The Iroquois got their name from one of their enemies the Algonquin, called them the Iroqu (Irinakhoiw) which translate to the "rattlesnakes." Then the French added the suffix "-ois" to it, so the name became Iroquois. The Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Iroquois League was a northern American confederacy or alliance composed of five tribes in the seventh century. The Iroquois Confederation was known as the strongest confederation of the indigenous people.
The Tribes
They were originally composed of five nations which were the Mohawk, meaning “people of the flint" but within the League they were known as the "keepers of the eastern door."
The Oneida, were called "people of the standing stone"
The Onondaga, …show more content…
Farming determined the way the Indians lived. The Iroquois moved to new locations when their large fields no longer produced a good crop of beans, corn, and squash. They called beans, squash, and corn (The Three Sisters). The women tended the crops. One favorite food of the Iroquois was corn cakes. It was made by patting corn into round cakes then baking it. Harvested vegetables along with berries, meat and fish were dried for use during the winter. And grain was stored in baskets which were then buried in the ground. During harvest time, there was a special Thanksgiving ceremony, when the Three Sisters, namely corn. squash and beans which were key staples of the Iroquois diet, ripened. They were combined together in a dish we still know as …show more content…
Strangely enough, there were never that many of them, and the enemies they defeated in war were often twice their size. The Iroquois prevailed because of their unity and their superior political organization.
The Iroquois confederacy was founded in order to maintain peace and resolve disputes between its members, the League's primary law was the Kainerekowa, the Great Law of Peace which simply stated that Iroquois should not kill each other. The League's organization was prescribed by a written constitution based on 114 wampums and reinforced by a funeral rite known as the "Condolence" a shared mourning of the passing of sachems from the member tribes. The council was composed of fifty male sachems known variously as lords, or peace chiefs. Each tribe's representation was set as so Onondaga 14; Cayuga 10; Oneida 9; Mohawk 9; and Seneca 8. They were nominated by the tribal clan mothers who had nearly complete power in their selection of