Forex sem depósito Campo Grande: Sistema comercial iroquois

Iroquois - Economia.

Atividades de subsistência e comercial. Tradicionalmente, os iroques eram agricultores e caçadores que praticavam uma forma de horticultura. Além disso, eles pescaram e reuniram bagas, plantas e raízes. Antes da chegada dos europeus, as armas primárias eram arcos e flechas, eixos de pedra, facas e armadilhas; No entanto, no final do século dezano, os bens comerciais europeus haviam substituído quase completamente as armas e ferramentas tradicionais. As principais culturas foram o milho, os feijões e a abóbora, que, além disso, eram proeminentes nas atividades cerimoniais. Nos bons anos, as culturas excedentárias foram secas e armazenadas para uso futuro. Após a colheita de culturas no final do verão, a rodada sazonal incluiu caça ao caça que durou até o solstício de inverno, início da primavera, pesca e caça de pombos de passageiros, e depois primavera e verão, desobstruindo e plantando campos. A agricultura já foi largamente abandonada pelos iroqueses, embora o ciclo anual de festivais e cerimônias associados ao plantio, colheita e outras atividades econômicas tradicionais persista. Na década de 1980, a maioria dos Iroquois que trabalham trabalha com as reservas porque as oportunidades econômicas são tão limitadas nelas. Alguns homens, por exemplo, trabalham em alta construção de aço, que tem sido uma importante fonte de emprego para os Iroquistas desde o final do século XIX.

Artes industriais. Os Iroquois sabiam dobrar e moldar a madeira quando verde ou depois de cozinhar. Molduras de casas, molduras, raquetas de neve, tobogãs, bordas de cesta, lacrosse palitos e outros produtos de madeira foram feitos usando essas técnicas. A corda foi feita a partir da casca interna da ninhada, do tordo e do olmo escorregadio, e as cintas de carga e os laços prisioneiros foram feitos a partir das fibras trançadas de urtiga, amendoa e cânhamo. As tubulações de argila queimada estavam entre os muitos tipos de itens fabricados pelos Iroquois. Eles são conhecidos por fazer cestos de ervas e cinzas, embora esta embarcação possa ser de origem européia.

Comércio. Muito antes do contato europeu, os Iroquois, como mencionado acima, estavam envolvidos em uma intrincada rede comercial com outros grupos nativos. Os tubos de argila eram um importante item comercial que atingiu outros grupos nativos ao longo da costa leste da América do Norte. O comportamento agressivo que os Iroquois exibiram em relação aos seus vizinhos durante o período de comércio de peles tem sido interpretado por alguns como o resultado de seu objetivo de proteger e expandir seu papel intermediário. Outros sugeriram que o comportamento estava relacionado à escassez de peles em seu próprio território e à dificuldade resultante na obtenção de bens comerciais europeus. De acordo com essa teoria, os Iroquois guerrearam principalmente para obter os bens comerciais de seus vizinhos que estavam em contato mais próximo com os europeus. Depois que o centro das atividades de comércio de peles se mudou para oeste, os iroques continuaram a desempenhar um papel importante como viajantes e caçadores.

Divisão de trabalho. Tradicionalmente, os homens caçavam e pescavam, construíam casas, despejavam campos para plantar e eram responsáveis pelo comércio e pela guerra. Além disso, os homens tiveram os papéis mais visíveis nas políticas tribal e confederada. A agricultura era a responsabilidade das mulheres, cujo trabalho também incluiu a colheita de alimentos selvagens, criando crianças, preparando alimentos e fazendo roupas e cestas e outros utensílios.

Posse de terra. As matrículas foram a unidade de propriedade da sociedade tradicional Iroquiana.

Iroquois.

ETNÓNIMOS: Cinco Nações, Liga dos Iroquois, Seis Nações.

Orientação.

Identificação. A Liga dos Iroquois era originalmente uma confederação de cinco tribos indianas norte-americanas: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga e Seneca. Uma sexta tribo, a Tuscarora, ingressou na Liga em 1722 depois de migrar para o norte da região do rio Roanoke em resposta a hostilidades com colonos brancos. Na década de 1980, membros das seis tribos Iroquianas viviam em Quebec e Ontário, Canadá e Nova York, Pensilvânia, Wisconsin e Oklahoma nos Estados Unidos.

Localização. Na véspera do contato europeu, o território Iroquois se estendeu do Lago Champlain e do Lago George oeste até o rio Genesee e o Lago Ontário e do rio St. Lawrence ao sul até o rio Susquehanna. Dentro desses limites, cada uma das cinco tribos originais ocupava uma faixa de território oblonga norte-sul; de leste a oeste, eram Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga e Seneca. A região era principalmente o lago e a montanha, dissecados por vários rios. As florestas cadáveres de vidoeiro, faia, maple e elm dominaram a região, dando lugar a florestas de abeto e abeto no norte e nas elevações mais altas das Montanhas Adirondack. Em tempos aborígenes, espécies de peixes e animais eram diversas e abundantes.

Demografia. Em 1600, estima-se que a população das Cinco Nações tenha sido cerca de cinquenta e cinco e a de Tuscarora cerca de cinco mil. Em 1904, as seis tribos iroquesas contaram pelo menos dezesseis mil, sem incluir vários milhares de pessoas de sangue misto. Na década de 1980, a população total das seis tribos foi estimada em mais de vinte mil.

Afiliação linguística. As línguas das seis tribos são classificadas no ramo Iroquoiano do Norte da família Iroquiana. As línguas das seis tribos ainda são faladas.

História e Relações Culturais.

A confederação iroquesa foi organizada em algum momento entre 1400 e 1600 com o objetivo de manter relações pacíficas entre as cinco tribos constituintes. Subsequentemente às relações de contato europeias dentro da confederação foram às vezes esticadas, uma vez que cada uma das cinco tribos procurou expandir e manter seus próprios interesses no desenvolvimento do comércio de peles. Na maior parte, no entanto, o comércio de peles serviu para fortalecer a confederação porque os interesses tribais muitas vezes se complementavam e todos ganhavam de atuar em concerto. A Liga era hábil em jogar interesses franceses e ingleses uns contra os outros para sua vantagem e, assim, conseguiu desempenhar um papel importante nos eventos econômicos e políticos do norte da América do Norte durante os séculos XVII e XVIII. Os Iroqueses mantiveram e expandiram agressivamente o seu papel no comércio de peles e, como resultado, encontraram-se periodicamente em guerra com seus vizinhos, como o Huron, Petún e o Neutro a oeste e o Susquehannock ao sul. Grande parte da luta foi feita pelo Seneca, a mais poderosa das tribos iroquesas.

De 1667 a 1680, os Iroqueses mantiveram relações amigáveis com os franceses e, durante esse tempo, as missões jesuítas foram estabelecidas entre cada uma das cinco tribos. A agressão e a expansão iroquesas, no entanto, acabaram por entrar em conflito com os franceses e, ao mesmo tempo, em aliança mais estreita com os ingleses. Em 1687, 1693 e 1696 expedições militares francesas atacaram e queimaram aldeias e campos iroqueses. Durante a Guerra da Rainha da Rainha (1702-1713), os Iroqueses aliados com os ingleses e no final da guerra foram reconhecidos como sujeitos britânicos, embora continuassem a manter e expandir agressivamente o seu papel intermediário entre comerciantes ingleses em Fort Orange (Albany) e grupos nativos mais a oeste. A vitória dos ingleses sobre os franceses na América do Norte em 1763 enfraqueceu o poder da Confederação, minando a posição estratégica econômica e política das tribos e promovendo a rápida Expansão do assentamento branco.

Quando a Revolução Americana estourou em 1775, nem a Liga como um todo nem mesmo as tribos individualmente conseguiram concordar em um curso comum de ação. A maioria dos Iroqueses aliados com os britânicos e, como resultado, durante e após a Revolução foram forçados de suas terras. No período que se seguiu à Revolução Americana, os membros das tribos iroquesas se estabeleceram em reservas no oeste do estado de Nova York, no sul do Quebec e no sul do estado de Ontário, onde muitos de seus descendentes permanecem hoje.

Assentamentos.

As aldeias foram construídas em terraços elevados nas proximidades de riachos ou lagos e foram protegidas por paliçada de troncos. As populações da aldeia variaram entre trezentos e seiscentos pessoas. Normalmente, uma aldeia fechada incluía inúmeras casas longhouses e vários hectares de campos para cultivo; Em torno da vila havia várias centenas de acres de terras agrícolas. Longhouses foram construídos de postos de tronco e pólos e cobertos com um revestimento de casca de olmo; eles tinham uma média de vinte e cinco pés de largura e oitenta pés de comprimento, embora alguns excedessem os duzentos pés de comprimento. As aldeias eram semi-permanentes e em uso durante todo o ano. Quando a fertilidade do solo nos campos declinou e a lenha na vizinhança tornou-se escassa, a Vila foi movida para um novo local. Este foi um processo gradual, com a nova vila sendo construída como a antiga foi gradualmente abandonada. Os assentamentos das cinco tribos ficaram ao longo de um eixo leste-oeste e foram conectados por um sistema de trilhas.

Posse de terra. As matrículas foram a unidade de propriedade da sociedade tradicional Iroquiana.

Kin Groups e Descent. Matrilineagens foram organizadas em quinze matrisibs. Entre os Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca e Tuscarora, os matrisibs foram ainda organizados em porções. Entre os Mohawk e os Oneida, nenhuma divisão Moiety foi reconhecida. A descida foi matrilínea. Nos tempos modernos, o estresse colocado na herança patrilinear pelas autoridades canadenses enfraqueceu o sistema tradicional.

Terminologia do parentesco. A terminologia do parentesco tradicional seguiu o padrão iroquois. Nas próprias e nas primeiras gerações ascendentes e descendentes, parentes paralelos foram classificados com parentes lineares e familiares cruzados foram referidos separadamente.

Casamento e família.

Casamento. Em um momento, os casamentos eram uma questão de escolha individual, mas no período histórico, a matrícula, particularmente a mãe, desempenhava um papel cada vez mais importante no arranjo dos casamentos. A residência pós-casar foi matrilocal. A Polygyny foi praticada, mas, no final do século XVIII, desapareceu inteiramente. O divórcio era possível, e quando ocorreu, a mãe manteve o controle total sobre seus filhos.

Unidade domestica. A unidade econômica básica consistiu em grupos familiares de mulheres, seus cônjuges e seus filhos matrilinealmente extensos. Cada grupo de família alargada ocupava uma casa-larga dentro da qual as famílias nucleares individuais ocuparam secções designadas e lares comuns compartilhados. Cada largura estava sob controle e direção das mulheres idosas no grupo familiar extenso.

Herança. Tradicionalmente, a propriedade foi herdada matrilinealmente. Na década de 1980, a herança matrilineira continuou a ser praticada entre os Iroquois em reservas nos Estados Unidos, mas não para os que estão no Canadá, onde o governo aplicou um sistema patrilinear de herança.

Socialização. O padrão do ciclo de vida dos iroques não é bem compreendido. Havia uma clara linha divisória entre as atividades de homens e mulheres e os ideais do comportamento masculino e feminino, e os papéis foram comunicados às crianças pelos anciãos através das tradições orais. Exceto para aqueles que alcançaram cargos políticos, nenhum rito formal de passagem marcou a transição para a idade adulta para meninos ou meninas.

Organização Sociopolítica.

Organização social. Os membros de Matrisibs colaboraram em atividades econômicas e foram obrigados a vingar a morte ou lesão de qualquer outro membro. Moieties tinham funções cerimoniais recíprocas e complementares e competiam uns contra os outros em jogos. Matrisibs atravessou fronteiras tribais para que os membros fossem encontrados em cada tribo e aldeia e muitas vezes dentro de cada casa longa.

Organização política. A confederação iroquesa operava sob um conselho de cinquenta sachemas representando as cinco tribos originais. Quando os Tuscarora se juntaram à Liga em 1722, nenhuma nova posição sachem foi criada para isso. O Conselho era um órgão legislativo, executivo e judicial que deliberava apenas sobre os assuntos externos da confederação, como a paz e a guerra, e sobre assuntos comuns às cinco tribos constituintes. O conselho não tinha voz nos assuntos internos das tribos separadas. A representação tribal no conselho foi distribuída de forma desigual entre as cinco tribos, embora o abuso de poder tenha sido limitado pela exigência de unanimidade em todas as decisões do conselho. Abaixo do nível do conselho da Liga estavam conselhos tribais separados preocupados com os assuntos internos de cada tribo e as relações de cada tribo com grupos externos. O conselho tribal foi composto pelos sachems que representavam a tribo no conselho da Liga. As posições de Sachem eram hereditárias dentro de cada tribo e pertenciam a matrisibs particulares. As mulheres do matrisib nomearam cada novo sachem, que sempre era um homem, e tinha o poder de recordar ou "dehorn" um chefe que não representava os interesses de seu povo. Teoricamente, cada sachem era igual aos outros no poder, mas na prática aqueles com melhores habilidades oratoriais exerceram maior influência. Depois que a confederação funcionou por um período de tempo, um novo escritório não hereditário de chefe de pinheiro foi criado para fornecer liderança local e para atuar como conselheiro dos sachems do conselho, embora mais tarde eles realmente se sentassem no conselho da Liga e igualassem os sachems em poder. Os chefes de pinheiros ocuparam sua posição para a vida e foram escolhidos pelas mulheres de um matrisib com base na habilidade em guerra. O envolvimento iroques no comércio de peles e a guerra com os franceses aumentou a importância e a solidariedade do conselho da Liga e, desse modo, fortaleceu a confederação. Sua força continuou crescendo até a época da Revolução Americana, quando as alianças iroquesas foram divididas entre os colonos britânicos e americanos.

Controle social. Os especialistas religiosos a tempo parcial, conhecidos como guardiões da fé, serviram em parte para censurar o comportamento anti-social. As bruxas não confessadas detectadas através dos procedimentos do conselho foram punidas com a morte, enquanto os que confessaram poderiam ser autorizados a reformar.

Conflito. A feitiçaria foi o tipo mais grave de comportamento anti-social. Os Iroquois acreditavam que as bruxas, em conjunto com o Espírito do Mal, poderiam causar doenças, acidentes, mortes ou outros infortúnios. Como as bruxas eram pensadas para poder se transformar em outros objetos, eram difíceis de pegar e punir.

Religião e cultura expressiva.

Crenças religiosas. O mundo sobrenatural dos Iroquois incluía numerosas divindades, a mais importante das quais era o Grande Espírito, que era responsável pela criação dos seres humanos, das plantas e dos animais e das forças do bem na natureza. Os iroques acreditavam que o Grande Espírito guiou indiretamente a vida das pessoas comuns. Outras divindades importantes foram Thunderer e as Três Irmãs, os espíritos do milho, feijão e abóbora. Opondo o Grande Espírito e as outras forças do bem eram o Espírito do Mal e outros espíritos menores responsáveis por doenças e outros infortúnios. Na visão iroquesa, os humanos comuns não podiam se comunicar diretamente com o Grande Espírito, mas podiam fazê-lo indiretamente pela queimação de tabaco, que levavam suas orações aos espíritos menores do bem. Os iroques consideravam os sonhos como importantes sinais sobrenaturais, e a atenção seria dada à interpretação dos sonhos. Acreditava-se que os sonhos expressavam o desejo da alma e, como resultado, a realização de um sonho era de suma importância para o indivíduo.

Por volta de 1800, um saco de Seneca chamado Handsome Lake recebeu uma série de visões que ele acreditava mostraram o caminho para que os Iroqueses recuperassem a sua integridade cultural perdida e prometiam ajuda sobrenatural a todos aqueles que o seguiam. A religião Handsome Lake enfatizou muitos elementos tradicionais da cultura iroquesa, mas também incorporou as crenças Quaker e os aspectos da cultura branca. Na década de 1960, pelo menos metade do povo Iroquiano aceitou a Religião Handsome Lake.

Profissionais religiosos. Especialistas religiosos em tempo integral estavam ausentes; No entanto, havia especialistas masculinos e femininos a tempo parcial conhecidos como detentores da fé, cujas principais responsabilidades eram organizar e conduzir as principais cerimônias religiosas. Os guardas da fé foram nomeados por anciãos de Matrisib e receberam um prestígio considerável.

Cerimônias. As cerimônias religiosas eram assuntos tribais Preocupado principalmente com agricultura, cura de doenças e ação de graças. Na sequência da ocorrência, as seis principais cerimônias foram os festivais Maple, Planting, Strawberry, Green Maize, Harvest e Mid-Winter ou New Year. Os primeiros cinco desta seqüência envolveram confissões públicas seguidas de cerimônias grupais que incluíam discursos dos guardiões da fé, oferendas de tabaco e oração. O festival de Ano Novo costumava ser realizado no início de fevereiro e foi marcado por interpretações de sonhos e o sacrifício de um cão branco oferecido para purgar o povo do mal.

Artes. Uma das formas de arte iroquesas mais interessantes é a máscara facial falsa. Usados nas cerimônias de cura das Sociedades de Falsas Caras, as máscaras são feitas de maple, pinheiro branco, touro e poplar. As falsas máscaras são primeiro esculpidas em uma árvore viva, depois cortadas, pintadas e decoradas. As máscaras representam espíritos que se revelam ao criador de máscara em uma oração e ritual de queima de tabaco executado antes que a máscara seja esculpida.

Remédio. A doença e a doença foram atribuídas a causas sobrenaturais. As cerimônias de cura consistiam em práticas shamanísticas em grupo voltadas para propiciar os agentes sobrenaturais responsáveis. Um dos grupos de cura era a False Face Society. Essas sociedades foram encontradas em cada aldeia e, exceto por um detentor feminino dos falsos rostos que protegiam a parafernália ritual, consistia apenas em membros masculinos que haviam sonhado com a participação em cerimônias False Face.

Morte e Vida após a morte. Quando um sachem morreu e seu sucessor foi nomeado e confirmado, as outras tribos da Liga foram informadas e o Conselho da Liga se reuniu para realizar uma cerimônia de condolências em que o falecido sachem foi chorado e o novo sachem foi instalado. A cerimônia de condolências do sachem ainda era realizada nas reservas iroquesas na década de 1970. As cerimônias de condolências também foram praticadas para pessoas comuns. No início dos tempos históricos, os mortos foram enterrados em uma posição sentada de frente para o leste. Após o enterro, um pássaro capturado foi liberado com a crença de que ele levou o espírito do falecido. Nos tempos anteriores, os mortos foram deixados expostos em um andaime de madeira, e depois de um tempo seus ossos foram depositados em uma casa especial do falecido. Os Iroquois acreditavam, como alguns continuam a acreditar hoje, que depois da morte a alma iniciou uma jornada e uma série de provações que acabaram na terra dos mortos no mundo do céu. O luto pelos mortos durou um ano, no final do tempo em que se acreditava que a jornada da alma estava completa e uma festa foi realizada para significar a chegada da alma à terra dos mortos.

Bibliografia.

Fenton, William N. (1971). "Os Iroquois na História". Em índios norte-americanos em Perspectiva Histórica, editado por Eleanor B. Leacock e Nancy O. Lurie, 129-168. Nova York: Random House.

Fenton, William N. (1978). "Padrões de Cultura Iroquiana do Norte". No Manual de índios da América do Norte. Vol. 15, Nordeste, editado por Bruce G. Trigger, 296-321. Washington, D. C .: Smithsonian Institution.

Morgan, Lewis H. (1901). Liga do Ho-de-no-sau-nee ou Iroquois. Editado por Herbert M. Lloyd. 2 vols. Nova Iorque: Dodd, Mead. Originalmente publicado, 1851.

Oswalt, Wendell H. (1966). "Os Iroquois". Em este não era o deles: um estudo de índios norte-americanos, editado por Wendell H. Oswalt, 397-461. Nova York: John Wiley.

Tooker, Elisabeth (1978). A Liga dos Iroquois: Sua História, Política e Ritual. No Manual de índios da América do Norte. Vol. 15, Nordeste, editado por Bruce G. Trigger, 418-441. Washington, D. C .: Smithsonian Institution.

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IROQUOIS. Os Iroquois do século XVII eram uma confederação de cinco nações estreitamente relacionadas, mas separadas: Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas e Senecas. Em todo o ano de 1500, estas eram nações independentes falando línguas relacionadas que estavam dispostas na ordem dada de leste a oeste em todo o que se tornou o estado de Nova York. Eles estavam relacionados a outras nações e confederações de língua iroquesa do Nordeste interior, nomeadamente os Neutrals, Petuns, Hurons, Wenros, Eries e Susquehannocks. Mesmo parentes linguísticos mais próximos, os Tuscaroras e Meherrins, moravam no interior da Carolina do Norte. Os Iroquianos começaram a expandir-se para o norte, o que agora são Nova York e Ontário começando em torno de a. d. 600. Eles eram horticultores atraídos por condições climáticas melhoradas e solos glaciais férteis, e absorviam ou deslocavam as populações mais finas de caçadores e coletores que encontraram. A expansão também cortou os povos do norte do Algonquian-speaking do nordeste dos Algonquians centrais da bacia de Great Lakes.

Comunidades Iroquianas.

Os Iroquois ancestrales dependiam de milho, feijão e abóbora como grampos. As plantas silvestres e os alimentos para animais completaram esta dieta e a pele dos cervos forneceu a maior parte de sua roupa antes da introdução do tecido comercial. As comunidades parecem ter sido organizadas ao longo de linhas matrilineares desde uma data inicial. As famílias comuns eram lideradas por mulheres idosas, cujas irmãs e filhas incluíam seu quadro social. Os homens se mudaram para as casas das esposas quando se casaram. Esta forma familiar, eventualmente, levou ao surgimento da clássica Iroquois, uma estrutura segmentada que acomodava pares de famílias nucleares que compartilhavam lares comuns em compartimentos individuais. Um único corredor longo compartimentos conectados,

que foram adicionados aos fins dos longhouses como requerem novos casamentos.

As aldeias Iroquois Longhouse do século XVII eram comunidades compactas e densamente povoadas que podiam conter até duas mil pessoas antes de se tornarem politicamente instáveis. Eles foram vividos durante todo o ano, mas foram projetados para durar apenas uma década ou duas. Sem grandes animais domesticados e fertilizantes que poderiam ter fornecido, os campos tornaram-se improdutivos após alguns anos. Além disso, os suprimentos locais de lenha tornaram-se exaustos e as casas de campo foram esticadas por mudanças na idade e composição da família. Essas pressões levaram a deslocalizações, muitas vezes a lugares a poucas milhas de distância. Se deslocados pela guerra, os aldeões iroques mudaram distâncias muito maiores, uma prática que explica a colonização de novas regiões e o agrupamento de locais de aldeia em torno desses destinos como resultado de movimentos subseqüentes mais curtos.

Guerra e a Liga dos Iroquois.

Tanto a arqueologia como a tradição oral apontam para um período de guerra interna nos séculos XV e XVI.

Na última parte do século XVI, a Liga dos Iroquois (Hodenosaunee) desenvolveu-se como um pacto mútuo de não agressão entre as cinco nações de Iroquois. Isso não parou a guerra regional, mas permitiu que as nações iroqueses reorientassem sua agressão em relação a outras nações e confederações emergentes na região. Os Iroquois totalizaram cerca de 22.000 neste momento. Em meados do século XVII, haviam destruído ou dispersado as confederações Huron, Neutral e Erie, bem como as nações independentes de Petún e Wenro. Os Susquehannocks apresentaram apenas alguns anos mais.

A Liga Iroquois e a confederação política que eventualmente se tornou, foi fundada na estrutura existente do clã e no ritual funerário. Os principais segmentos de clãs de cada uma das cinco nações constituintes proporcionaram chefes da liga (sachems) que se encontraram com freqüência para manter a paz interna e discutir assuntos externos. Grande parte da violência anterior baseou-se na suposição compartilhada de que a maioria das mortes foi deliberadamente causada por inimigos. Mesmo o que de outra forma poderia ter sido considerado morte natural geralmente foi atribuído à feitiçaria, o que provocou ciclos de violência vingativa. Assim, uma atividade principal dos chefes da liga foi uma condolência mútua, projetada para impedir ciclos de guerra motivada por vingança. O veículo para isso foi um ritual funerário elaborado e o levantamento imediato de novos líderes para substituir os falecidos. As substituições assumiram o nome do falecido, proporcionando continuidade e conforto aos enlutados.

Relações com os europeus.

A varíola e outras doenças devastaram os Iroqueses a partir de 1634. As nações sobreviveram levando um grande número de refugiados. Alguns deles foram deslocados da Nova Inglaterra e de outras partes da costa leste que estavam experimentando colonização européia. Muitos outros eram os restos das nações que os iroques haviam derrotado na guerra. Os imigrantes substituíram parentes perdidos, muitas vezes assumindo suas identidades.

Os Iroquois tornaram-se os principais corretores de poder nativos no nordeste colonial, tratando primeiro, em 1615, com os holandeses no rio Hudson e os franceses no rio São Lourenço. Depois que os ingleses apreenderam New Netherland em 1664 eles forjaram uma "cadeia de aliança" com os iroqueses, principalmente através dos Mohawks, que viviam mais perto de Albany. Os missionários jesuítas franceses estabeleceram missões em várias aldeias iroquesas. Quando os jesuítas recuaram de volta à Nova França diante da expansão inglesa, eles levaram muitos Mohawks, Onondagas e outros Iroquois.

Os Iroquois também fizeram a paz com os franceses no início do século XVIII e jogaram com êxito as duas potências coloniais entre si até que os ingleses expulsaram os franceses da América do Norte em 1763, depois da guerra francesa e indiana. Os Iroquois sobreviveram à guerra politicamente intactos apesar do fato de que, embora muitos fossem aliados com os ingleses, os Mohawks católicos e outros Iroqueses pró-franceses lutaram com o outro lado. Naquela época, os Iroqueses haviam absorvido muitos refugiados nativos, tanto individualmente quanto como nações inteiras. Os Tuscaroras se mudaram para o norte no início do século XVIII para se tornar um sexto membro da confederação. Uma grande fração dos Delawares foi absorvida como uma nação dependente em meados do século XVIII. Os refugiados Tutelo se refugiaram em Nova York sob proteção iroquesa quase ao mesmo tempo, e outras comunidades de refugiados fizeram o mesmo logo depois. Por essa altura, as longhouses tradicionais haviam sido substituídas por comunidades dispersas de cabines individuais.

A Revolução Americana quebrou a confederação iroquesa. A maioria das Oneidas tomou partido dos colonos enquanto a maioria dos outros Iroquois se alinha com os britânicos. Os Mohawks logo fugiram para o Canadá e as grandes fracções das comunidades iroquesas ocidentais foram eventualmente também deslocadas pela luta. A Liga dos Iroquois foi dissolvida.

Após a Dissolução da Liga.

Muitos Iroquois se estabeleceram em reservas canadenses concedidas após a guerra por um governo inglês grato. Outros permaneceram em novas reservas no centro e oeste de Nova York, sob a proteção do Tratado Canandaigua de 1794 e outros acordos. Enquanto os Tuscaroras e quatro das cinco nações iroquesas originais obtiveram status de reserva, os Mohawks não retornaram. Sua única presença em Nova York estava na pequena reserva-reserva de St. Regis (Akwesasne), que se esconde entre os limites de Nova York, Ontário e Quebec.

A Liga dos Iroquois foi recriada tanto em Onondaga em Nova York quanto na Reserva das Seis Nações em Ontário, mas nenhum avivamento poderia esperar exercer muito poder diante dos governos dos EUA e do Canadá. A pobreza e o alcoolismo sobre as reservas provocaram um avivamento religioso nativo em 1799. O profeta do avivamento atualizado da crença tradicional iroquesa foi o Lago Handsome, um Seneca. A religião Handsome Lake eventualmente se espalhou para a maioria das outras comunidades iroquesas e continua a fornecer tanto um ponto de reunião como uma fonte de controvérsia em muitos deles.

As terras de reserva Iroquois foram reduzidas através de transições e negócios de terras no século XIX. A legalidade de algumas dessas cessões ainda estava sendo discutida nos tribunais no início do século XXI. A few gains were also realized by the Iroquois, and by the end of the twentieth century, there were even two new Mohawk communities in eastern New York. The Senecas remained on three reservations in western New York, while the Tuscaroras, Onondagas, and Oneidas had one each. The Cayugas had a small presence and claims on a larger one. The Oneidas, who had close relatives on a reservation in Wisconsin and a reserve in Ontario, pursued a land claim and had business success in casino operations. Many other Iroquois lived on reserves in Canada.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Fenton, William N. The Great Law and the Longhouse: A Political History of the Iroquois Confederacy. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. For the serious reader, a masterpiece by the dean of Iroquoian scholars.

Morgan, Lewis Henry. League of the Iroquois. New York: Corinth Books, 1962. Originally published in 1851 as League of the Ho-dé-no-sau-nee or Iroquois.

Snow, Dean R. The Iroquois. Cambridge, U. K.: Blackwell, 1994. The best place to start for the general reader.

Sturtevant, William C., gen. ed. The Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15, Northeast. Edited by Bruce G. Trigger. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1978. This volume is the best single source for the Algonquian and Iroquoian speaking tribes of the Northeast.

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The Iroquois were a Native North American confederacy of five nations whose aboriginal territory included much of upstate New York. The Iroquois thought of this territory as a longhouse, a rectangular multifamily dwelling with a door at each end and a series of hearths in the aisle that ran the length of the dwelling. Each of the five Iroquois nations occupied one of the five fireplaces in this metaphorical longhouse. From east to west these were the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, and the Seneca. As the western-most nation in the Iroquois longhouse, the Senecas were considered the “ Doorkeepers of the Confederacy ” and the Mohawks are often styled the “ Keepers of the Eastern Door. ” Iroquois refer to themselves as Haudenosaunee (with variant spellings) meaning, roughly, “ people of the longhouse, ” a designation many contemporary Haudenosaunee prefer. Iroquois was the name utilized by the French; the English usually referred to the confederacy as the Five (later, Six) Nations.

At the time of contact with Europeans the Iroquois lived in large villages consisting of elm-bark longhouses, each housing a number of families. Surrounding the village were fields in which the women planted the “ three sisters ” & # x2017; corn, beans, and squash. These crops were the staples of Iroquois diet.

Each of the Iroquois nations was divided into exogamous matrilineal clans. The Wolf, Bear, and Turtle clans were found in all five nations; five or six additional clans were found among the Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. The clans were further divided into matrilineages, each headed by a senior female, the lineage matron. Some of these lineage matrons enjoyed considerable political power. The Iroquois Confederacy Council consisted of fifty positions, each hereditary within a matrilineage. The lineage matron appointed a male member of her matrilineage to that position and had the right to depose him if he proved negligent or incompetent in that role.

Dean Snow estimated the Iroquois population as almost 22,000 in 1630, prior to their first experience of smallpox (Snow 1994, p. 110). Diseases introduced to North America from Europe took a terrible toll in Iroquoia, but these population losses were to some degree offset by the Iroquois practice of adopting war captives and incorporating refugee populations. One refugee group, the Tuscarora, arrived in the 1720s, and after their arrival the confederacy was often known to the English as the Six Nations.

Initially the Iroquois established a strong trading relationship with the Dutch colony of New Netherland. The Iroquois quickly adopted elements of European culture such as brass kettles and steel axes and knives. These economic and political ties continued after the English replaced the Dutch as governors of the colony, having renamed it New York.

Occupying a highly strategic position between the English colonies on the Atlantic Coast and the French in Canada, the Iroquois usually maintained neutrality between the two colonial powers. On occasion Mohawks took the field as allies to the British whereas the Senecas, close to the French trading post at Niagara, sometimes fought beside the French. There were several Mohawk colonies on the St. Lawrence River established by converts to Catholicism who were persuaded by their Jesuit priests to migrate to a locale remote from English influences. These people, from the founding of their communities in the 1670s, consistently fought as allies to the French.

By the outbreak of the American Revolution the Iroquois had largely abandoned the multifamily bark longhouses and were living in smaller houses, often log cabins. The Mohawks had converted to the Church of England. The Oneida were heavily influenced by the New England missionary Samuel Kirkland (1741 ‘ 1808). Those nations farther to the west were not yet Christian, but their towns closely resembled those of the non-Indian inhabitants of the frontier.

The American Revolution divided the Iroquois Confederacy. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras aided the supporters of the Continental Congress; Mohawks, Cayugas, and Senecas (and later the Onondagas) fought as allies to the British. The treaty that ended that conflict in 1783 made no provisions for the Indian allies of the Crown, and Britain surrendered all interests in the Iroquois homeland south of Lake Ontario. Many Iroquois moved north of the new American border to lands secured for them by Quebec governor Frederick Haldimand. These lands included the Tyendinaga Mohawk Reserve (or Territory) on the Bay of Quint é and the Six Nations Reserve on the Grand River, both in what is now Ontario. The latter was settled predominantly by Mohawks, Cayugas, and Onondagas. Most of the Senecas remained in New York State, and a series of treaties (Fort Stanwix [1784], Canandaigua [1794], and Big Tree [1797]) established several reservations, of which Allegany, Cattaraugus, Oil Spring, and Tonawanda remain in Seneca hands. The Onondaga Nation retains territory near Syracuse, New York, but Cayuga and Oneida lands in New York were purchased through treaties of questionable legality with the State of New York. The larger portion of the Oneidas migrated to lands secured in Wisconsin and Ontario early in the nineteenth century.

In 1799 a Seneca, Handsome Lake (1735 ‘ 1815), experienced a vision that led him to preach a message of both nativism and reform that established the contemporary practice of traditional Iroquois (or Longhouse) religion. Anthony F. C. Wallace ’ s ethnohistorical analysis of these events formed the basis of anthropological understanding of revitalization movements (Wallace 1970).

In the 1840s Lewis H. Morgan pursued personal contacts, particularly through a bilingual Seneca youth, Ely S. Parker, among the Tonawanda Senecas to compile what has been touted as the first ethnographic monograph describing a Native North American culture (Morgan 1851).

Any estimate of current Iroquois population is subject to error, but a compilation of numbers of those formally enrolled in various Iroquois communities between 1990 and 2000 states that 16,829 are enrolled in New York Iroquois communities, 42,857 belong to communities in Ontario, 10,831 are enrolled in Quebec Iroquois bands, 11,000 belong to the Wisconsin Oneida community, and 2,460 belong to a Seneca-Cayuga group that resides in Oklahoma (Lex and Abler 2004, p. 744).

Some Iroquois communities have pursued land claims for nearly two centuries (see Vecsey and Starna 1988), seeking the return or compensation for lands felt to be fraudulently taken. These claims have led to violent clashes with authorities, as at Ganienkeh in northern New York in the 1970s and at Kanesatake outside Montreal in 1990. Legalized gambling and other economic activities have also deeply divided many communities, creating internal conflicts that have led in some cases to violence, arson, and even deaths.

See also: Eastern Woodlands Indians.

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Ir·o·quois / ˈirəˌkwoi / • n. ( pl. same) 1. a member of a former confederacy of North American Indian peoples originally comprising the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca peoples (known as the Five Nations ), and later including also the Tuscarora (thus forming the Six Nations ). 2. any of the Iroquoian languages. • adj. of or relating to the Iroquois or their languages.

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Ir·o·quoi·an / ˈirəˌkwoiən / • n. a language family of eastern North America, including the languages of the Five Nations, Tuscarora, Huron, Wyandot, and Cherokee. With the exception of Cherokee, all its members are extinct or nearly so. • adj. of or relating to the Iroquois people or the Iroquoian language family.

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Iroquoian (Ĭr´əkwoi´ən) , branch of Native North American languages belonging to the Hokan-Siouan linguistic family, or stock, of North and Central America. See Native American languages.

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Iroquoian • Brian , cyan, Gaian, Geminian, Hawaiian, ion, iron, Ixion, lion, Lyon, Mayan, Narayan, O'Brien, Orion, Paraguayan, prion, Ryan, scion, Uruguayan, Zion •andiron • gridiron , midiron •dandelion • anion • Bruneian • cation , flatiron • gowan , Palawan, rowen • anthozoan , bryozoan, Goan, hydrozoan, Minoan, protozoan, protozoon, rowan, Samoan, spermatozoon •Ohioan • Chicagoan • Virgoan •Idahoan • doyen , Illinoisan, Iroquoian • Ewan , Labuan, McEwan, McLuhan, Siouan •Saskatchewan • Papuan • Paduan •Nicaraguan • gargantuan • carbon , chlorofluorocarbon, graben, hydrocarbon, Laban, radiocarbon •ebon • Melbourne • Theban • gibbon , ribbon • Brisbane , Lisbon •Tyburn • auburn , Bourbon •Alban • Manitoban • Cuban •stubborn • Durban , exurban, suburban, turban, urban.

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Haudenosaunee Development Institute.

Represents HCCC interests in the development of lands within areas of Haudenosaunee jurisdiction.

Haudenosaunee Documentation Committee.

Official voice of the HCCC on border crossing documentation issues.

Haudenosaunee Wildlife & Habitat Committee.

Tasked with the management of wildlife resources.

Haudenosaunee Repatriation Committee.

Haudenosaunee Repatriation Committe.

Tasked with retrieving sacred objects for the nations of the confederacy and redistributing them to the individual nations.

Joint Stewardship Board.

Responsibile for ensuring cooperation and successful continuation of environmental management plans for the Red Hill Valley.

HAUDENOSAUNEE CONFEDERACY.

Welcome to the official website of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Through generations of attempted assimilation the nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy have held fast to their cultures and traditions.

NOTICIAS & EVENTOS.

HCCC Financial Report - Special Edition.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC) are pleased to announce that the 2018-2018 audit of its Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) undertaken by KPMG is a clean audit reflecting its financial position, as at March 31, 2018.

1d. The Iroquois Tribes.

The Masssachusetts Mohawk Trail began as a Native American footpath used for trade, hunting, and social calling by five tribes, including the Pocumtuck and the Mohawk.

The Iroquois people have inhabited the areas of Ontario and upstate New York for well over 4,000 years.

Technically speaking, "Iroquois" refers to a language rather than a particular tribe. In fact, the Iroquois consisted of five tribes prior to European colonization. Their society serves as an outstanding example of political and military organization, complex lifestyle, and an elevated role of women.

Mohawk Indian chief Joseph Brant served as a spokesman for his people, a Christian missionary of the Anglican church, and a British military officer during the Revolutionary War.

Governance and War.

Until the 1500s, the five tribes of the Iroquois devoted much energy toward fighting and killing each other. According to oral tradition , it was about this time that they came to their senses and united into a powerful confederation.

The five tribes designed quite an elaborate political system. This included a bicameral (two-house) legislature, much like the British Parliament and modern U. S. Congress. The representatives, or sachems , from the Seneca and Mohawk tribes met in one house and those of the Oneida and Cayuga met in the other. The Onondaga sachems broke ties and had the power to veto decisions made by the others. There was an unwritten constitution that described these proceedings at least as early as 1590. Such a complex political arrangement was unknown in Europe at that time.

Roots have spread out from the Tree of the Great Peace, one to the north, one to the east, one to the south and one to the west. The name of these roots is The Great White Roots and their nature is Peace and Strength.

The soil of the earth from one end of the land to the other is the property of the people who inhabit it. By birthright the Ongwehonweh (original beings) are the owners of the soil which they own and occupy and none other may hold it. The same law has been held from the oldest times. The Great Creator has made us of the one blood and of the same soil he made us and as only different tongues constitute different nations he established different hunting grounds and territories and made boundary lines between them.

Whenever a foreign nation is conquered or has by their own will accepted the Great Peace their own system of internal government may continue, but they must cease all warfare against other nations.

The women of every clan of the Five Nations shall have a Council Fire ever burning in readiness for a council of the clan. When in their opinion it seems necessary for the interest of the people they shall hold a council and their decisions and recommendations shall be introduced before the Council of the Lords by the War Chief for its consideration.

Although the tribes began to work together, they surely did not renounce war. They fought and captured other native tribes as well as wave after wave of European immigrants who presented themselves. They fought the early French and British settlers. During the French and Indian War they remained officially neutral, but would join either side to exploit an advantage. Both sides courted Iroquois support during the Revolution. As a result, there was a split in the Confederacy for the first time in over 200 years. Iroquois fought Iroquois once more.

Iroquois Society.

The Iroquoi Tribes, also known as the Haudenosuanee, are known for many things. But they are best known for their longhouses. Each longhouse was home to many members of a Haudenosuanee family.

The longhouse was the center of Iroquois life. Archaeologists have unearthed longhouse remains that extend more than the length of a football field.

Agriculture was the main source of food. In Iroquois society, women held a special role. Believed to be linked to the earth's power to create life, women determined how the food would be distributed — a considerable power in a farming society.

Women were also responsible for selecting the sachems for the Confederacy. Iroquois society was matrilineal ; when a marriage transpired, the family moved into the longhouse of the mother, and family lineage was traced from her.

The Iroquois society proved to be the most persistent military threat the European settlers would face. Although conquest and treaty forced them to cede much of their land, their legacy lingers. Some historians even attribute some aspects of the structure of our own Constitution to Iroquois ideas. In fact, one of America's greatest admirers of the Iroquois was none other than Benjamin Franklin.

This webpage gives an introduction to the traditional Iroquois view of the world. Look for the links to the Iroquois Constitution, oral tradition and information about the literature of individual Iroquois nations.

The official site of the Oneida Nation which calls itself "Proud and Progressive." Spend some time here and you'll understand why they're so proud of their heritage .

Beautifully crafted wampum belts were often created to record important agreements. The Hiawatha belt memorialized the union of independent nations under the Iroquois Confederacy. It and several others are pictured here, with annotated links to more information.

The modern Haudenosaunee people seek to promote peace both within their community and with the world around them. This website, "Peace 4 Turtle Island," discusses the history and culture of the Haudenosaunee people. The six groups that form the large organization are each given their own link, complete with a history of that tribe. Other links lead to in-depth examinations of the Haudenosaunee heritage. Topics include cultural sensitivity, Haudenosaunee clothing, and longhouses.

Print out one page and create your own Iroquois Paper doll.

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Este trabalho da The Independence Hall Association é licenciado sob uma licença Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.

Iroquois.

ETHNONYMS: Five Nations, League of the Iroquois, Six Nations.

Orientation.

Identificação. The League of the Iroquois was originally a confederacy of five North American Indian tribes: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined the League in 1722 after migrating north from the region of the Roanoke River in response to hostilities with White colonists. In the 1980s members of the six Iroquoian tribes lived in Quebec and Ontario, Canada, and New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma in the United States.

Localização. On the eve of European contact the Iroquois territory extended from Lake Champlain and Lake George west to the Genesee River and Lake Ontario and from the St. Lawrence River south to the Susquehanna River. Within these boundaries each of the original five tribes occupied a north-south oblong strip of territory; from east to west, they were the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. The region was primarily lake and hill country dissected by numerous rivers. Deciduous forests of birch, beech, maple, and elm dominated the region, giving way to fir and spruce forests in the north and in the higher elevations of the Adirondack Mountains. In aboriginal times fish and animal species were diverse and abundant.

Demography. In 1600 the population of the Five Nations is estimated to have been about fifty-five hundred and that of the Tuscarora about five thousand. By 1904 the six Iroquois tribes numbered at least sixteen thousand, not including several thousand persons of mixed blood. In the 1980s the total population of the six tribes was estimated to be over twenty thousand.

linguistic Affiliation. The languages of the six tribes are classified in the Northern Iroquoian branch of the Iroquoian language family. The languages of all six tribes are still spoken.

History and Cultural Relations.

The Iroquoian confederacy was organized sometime between 1400 and 1600 for the purpose of maintaining peaceful relations between the five constituent tribes. Subsequent to European contact relations within the confederacy were sometimes strained as each of the five tribes sought to expand and maintain its own interests in the developing fur trade. For the most part, however, the fur trade served to strengthen the confederacy because tribal interests often complemented one another and all gained from acting in concert. The League was skillful at playing French and English interests off against one another to its advantage and thereby was able to play a major role in the economic and political events of northEastern North America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Iroquois aggressively maintained and expanded their role in the fur trade and as a result periodically found themselves at war with their neighbors, such as the Huron, Petun, and the Neutral to the west and the Susquehannock to the south. Much of the fighting was done by the Seneca, the most powerful of the Iroquoian tribes.

From 1667 to the 1680s the Iroquois maintained friendly relations with the French, and during this time Jesuit missions were established among each of the five tribes. Iroquois aggression and expansion, however, eventually brought them into conflict with the French and, at the same time, into closer alliance with the English. In 1687, 1693, and 1696 French military expeditions raided and burned Iroquois Villages and fields. During Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) the Iroquois allied with the English and at the war's end were acknowledged to be British subjects, though they continued to aggressively maintain and extend their middleman role Between English traders at Fort Orange (Albany) and native groups farther west. The victory of the English over the French in North America in 1763 weakened the power of the Confederacy by undermining the strategic economic and Political position of the tribes and by promoting the rapid Expansion of White settlement.

When the American Revolution broke out in 1775 neither the League as a whole nor even the tribes individually were able to agree on a common course of action. Most of the Iroquois allied with the British and as a result during and after the Revolution were forced from their homelands. In the period following the American Revolution the members of the Iroquois tribes settled on reservations in western New York state, southern Quebec, and southern Ontario, where many of their descendants remain today.

Settlements.

Villages were built on elevated terraces in close proximity to streams or lakes and were secured by log palisades. Village populations ranged between three hundred and six hundred persons. Typically, an enclosed village included numerous longhouses and several acres of fields for growing crops; surrounding the village were several hundred more acres of cropland. Longhouses were constructed of log posts and poles and covered with a sheathing of elm bark; they averaged twenty-five feet in width and eighty feet in length, though some exceeded two hundred feet in length. Villages were semiPermanent and in use year round. When soil fertility in the fields declined and firewood in the vicinity became scarce, the Village was moved to a new site. This was a gradual process, with the new village being built as the old one was gradually abandoned. The settlements of the five tribes lay along an eastwest axis and were connected by a system of trails.

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Traditionally, the Iroquois were farmers and hunters who practiced a slash-and-burn form of horticulture. In addition, they fished and gathered berries, plants, and roots. Before the arrival of Europeans the primary weapons were bows and arrows, stone axes, knives, and blowguns; however, by the late seventeenth Century European trade goods had almost completely replaced the traditional weapons and tools. The principal crops were maize, beans, and squash which, in addition, were prominent in ceremonial activities. In good years surplus crops were dried and stored for future use. After the harvest of crops in the late summer, the seasonal round included fall hunting that lasted until the winter solstice, early spring fishing and hunting of passenger pigeons, and then spring and summer clearing and planting of fields. Farming has now been largely abandoned by the Iroquois, although the annual cycle of festivals and ceremonies associated with planting, harvesting, and other traditional economic activities persist. In the 1980s most Iroquois who are employed work off the reservations Because economic opportunities are so limited on them. Some men, for example, work in high steel construction, which has been an important source of employment for the Iroquois since the late nineteenth century.

Industrial Arts. The Iroquois knew how to bend and shape wood when green or after steaming. House frames, pack frames, snowshoes, toboggans, basket rims, lacrosse sticks, and other wood products were made using these techniques. Rope was made from the inner bark of hickory, basswood, and slippery elm, and burden straps and prisoner ties were made from the braided fibers of nettle, milkweed, and hemp. Pipes of fired clay were among the many types of items manufactured by the Iroquois. They are known for making ash and maple splint baskets, although this craft may be of European origin.

Comércio. Long before European contact the Iroquois, as mentioned above, were involved in an intricate trade network with other native groups. Clay pipes were an important trade item that reached other native groups all along the east coast of North America. The aggressive behavior the Iroquois exhibited toward their neighbors during the fur trade period has been interpreted by some as the result of their aim to protect and expand their middleman role. Others have suggested that the behavior was related to the scarcity of furs in their own territory and the resulting difficulty in obtaining European trade goods. According to this theory, the Iroquois warred primarily to obtain the trade goods of their neighbors who were in closer contact with Europeans. After the center of fur trading activities had moved farther west, the Iroquois continued to play an important role as voyageurs and trappers.

Division of Labor. Traditionally, men hunted and fished, built houses, cleared fields for planting, and were responsible for trade and warfare. In addition, men had the more visible roles in tribal and confederacy politics. Farming was the responsibility of women, whose work also included gathering wild foods, rearing children, preparing food, and making clothing and baskets and other utensils.

Land Tenure. Matrilineages were the property-holding unit in traditional Iroquoian society.

Kin Groups and Descent. Matrilineages were organized into fifteen matrisibs. Among the Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora, the matrisibs were further organized into moieties. Among the Mohawk and the Oneida, no Moiety division was recognized. Descent was matrilineal. In Modern times, the stress placed on patrilineal inheritance by Canadian authorities has undermined the traditional system.

Kinship Terminology. Traditional kinship terminology followed the Iroquoian pattern. In one's own and the first ascending and descending generations parallel relatives were classed with one's lineal relatives and cross relatives were referred to separately.

Marriage and Family.

Marriage. At one time marriages were a matter of Individual choice, but in the historic period the matrilineage, particularly the mother, played an increasingly important role in the arrangement of marriages. Postmarital residence was matrilocal. Polygyny was practiced, but by the late eighteenth century had entirely disappeared. Divorce was possible, and when it occurred the mother retained full control over her children.

Domestic Unit. The basic economic unit consisted of matrilineally extended family groups of women, their spouses, and their children. Each extended family group occupied a longhouse within which individual nuclear families occupied designated sections and shared common hearths. Each longhouse was under the control and direction of the elder women in the extended family group.

Inheritance. Traditionally, property was inherited Matrilineally. In the 1980s matrilineal inheritance continued to be practiced among Iroquois on reservations in the United States, but not so for those in Canada, where the government has enforced a patrilineal system of inheritance.

Socialization. The life cycle pattern of the Iroquois is not well understood. There was a clear dividing line between the activities of men and women and the ideals of male and female behavior, and roles were communicated to children by elders through oral traditions. Except for those who achieved political office, no formalized rites of passage marked the transition to adulthood for boys or girls.

Sociopolitical Organization.

Social Organization. The members of matrisibs cooperated in economic activities and were obligated to avenge the death or injury of any other member. Moieties had reciprocal and complementary ceremonial functions and competed against one another in games. Matrisibs cut across tribal boundaries so that members were found in each tribe and Village and often within each longhouse.

Political Organization. The Iroquois confederacy operated under a council of fifty sachems representing the five original tribes. When the Tuscarora joined the League in 1722, no new sachem positions were created for it. The Council was a legislative, executive, and judicial body that deliberated only on the external affairs of the confederacy, such as peace and war, and on matters common to the five constituent tribes. The council had no voice in the internal affairs of the separate tribes. Tribal representation on the council was unequally distributed among the five tribes, although abuse of power was limited by the requirement of unanimity in all council decisions. Below the level of the League council were separate tribal councils concerned with the internal affairs of each tribe and each tribe's relations with external groups. The tribal council was composed of the sachems who represented the tribe on the League council. Sachem positions were hereditary within each tribe and belonged to particular matrisibs. The women of the matrisib nominated each new sachem, who was always a male, and had the power to recall or "dehorn" a chief who failed to represent the interests of his people. Theoretically, each sachem was equal to the others in power, but in practice those with better oratorical skills wielded greater influence. After the confederacy had been functioning for a period of time a new, nonhereditary office of pine tree chief was created to provide local leadership and to act as adviser to the council sachems, although later they actually sat on the League council and equaled the sachems in power. Pine tree chiefs held their position for life and were chosen by the women of a matrisib on the basis of skill in warfare. Iroquois involvement in the fur trade and war with the French increased the importance and solidarity of the League council and thereby strengthened the confederacy. Its strength continued to grow until the time of the American Revolution when Iroquois alliances were divided between the British and the American colonists.

Social Control. Part-time religious specialists known as keepers of the faith served in part to censure antisocial behavior. Unconfessed witches detected through council proceedings were punished with death, while those who confessed might be allowed to reform.

Conflict. Witchcraft was the most serious type of antisocial behavior. The Iroquois believed that witches, in concert with the Evil Spirit, could cause disease, accident, death, or other misfortune. Because witches were thought to be able to transform themselves into other objects, they were difficult to catch and punish.

Religion and Expressive Culture.

Religious Beliefs. The supernatural world of the Iroquois included numerous deities, the most important of which was Great Spirit, who was responsible for the creation of human beings, the plants and animals, and the forces of good in nature. The Iroquois believed that Great Spirit indirectly guided the lives of ordinary people. Other important deities were Thunderer and the Three Sisters, the spirits of Maize, Beans, and Squash. Opposing the Great Spirit and the other forces of good were Evil Spirit and other lesser spirits responsible for disease and other misfortune. In the Iroquois view ordinary humans could not communicate directly with Great Spirit, but could do so indirectly by burning tobacco, which carried their prayers to the lesser spirits of good. The Iroquois regarded dreams as important supernatural signs, and serious attention was given to interpreting dreams. It was believed that dreams expressed the desire of the soul, and as a result the fulfillment of a dream was of paramount importance to the individual.

Around 1800 a Seneca sachem named Handsome Lake received a series of visions which he believed showed the way for the Iroquois to regain their lost cultural integrity and promised supernatural aid to all those who followed him. The Handsome Lake religion emphasized many traditional elements of Iroquoian culture, but also incorporated Quaker beliefs and aspects of White culture. In the 1960s, at least half of the Iroquoian people accepted the Handsome Lake Religion.

Religious Practitioners. Full-time religious specialists were absent; however, there were part-time male and female specialists known as keepers of the faith whose primary responsibilities were to arrange and conduct the main religious ceremonies. Keepers of the faith were appointed by matrisib elders and were accorded considerable prestige.

Ceremonies. Religious ceremonies were tribal affairs Concerned primarily with farming, curing illness, and thanksgiving. In the sequence of occurrence, the six major ceremonies were the Maple, Planting, Strawberry, Green Maize, Harvest, and Mid-Winter or New Year's festivals. The first five in this sequence involved public confessions followed by group Ceremonies which included speeches by the keepers of the faith, tobacco offerings, and prayer. The New Year's festival was usually held in early February and was marked by dream interpretations and the sacrifice of a white dog offered to purge the people of evil.

Artes. One of the most interesting Iroquoian art forms is the False Face Mask. Used in the curing ceremonies of the False Face Societies, the masks are made of maple, white pine, basswood, and poplar. False Face Masks are first carved in a living tree, then cut free and painted and decorated. The masks represent spirits who reveal themselves to the mask maker in a prayer and tobacco-burning ritual performed Before the mask is carved.

Medicine. Illness and disease were attributed to supernatural causes. Curing ceremonies consisted of group shamanistic practices directed toward propitiating the responsible Supernatural agents. One of the curing groups was the False Face Society. These societies were found in each village and, except for a female keeper of the false faces who protected the ritual paraphernalia, consisted only of male members who had dreamed of participation in False Face ceremonies.

Death and Afterlife. When a sachem died and his successor was nominated and confirmed, the other tribes of the League were informed and the League council met to perform a condolence ceremony in which the deceased sachem was mourned and the new sachem was installed. The sachem's condolence ceremony was still held on Iroquois reservations in the 1970s. Condolence ceremonies were also practiced for common people. In early historic times the dead were buried in a sitting position facing east. After the burial, a captured bird was released in the belief that it carried away the spirit of the deceased. In earlier times the dead were left exposed on a wooden scaffolding, and after a time their bones were deposited in a special house of the deceased. The Iroquois believed, as some continue to believe today, that after death the soul embarked on a journey and series of ordeals that ended in the land of the dead in the sky world. Mourning for the dead lasted a year, at the end of which time the soul's journey was believed to be complete and a feast was held to signify the soul's arrival in the land of the dead.

Bibliografia.

Fenton, William N. (1971). "The Iroquois in History." In North American Indians in Historical Perspective, edited by Eleanor B. Leacock and Nancy O. Lurie, 129-168. New York: Random House.

Fenton, William N. (1978). "Northern Iroquoian Culture Patterns." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15, Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, 296-321. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Morgan, Lewis H. (1901). League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois. Edited by Herbert M. Lloyd. 2 vols. New York: Dodd, Mead. Originally published, 1851.

Oswalt, Wendell H. (1966). "The Iroquois." In This Und Was Theirs: A Study of North American Indians, edited by Wendell H. Oswalt, 397-461. New York: John Wiley.

Tooker, Elisabeth (1978). The League of the Iroquois: Its History, Politics, and Ritual. In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15, Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, 418-441. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.

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IROQUOIS. The Iroquois of the seventeenth century were a confederation of five closely related but separate nations: the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Around the year 1500, these were independent nations speaking related languages that were arrayed in the order given from east to west across what became upstate New York. They were related to other Iroquoian-speaking nations and confederacies of the interior Northeast, namely the Neutrals, Petuns, Hurons, Wenros, Eries, and Susquehannocks. Even closer linguistic relatives, the Tuscaroras and Meherrins, lived in interior North Carolina. Iroquoians began expanding northward into what are now New York and Ontario beginning around a. d. 600. They were horticulturalists attracted by improved climatic conditions and fertile glacial soils, and they absorbed or displaced the thinner hunter-gatherer populations they encountered. The expansion also cut off the Eastern Algonquian-speaking peoples of the Northeast from the Central Algonquians of the Great Lakes basin.

Iroquois Communities.

The ancestral Iroquois depended upon maize, beans, and squash as staples. Wild plant and animal foods supplemented this diet and deer hides provided most of their clothing prior to the introduction of trade cloth. Communities appear to have been organized along matrilineal lines from an early date. Communal households were led by senior women whose sisters and daughters comprised its social framework. Men moved to their wives' houses when they married. This household form eventually led to the emergence of the classic Iroquois longhouse, a segmented structure that accommodated pairs of nuclear families that shared common hearths in individual compartments. A single long aisle connected compartments,

which were added to the ends of the longhouses as new marriages required.

Iroquois longhouse villages of the seventeenth century were compact and densely populated communities that could hold up to two thousand people before becoming politically unstable. They were lived in year round, but were designed to last only a decade or two. Without large domesticated animals and the fertilizer they might have provided, fields became unproductive after a few years. In addition, local firewood supplies became exhausted and longhouses were strained by changes in family age and composition. These pressures led to relocations, often to places just a few miles away. If displaced by warfare, Iroquois villagers moved much greater distances, a practice that accounts for their colonization of new regions and the clustering of village sites around those destinations as the result of subsequent shorter moves.

Warfare and the League of Iroquois.

Both archaeology and oral tradition point to a period of internecine warfare in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

By the latter part of the sixteenth century, the League of the Iroquois (Hodenosaunee) developed as a mutual nonaggression pact between the five Iroquois nations. This did not stop regional warfare, but it allowed the Iroquois nations to redirect their aggression toward other nations and emerging confederacies in the region. The Iroquois numbered around 22,000 by this time. By the middle of the seventeenth century, they had destroyed or dispersed the Huron, Neutral, and Erie confederacies as well as the independent Petun and Wenro nations. The Susquehannocks held out only a few years longer.

The Iroquois League, and the political confederacy that it eventually became, was founded on existing clan structure and funerary ritual. Leading clan segments from each of the five constituent nations provided league chiefs (sachems) who met frequently to maintain internal peace and discuss external affairs. Much of the earlier violence had been predicated on the shared assumption that most deaths were deliberately caused by enemies. Even what might otherwise have been considered natural deaths were usually attributed to witchcraft, which prompted cycles of revenge violence. Thus, a principal activity of the league chiefs was mutual condolence designed to stop cycles of revenge-motivated warfare. The vehicle for this was elaborate funerary ritual and the prompt raising up of new leaders to replace deceased ones. Replacements assumed the names of the deceased, providing both continuity and comfort to the bereaved.

Relations with Europeans.

Smallpox and other diseases devastated the Iroquois beginning about 1634. The nations survived by taking in large numbers of refugees. Some of these were displaced from New England and other parts of the eastern seaboard that were experiencing European colonization. Many others were the remnants of nations that the Iroquois had defeated in war. The immigrants replaced lost relatives, often taking on their identities.

The Iroquois became the principal native power brokers in the colonial Northeast, treating first, in 1615, with the Dutch on the Hudson River and the French on the St. Lawrence River. After the English seized New Netherland in 1664 they forged a "covenant chain" with the Iroquois, principally through the Mohawks, who lived closest to Albany. French Jesuit missionaries established missions in several Iroquois villages. When the Jesuits retreated back to New France in the face of English expansion they took many Mohawks, Onondagas, and some other Iroquois with them.

The Iroquois also made peace with the French at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and successfully played the two colonial powers off each other until the English expelled the French from North America in 1763, after the French and Indian War. The Iroquois survived the war politically intact despite the fact that while many were allied with the English, Catholic Mohawks and other pro-French Iroquois fought with the other side. By that time, the Iroquois had absorbed many native refugees, both individually and as whole nations. The Tuscaroras moved north in the early part of the eighteenth century to become a sixth member of the confederacy. A large fraction of the Delawares were absorbed as a dependent nation in the mid-eighteenth century. The Tutelo refugees took shelter in New York under Iroquois protection at about the same time, with other refugee communities doing the same soon after. By this time, the traditional longhouses had been replaced by dispersed communities of individual cabins.

The American Revolution shattered the Iroquois confederacy. Most Oneidas sided with the colonists while most other Iroquois aligned with the British. The Mohawks soon fled to Canada and large fractions of western Iroquois communities were eventually also displaced by the fighting. The League of the Iroquois was dissolved.

After the League's Dissolution.

Many Iroquois took up residence on Canadian reserves awarded to them after the war by a grateful English government. Others remained on new reservations in central and western New York, under the protection of the Canandaigua Treaty of 1794 and other agreements. While the Tuscaroras and four of the five original Iroquois nations achieved reservation status, the Mohawks did not return. Their only presence in New York was on the small St. Regis (Akwesasne) reservation-reserve, which straddles the New York, Ontario, and Quebec boundaries.

The League of the Iroquois was recreated both at Onondaga in New York and on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, but neither revival could hope to wield much power in the face of the U. S. and Canadian governments. Poverty and alcoholism on the reservations prompted a native religious revival in 1799. The prophet of the updated revival of Iroquois traditional belief was Handsome Lake, a Seneca. The Handsome Lake religion eventually spread to most other Iroquois communities and continues to provide both a rallying point and a source of controversy in many of them.

Iroquois reservation lands were reduced through the course of relocations and land deals in the nineteenth century. The legality of some these cessions were still being argued in courts in the early twenty-first century. A few gains were also realized by the Iroquois, and by the end of the twentieth century, there were even two new Mohawk communities in eastern New York. The Senecas remained on three reservations in western New York, while the Tuscaroras, Onondagas, and Oneidas had one each. The Cayugas had a small presence and claims on a larger one. The Oneidas, who had close relatives on a reservation in Wisconsin and a reserve in Ontario, pursued a land claim and had business success in casino operations. Many other Iroquois lived on reserves in Canada.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Morgan, Lewis Henry. League of the Iroquois. New York: Corinth Books, 1962. Originally published in 1851 as League of the Ho-dé-no-sau-nee or Iroquois.

Snow, Dean R. The Iroquois. Cambridge, U. K.: Blackwell, 1994. The best place to start for the general reader.

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Thursday 22 February 2018

Sistema comercial iroquois

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