Volume 16 , Issue 42

Iroquois (Huadenosaunee) People

We find that the Iroquois people are/were indigenous to the northeast region of what is now the United States and parts of Canada. But the name (like many Native American tribal names) was not a name the people knew themselves by, but a French word applied to them and was likely an insult.

The Iroquois were not even a tribe in a singular sense, but a confederation of several different tribal nations that include the Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Mohawk, Cayuga and the Tuscarora (who did not become part of the union until the early 1700's and were originally from what is now North Carolina).

All of the Iroquois tribes are based on a clan system and are considered matrilineal. Clan membership is passed through the mother. Clans include turtle, beaver, eel, deer, wolf, bear, hawk, heron and snipe. Clan Mothers are central in how tribal matters are handled, including matters of war and other political concerns. They choose the chiefs and keep them in check by making them accountable to their duties, and can remove them if necessary.

Iroquois of today are more likely use the Term "Six Nations" Haudenosaunee, or tell you which of the Six Nations they are from.

As sovereign tribal nations the Haudensaunee continue to maintain government-to-government relations with the United States; however, most of the land mass that was the ancestral territories has been lost to American and state domination. In some cases, such as the the Mohawk Nation, the reservation straddles the Canadian/American border and encompasses multiple federal, state and local jurisdictions, making the governing process extremely complicated.
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