The
Haudenosaunee
People Building a
Longhouse
What’s their real name?
 The French called them the Iroquois.
 The English called them the Five
Nations.
 They called themselves the
Haudenosaunee, which means
“People Building a Longhouse”.
Where did they
live?
 They lived in central New York
between the Genesee River
and Lake Champlain.
Lake Champlain
Genesee River
These are the five
nations:
 Seneca – Keeper of the Western Door
 Cayuga
 Onondaga – Keeper of the Central
Fire
 Oneida
 Mohawk – Keeper of the Eastern
Door
Why the 5 nations joined
together

For years the native people lived in
constant fear of the fighting that was always
taking place between the different tribal
groups.
– They fought over hunting and fishing areas.
– They fought to prove strength and bravery.
– They fought to compete over trade routes.
– They fought for revenge.
The Great Law of Peace
 The basis for this law is that
thinking and negotiation can
replace violence and warfare as a
means for settling disputes.
 Why would they want to do this?
The Iroquois Confederacy
 As a group, the Iroquois Confederacy agreed to:
– Live in peace with each other.
– Share their hunting and fishing grounds.
– Fight together against their enemies.
 The Iroquois became very powerful
– They used swift, strong attacks against their enemies.
– They used the waterways to travel quickly among the
tribes
– They were the first Native Americans to obtain guns
from the Europeans.
Village Life
The Haudenosaunee Village
 Longhouse villages were built in a cleared
area of forest near a source of fresh water.
– for drinking, cooking, washing.
– for easy travel.
– For a supply of food and other natural resources
(useful things found in nature).
 They moved their villages when the soil or
timber gave out.
Why do you think the
Haudenosaunee settled
in central New York,
based on this map?
 A village was made up of a dozen or so
longhouses clustered randomly around an open
area in the center of the village. The size
depended greatly on how much wild food was
available in the area.
 The village was surrounded by a “palisade”,
which was a wall-like fence made of sharp poles.
This was to protect the village from attack.
– Outside this wall was a deep trench.
– Usually there was only once entrance through this
palisade, and it was always well guarded.
The Longhouse
 The longhouse was made of a wooden
frame that was tied with deer tendons.
The frame was then covered with bark.
 The door was made of bark or animal
hides at one or both ends of the long
house.
 There was a hole cut in the roof to allow
light to come in and smoke to go out.
Inside the Longhouse
 There were rooms along each side, which
were the living spaces. In each space was
a platform for sitting or sleeping. There was
storage space beneath the platform and on
a loft above. The platform was covered with
bearskins.
 The area down the middle was the meeting
space. This is where the cook fires were.
 Corn and furs hung from the rafters of the
longhouse to dry.
Clans
 In each longhouse lived a clan, which was a
big family group that was related through
their mothers. Everyone in the clan could
trace their family history back to the same
woman
– Every clan had the name of an animal, which
was their symbol. This symbol was outside the
door of their longhouse.
 The Haudenosaunee clans were: turtle, wolf, bear,
beaver, deer, eagle, heron, snipe, hawk and eel
Roles
of
Men, Women
and
Children
The Role of Women in the Tribe
 Working in the fields; planting, growing, and
weeding and harvesting the crops.
 Gathering nuts, berries and maple sap
 Preparing all the food.
 Tanning animal skins and making and decorating
clothing.
 Weaving baskets, mats, pottery and other
household tools.
 Making twine out of elm bark, which they then
made into burden straps
– These were used to carry food baskets, cradle boards
and frames for carrying other heavy loads.
 Caring for the children.
 The woman who is the head of the clan
controls the food, selects the chief and
arranges marriages.
– If the man likes her choice, he goes to the other
clan and speaks to the mother of the woman. If
she approves, the marriage is on.
 Their children belong to the wife’s clan. He lives in
her longhouse, but spends a lot of time in his original
longhouse.
What foods did they prepare?
 Corn, squash and
beans, pumpkins
 Corn recipes
 Nuts and sunflower
seeds
 Strawberries,
raspberries,
blackberries
 Grapes, wild plums,
cherries and melons
 Bear, elk deer, wolf
 Rabbit
 Turkey, goose, duck,
heron
 Pigeon, partridge
 Maple syrup
Role of Men in the Tribe

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
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




Clearing the land for farming.
Building the longhouses.
Making tools, wooden bowls and weapons.
Making and repairing fish nets
Hunting and fishing.
Going to war and protecting the village.
Trading with other tribes.
Growing tobacco for ceremonies.
Representing the tribe at council meetings
Role of Children in the Tribe
 Helping their parents and learning from them.
–
–
–
–
Girls learn to make and play with little clay pots
Girls learn to pound dried corn into corn meal
Girls learn to help in the gardens and to prepare food.
Boys practice archery and other skills that help develop
coordination, sharp sight and good aims
– Boys learn to fish and snare animals
– Toddlers help fetch wood and water in small clay pots
 Playing games.
 Listening to stories.
 Learning not to complain about discomfort.
– They were bathed in cold lakes.
Ceremonies and
Festivals
 The Haudenosaunee believed that
ceremonies helped crops to grow, sick
people to get well, and helped hunters and
warriors be successful.
 They gave thanks for the beginning of
each new year. They gave thanks when
the maple sap began to flow, when berries
became ripe and when crops were planted
and harvested. They gave thanks after
the fall hunt. They gave thanks for their
ancestors and the wonders of nature.
 They taught their children to greet each
new day with a prayer of thanks.
Dreams
 The Haudenosaunee believed that dreams
were very important. They considered them
messages from supernatural beings.
 At their New Year’s Festival they had a ritual
called “Dream Guessing”.
– One person tells another part of a dream that
they’ve had. The neighbor has to guess the
rest. The first person can sing it, dance it or act
it out.
 The Iroquois also felt that dream guessing
allowed people to get rid of worries or
anger. For example, if one warrior acted
out his anger at another warrior, it would
help him get rid of the anger. Then it
wouldn’t build up inside him.
Why would this be good for the tribe?
Storytelling
 Because the Haudenosaunee had no
written language, their history was all
spoken and remembered. (They had very
good memories because of this!) They
also enjoyed telling and hearing these
stories as a form of entertainment.
 Some important things were recorded with
special beads called wampum.
Iroquois chiefs from the 6 nations reading
wampum belts in the 1870s.
Natural
Resources
Native People and the
Environment
 All native people cared very much for the
environment.
– They were careful not to use up the natural
resources, such as plants, animals and soil.
– Hunters asked silent permission from the
animals they killed and thanked them for
providing for the needs of their families. They
hunted in different places so they wouldn’t kill
too many animals in an area. They didn’t hunt
female animals whose babies were
depending on them.
Natural Resources: trees
 There was a lot of wood and bark
available in the forest for the
Haudenosaunee to use.
– Prayer sticks, ceremonial masks, hats,
shields, weapons, eating and cooking
utensils, toys, musical instruments,
snowshoes, cradleboards
– Longhouses, palisades, canoes
– Twine for thread to weave into fishnets, and
burdenstraps.
Natural Resources: earth
 Used fertile soil to grow crops.
– Corn, squash, beans
– Melons, sunflowers, pumpkins
– Tobacco (grown by the men for ceremonies)
 Clay, from the earth, was also easily
available.
– This could be made into pottery. Many designs
were added to this, and clans could make their
own special designs.
Natural Resources: animals
 Many animals were, of course, used for
food.
 Many furs could be used for clothing.
 Bones and horns could be used for tools
and weapons.
 Feathers could be used for decoration and
to make arrows fly.
 Porcupine quills could be used for
decorating clothing.
Deer were an especially useful
natural resource.
Jawbone: used to flatten quills
Teeth: used as jewelry or ornaments
Jawbone and teeth: Used to scrape corn off the
cob
Brain: Used to tan animal hides (it softened them.)
Antlers: Jewelry and tools
Hair: Headdress
Liver: food or tanning animal hides
Shoulder blade: hoe
Skin: clothes, bedding, bags, and rawhide rope
 Tail: white tails used to decorate headdresses
 Rib bones: sewing needles
 Intestines: used as a baby bottle, with a bird
quill as a nipple.
 Bladder: Used as a container to store liquids
and oils
 Leg bones: Used to scrape animal hides,
jewelry or to make other tools
 Fat: tanning process, emergency food
 Hooves and claws: jewelry or ornaments
 Tendons: thread
 Heart: food
The Iroquois Confederacy
was the first representative
government in America. The
men that designed our
government got many good
ideas by studying theirs.
League Council Meetings
 The League council met once a year in the
land of the Onondaga – Keeper of the
Council Fire.
– The meetings lasted for several days.
 Each tribe sent a number pf peace chiefs
(sachems). The number sent depended on
the number of clans in the tribe. Each tribe
had one vote.
– A sachem served on the council for life unless
the clan matron removed him.
 At these meetings they made new
laws and dealt with problems that
concerned all member nations.
 All chiefs had to agree on every
decision made.
 What does this system of government
tell us about the values of the
Haudenosaunee people?
The Tribal Council
 Each nation had a tribal council. Anyone
could come to these meetings.
 The people that were always there were the
sachem, the war chief and the clan matrons.
 They discussed and resolved problems that
concerned the tribe.
Village Councils
 Each village also had its own
government.
 This group included clan chiefs and
matrons and all respected elders.
 They would discuss and resolve
any problems that concerned only
the village itself.
Freedoms For All
Haudenosaunee
 Freedom of speech
 Freedom of religion
 Freedom to hunt on the lands of
the member tribes
Laws
 No Haudenosaunee could
shed the blood of any other
Haudenosaunee
 No Haudenosaunee could
betray the others.
 No Haudenosaunee could
steal from another.
Consequences
 If a law was broken, the men of the
tribe would meet and decide how
the person should make up for the
mistake.
 If the person kept breaking the law,
he or she was exiled, or forced to
leave, the tribe.
Visitors arrive from Europe
Struggle for Riches and Power:
The Kings and Queens in Europe
 Ever since Columbus reported
back to Europe that there was
gold to be found in the new world,
the Kings and Queens of Europe
were dying to get their hands on
it.
 They also wanted their country to be
the first to find a water route to the
Indies (China, Japan and India). They
had heard that this was an area that
was overflowing with gold and jewels
and spices.
–They wanted spices, because their
meat was often a little spoiled. (no
refrigerators)
 Spain had a head start, because
Columbus had already arrived. Other
explorers from Spain had followed his
lead. The Spanish explorers didn’t
come anywhere near New York,
though.
 In 1534 a French explorer named Jacques
Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River.
– This began a French settlement in North
America. The French traded metal tools
to the Iroquois people in exchange for
furs, which people in Europe loved.
 Beaver hats were the current style in Europe
at that time.
 In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed into New
York Harbor. He sailed for the Dutch, and
the Dutch began settling in New York.
Influence on Each Other
 Europeans gave:
– Metal tools
– Guns –Gave the Iroquois an
advantage over other
nations.
– Diseases – The
Haudenosaunee people
didn’t have any resistance
and didn’t know how to treat
them.
 Smallpox, flu, lung
infections, stomach troubles
 Iroquois gave:
–
–
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Furs
Hunting advice
Farming advice
Help translating
Ideas for government
Tensions Grew
 4 of the nations made a trade
agreement with the French that left the
Mohawks out.
This led to competition within the
league.
 More Europeans arrived, and they
wanted more and more and more and
more land.
–This led to warfare, which led to
revenge, which led to more revenge,
which led to more warfare, and on
and on and on and on and on.
Lasting Influence of the
Haudenosaunee on the Europeans
 Their system of government was a very
good one, and we used many ideas from it
when we formed ours.
 We learned about several foods and farming
methods from them. (Three Sisters.)
 Many names of places in our state come
from Native American words and names.
The Haudenosaunee Today
 They live in many places, on and off
reservations.
– There are large groups of them who live in
Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls and Brooklyn.
They work in a variety of trades.
 Many work in construction work, and are
skilled iron workers. Some travel all over
the U.S. working on bridges and tall
buildings. They have skills and traits which
are particularly useful in this type of work.
 Others are teachers, nurses, lawyers,
doctors, and social workers. Some work for
the government.
Discussion: Why is it important for
us to know about the
Haudenosaunee people?
1. So that we know how we learned some of
the things that we know today.
2. So we know who invented the Three
Sisters. Then we can be thankful to them.
3. It helps some of us learn that people who
are very different are no better or worse
than we are … just different, and just as
important and quite interesting.