HIST2020: Colonies, Empire and Revolution: Shaun Gill: 2017727
British North America 1500 – 1800
Research Essay
‘What were the major experiences of Native Americans in the British American colonies (Focus on a specific tribe or band) in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries”
The Iroquois Tribe or The League of Five Iroquois Nations occupied the area of Ontario and up state New York for over 4,000 years. Up until the 1500’s the Iroquois were constantly engaged in small civil matters between tribes, fighting for land and dominance of power. This changed once the oral Iroquois Confederation was formed, merging the prominent tribes of Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca into one tribe known as the Five Iroquois Nation. The impact of the British – French colonization of The Americas had huge implications for all Native American tribes, particularly that of Iroquois Nation. The colonizers “thirst for expansion” lead to various “encounters” with the Iroquois people, resulting with dramatic changes in territory, population, social and economic development. By examining the relationship between the colonizers and the Native American Iroquois Tribes,
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Originally, The Five Nations consisted of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, whose formation is roughly estimated around 1570. Before this time the Nation was divided by conflict, blood feuds and war amongst each other. This, as oral legend tells changed once a Huron Tribe shaman known as the “Peacemaker” appeared and quelled the fighting Nation, ushering them into internal peace. Later a sixth nation, the Tuscaroras, migrated into Iroquois country in the early eighteenth century due to the impact of French – British colonization and joined the Iroquois