IROQUOIS TRIBE IN PENNSYLVANIA

THE ORIGINAL IROQUOIS TRIBAL HOMELAND WAS IN NEW YORK. THROUGH CONQUEST AND MIGRATION THEY GAINED CONTROL OF MOST OF THE NORTHEASTERN U.S. AND EASTERN CANADA. THEIR EMPIRE IN 1680 WAS CHESAPEAKE BAY THROUGH KENTUCKY TO OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS.

DURING THE HUNDRED YEARS PRECEDING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, WARS WITH ALGONQUIN AND BRITISH FORCED THEM BACK TO THEIR ORIGINAL TERRITORY. THE AMERICAN INVASION DROVE THEM INTO SOUTH ONTARIO.

ABOUT 1/2 OF THE IROQUOIS HAVE LIVED IN IROQUOIS COMMUNITIES LOCATED ALONG UPPER ST. LAWRENCE IN QUEBEC. IN THE U. S. MUCH OF IROQUOIS HOMELAND SURRENDERED TO NEW YORK LAND SPECULATORS IN A SERIES OF TREATIES FOLLOWING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. IN 1600 THERE WERE LESS THAN 20,000 IROQUOIS. EUROPEANS REACHED THEM BY 1650 AND THEY BROUGHT DISEASES CUTTING THEIR POPULATION IN HALF. THE IROQUOIS ADOPTED SOME OF THEIR ENEMIES AND LATER THEIR POPULATION INCREASED TO 25,000 BY 1660.

BY 1768 THE IROQUOIS NUMBERED 12,000. SINCE THEN THERE HAS BEEN RENEWED NATIVE PRIDE. THE ALGONQUIN CALLED THEM "RATTLESNAKES". THEY HAD AT LEAST 22 VILLAGES.

THIS AUTHORITY BELIEVES THE IROQUOIS WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT GROUP IN NORTH AMERICAN HISTORY. ALL OF THEIR NATIVES HAD MATRILOCAL SOCIETIES. THE WOMEN OWNED ALL PROPERTY. EACH CLAN WAS HEADED BY A CLAN MOTHER. AFTER MARRIAGE A MAN LIVED IN HIS WIFE'S LONGHOUSE. THE LONG HOUSES COULD BE 200 FEET IN LENGTH AND WERE COVERED BY ELM BARK. VILLAGES WERE PERMANENT IN THE SENSE. THAT THEY WERE MOVED FOR DEFENSIVE PURPOSES. THEY SUPPORTED THEMSELVES WITH THE THREE SISTERS CROP. THE WOMEN WORKED THE FIELDS. MEN HUNTED IN GROUPS. IN SPRING THEY FISHED. THE OTHER MEN'S FUNCTION WAS WARFARE. TATTOOS WERE COMMON. THEIR LEADERS WERE CHOSEN BY THEIR WOMEN.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS INDICATE THEY BUILT LONG HOUSES AT LEAST AS FAR BACK AS 1100 A.D. BY 1300 MAIZE WAS INTRODUCED AND INCREASED THEIR POPULATION THERE WERE MANY WARS WITH OTHER TRIBES AND THE EARLY SETTLERS. IN 1667 A PEACE TREATY WAS SIGNED BY FRENCH AND IROQUOIS.

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