In the late 1500s, in the lower Great Lakes region of North America, several Native American peoples with similar languages and cultures formed an alliance called the Iroquois Confederacy. The original tribes of the confederacy were the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca. The Tuscarora were admitted as a sixth member in 1722. The name Iroquois is generally used to refer to these tribes. Other peoples who spoke related languages of the Iroquoian family, including the Huron and the Cherokee, are generally called Iroquoian. (See also Northeast Indians.)
The Iroquois lived mainly in what is now New York state. Each of their villages typically had several hundred people. The Iroquois called themselves Hodenosaunee, meaning “people of the longhouse,” for the dwellings they built. Made of wood and bark from the surrounding forest, a longhouse housed a group of families. Each family had a separate compartment off a long central hallway. The longhouse gave protection against long, cold winters.
The Iroquois hunted, fished, gathered wild foods, and raised corn (maize), beans, and squash. After the autumn harvest, family deer-hunting parties ranged far into the forests, returning to their villages at midwinter. Spring runs of fish drew families to nearby streams and lake inlets, where canoes were a common form of transportation.
Warfare was important in Iroquois society. For men, self-respect depended upon achieving personal glory in war. War captives were often enslaved or adopted to replace dead family members. Losses to battle and disease increased the need for captives, who had become a significant population within Iroquois settlements by the late 17th century.
According to Indian tradition, the Iroquois Confederacy was founded between 1570 and 1600 through the efforts of the leaders Dekanawidah and Hiawatha. Joined mainly by their desire to stand together against invasion, the tribes united in a common council composed of clan and village chiefs. Each tribe had one vote, and all had to agree before a decision was made.
The Iroquois competed with the Huron for control of the fur trade, and the groups became bitter enemies. The Iroquois allied themselves with the English and the Dutch, while the Huron joined with the French. The Iroquois defeated the Huron in 1648–49 and then launched attacks on French settlements as well as other enemy tribes, notably the Algonquin. Warfare continued for the rest of the 17th century, but in about 1700 the Iroquois adopted a policy of neutrality between the English and French. By the time of the French and Indian War (1754–63), however, the Iroquois were again allied with the English.
The American Revolution (1775–83) split the Iroquois. The Oneida and Tuscarora sided with the Americans, while the rest of the confederacy, led by the Mohawk chief Joseph Brant, remained loyal to the British. After being defeated by the Americans under Major General John Sullivan in 1779, the Iroquois Confederacy came to an end. The Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora remained in New York, eventually settling on reservations; the Mohawk and Cayuga withdrew to Canada; and, a generation later, the Oneida left for Wisconsin. The U.S. census of 2010 counted about 81,000 individuals of Iroquois descent. A small number of Iroquois live in southern Canada