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IROQUOIS

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 839 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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IROQUOIS , or Six NATIONS, a celebrated See also:

confederation of See also:North See also:American See also:Indians. The name is that given them by the See also:French. It is suggested that it was formed of two ceremonial words constantly used by the tribesmen, meaning " real adders," with the French addition of ois. The See also:league was originally composed of five tribes or nations, viz. Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas and Cayugas. The confederation probably took See also:place towards the See also:close of the 16th See also:century and in 1722 the Tuscaroras were admitted, the league being then called that of " the Six Nations." At that See also:time their See also:total number was estimated at 11,65o, including 2150 warriors. They were unquestionably the most powerful confederation of Indians on the See also:continent. Their See also:home was the central and western parts of New See also:York See also:state. In the American See also:War of See also:Independence they fought on the See also:English See also:side, and in the repeated battles their See also:power was nearly destroyed. They are now to the number of 17,000 or more scattered about on various reservations in New York state, See also:Oklahoma, See also:Wisconsin and See also:Canada. The Iroquoian stock, the larger See also:group of kindred tribes, of which the five nations were the most powerful, had their See also:early home in the St See also:Lawrence region. Besides the five nations, the Neutral nation, See also:Huron, See also:Erie, See also:Conestoga, Nottoway, Meherrin, See also:Tuscarora and See also:Cherokee were the most important tribes of the stock.

The hostility of the Algonquian tribes seems to have been the cause of the southward See also:

migration of the Iroquoian peoples. In 1535 Jacques See also:Cartier found an Iroquoian tribe in See also:possession of the See also:land upon which now stand See also:Montreal and See also:Quebec; but seventy years later it was in the hands of Algonquians- See L. H. See also:Morgan, League of the Hodeno Swanee or Iroquois (See also:Rochester,N.Y.,1854); Handbook of American Indians (See also:Washington, 1907). Also INDIANS, NORTH AMERICAN.

End of Article: IROQUOIS

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