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Iroquois Indians Haudenosaunee "People of the Longhouse"
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Inside a longhouse
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Inside a longhouse |
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Iroquois Indians When explorers arrived in what is now Oneida County, New York and Quebec, Canada, a Native American tribe called the Iroquois lived there. Men were hunters and warriors, providers and protectors of the community. Women owned the houses, gathered wild foods, cooked, made baskets and clothing, and cared for the children. The Iroquois Confederacy, a partnership between the Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and the Tuscarora nations, was one of the world’s early democracies. Important leaders of the Iroquois include Onondaga, Hiawatha and Cornplanter. The Iroquois people lived in longhouses (gononh'sees). Longer than they were wide, these longhouses had openings at both ends and were covered with animal skins during the winter to keep out the cold. A longhouse could hold up to twenty families. An Iroquois family usually included three children, a mother and a father. To the Iroquois people, corn, beans, and squash are the “Three Sisters”. The three vegetables were the main food supply of the Iroquois. The total number of Iroquois in the United States today is around 30,000. Tribal communities are located in New York, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. 1. How many nations were in the Iroquois Confederacy? 2. Describe life in the longhouse. Use at least two examples from the reading. 3. How did life for the Iroquois change after the arrival of the Europeans? |
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