Iroquois Confederacy

a member of a nomadic people who live chiefly by hunting and fishing, and harvesting wild food.

Hunter-gatherer culture is a type of subsistence lifestyle that relies on hunting and fishing animals and foraging for wild vegetation and other nutrients like honey, for food.

Because hunter-gatherers did not rely on agriculture, they used mobility as a survival strategy. Indeed, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle required access to large areas of land, between seven and 500 square miles, to find the food they needed to survive.

This made establishing long-term settlements impractical, and most hunter-gatherers were nomadic. Hunter-gatherer groups tended to range in size from an extended family to a larger band of no more than about 100 people.

A confederacy is a form of government where many parts are joined together or unified.

The Iroquois Tribes consisted of...

Cayuga

Onondaga

Mohawk

Seneca

Oneida

Later, in the 1700s, the Tuscarora tribe joined.

The French named them the Iroquois

But, they called themselves the Haudenosaunee, which means People of the Longhouse.

The British called them the 5 nations.

Each tribe in the Iroquois League had its own elected officials called chiefs.

These chiefs would attend the Iroquois council where major decisions were made regarding the Five Nations.

Each tribe also had its own leaders to make local decisions.

a restriction on holding dual offices

processes to remove leaders within the confederacy

a bicameral legislature (2 parties) with procedures in place for passing laws

a clear description of the power to declare war

a creation of a balance of power

Keepers of the culture

responsible for defining the political, social, spiritual and economic norms of the tribe.

Nominated men for leadership positions & made sure they fulfilled their promises

Iroquois society was matrilineal, meaning descent was raced through the mother rather than through the father

Enjoyed social equality

Ran the longhouses

A longhouse was usually occupied by one clan, with the eldest and/or most respected woman of that clan ruling it as Clan Mother.

Owned land and tended to the crops; grew the Three Sisters

Any children born into the family belonged to the mother’s clan, and they were educated by their mother’s relatives.