Mohawk, Onondaga, and Seneca were the "Elder Brothers" or "Uncles."
The Oneida, Cayuga, and the later additions of Tuscarora and Tutelo
were the "Younger Brothers" or "Nephews." This moiety division functioned
at the League level in the same way that the clan moiety division
functioned at the Nation level. The organizational structure which
functioned at the level of the individual longhouse, was repeated
at the successive levels of clan, village, nation, and League.

Ruling over the League was a council of 50 chiefs known as sachems
or lords. These offices were set up at the founding of the League
(sometime in the fifteenth or sixteenth century), and each nation
was assigned a set number of chiefships. The names and offices were
put in the trust of the clan matrons, who elected the men of their
choosing to the offices. Once installed the office was kept for life--dependent
on good behavior. When a chief died, he was mourned by the assembled
League in the Condolence Council, and his "antlers of office" and
name were removed and given to the new individual chosen by the matrons.

The Iroquois now live in about 20 settlements and 8 reservations in
New York, Canada, and Oklahoma. There are Senecas living at Allegany
(lat. 42 degrees N by long. 78 1/2 degrees W), Cattaraugus (lat. 42
1/2 degrees N by long. 79 degrees W), and Tonawanda (lat. 43 degrees
N by long. 78 1/2 degrees W). There are two reservations of Mohawk:
St. Regis (lat. 45 degrees N by long. 74 1/2 degrees W) and Caughnawaga
(lat. 45 1/2 degrees N by long. 73 1/2 degrees W). Onondaga Reservation
is near Syracuse, N.Y. (lat. 43 degrees N by long. 76 degrees W),
Tuscarora Reservation is near Buffalo, N.Y. (lat. 43 degrees N by
long. 79 degrees W), and members of all of the nations live at Six
Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada (lat. 43 degrees N by long. 80
degrees W). In addition, there are settlements of Oneida in Wisconsin
and at the Thames River, Ontario; Deseronto Mohawk in Kingston, Ontario;
and Oka Mohawk near Montreal. There is also a group of Caughnawaga
Mohawk living in Brooklyn, N.Y.; and there are Iroquois living in
Oklahoma (Fenton 1951: 39-40; cf. Speck 1945: 20-21). Settlements
of the past whose names appear in the literature include the Cornplanter
settlement in Pennsylvania and the Buffalo Creek Reservation near
Buffalo.

The Iroquoian linguistic stock is divided into two groups. The southern
group includes the Cherokee and the Tuscarora. The Tuscarora were
originally from North Carolina; they migrated north and were admitted
into the League in 1722. The northern Iroquoian linguistic group includes
the nations belonging to the League as well as the Huron, the Neutral,
and the Erie. Although there are distinct dialectical differences
between the six nations of the League, they are mutually intelligible.
The greatest similarities, at least in Morgan's time, were between
Mohawk and Oneida and between Cayuga and Seneca (Morgan 1901: 62).

According to Hunt, there were aboriginally approximately 12,000 Iroquois
(Hunt 1960: 66). The 1940 census indicates that there were from 16,000
to 17,000 Iroquois in New York and Canada. Six Nations Reserve was
the largest, with 4,261 (Speck 1945: 20-21).

When they were discovered by the Europeans, the Iroquois practiced
hunting and gathering, but the mainstay of their economy was agriculture.
Agriculture was primarily the work of women, while the men were hunters
and warriors. The principal crops were maize, beans, and squash. The
spirits of these plants were deified and known as De-o-ha-ko, the
"life supporters." They were also referred to as the "three sisters"
and were envisioned as three beautiful women clothed in the vines
of their respective plants (Martin 1973: 4).

The practice of agriculture permitted the establishment of semipermanent
villages. Settlements were only shifted about every 20 years, when
the soil was exhausted.

In early colonial days the reputation of the Iroquois was that of
fierce warriors, and their territory extended far beyond that of today.
This reputation is in contrast to the image of the League meeting
under the "great tree of peace" at Onondaga.

The Iroquois no longer live in longhouses, and most of the reservations
are ruled by democratically elected councils. On almost every reservation,
however, there is one building which is called the Longhouse and is
the center of traditional religious activity.

Today the Iroquois are highly acculturated, holding jobs in communities
surrounding the reservations. Mohawk are noted for being workers in
high steel. Cattaraugus has been described as a "bedroom" community
by one of its residents; most of the people work in Buffalo. Although
the reservation is essentially rural, for the most part, the land
is leased to Whites and worked by them, not the Seneca.

The traditional "longhouse" religion is actually the reformed religion
based on the Code of Handsome Lake. Handsome Lake was a Seneca prophet
who had visions and preached reform at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. Under the guidance of Handsome Lake's revelations and moral
code, the Iroquois achieved a cultural revitalization which has enabled
them to maintain their ethnic identity.

For comprehensive bibliographies on the Iroquois, researchers are
advised to consult Murdock and O'Leary (1975) and Weinman (1969).
For a review of the literature on the Iroquois up to about 1950, see
Fenton (1951).

Brief cultural summaries are available in Murdock (1934) and Quain
(1937). In addition, Speck (1945) summarizes aspects of aboriginal
Iroquoian culture. A basic source of orientation to the Iroquois will
be found in Morgan (1901), a two volume general ethnography on the
League of the Iroquois. Morgan was a lawyer living in Rochester, New
York, who, from about 1840 to 1850, did fieldwork among the Tonawanda
Seneca.

Culture summary by Marlene M. Martin



Fenton, William N. Iroquoian studies at mid-century.
 American Philosophical Society, Proceedings, 95 (1951): 296-310.
 Fenton, William N. "Introduction." In William N. Fenton, ed., Parker on the Iroquois.
 Syracuse, N.Y., Syracuse University Press, 1968: 1-47.
 Fenton, William Nelson.
 Locality as a basic factor in the development of Iroquois social structure.
 In William N. Fenton, ed.
 Symposium on Local Diversity in Iroquois Culture.
 Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, 1951: 35-54.
 Hunt, George T. The wars of the Iroquois: a study in intertribal trade relations.
 Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1960.
 209 p. map.
 Martin, Marlene.
 "Iroquois literary forms." Unpublished ms.
 1973.
 Morgan, Lewis Henry.
 League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois.
 V. l. A new edition, with additional matter.
 Edited and annotated by Herbert M. Lloyd.
 New York, Dodd, Mead, 1901.
 338 p. illus., map.
 Morgan, Lewis Henry.
 League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois.
 V. 2.
 A new edition, with additional matter.
 Edited and annotated by Herbert M. Lloyd.
 New York, Dodd, Mead, 1901.
 12, 332 p. illus., map.
 Murdock, George Peter, and Timothy J. O'Leary.
 Ethnographic Bibliography of North America.
 4th ed.
 Vol.
 4.
 New Haven, Human Relations Area Files Press, 1975.
 Speck, Frank Gouldsmith.
 The Iroquois, a study in cultural evolution.
 Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Cranbrook Institute of Science, 1945.
 94 p. illus.
 Weinman, Paul L. A bibliography of the Iroquoian literature, partially annotated.
 Bulletin number 411, New York State Museum and Science Service.
 Albany, University of the State of New York, 1969.


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