Iroquois, Mingo, and Wyandot
Chapter 1, Section 4
Historic Indians
• By 1650  Historic Indian groups came to
Ohio
– Lived after written history
• Did not have their own written languages,
however Europeans who met them did.
• Written records from Europeans tell us a
great deal about these Native Americans.
Native American Legends
• Stories, songs, and legends can also tell us
much about early Native Americans
• Legends stories passed down over time
– Used to explain how everything in the world
came to be
– Used to tell a tribe’s history
Native American Legends
• Tribe  a group that shares the same
language and has the same leaders
• Legends often told how tribes first came to
be
• Legends provide clues about how the
people saw their world
– Tell much about a tribe’s history and culture
Cultures and Conflict
• Tribes used natural resources to survive,
and to make goods for trade
• Traded with each other for the resources
they didn’t have
• Sometimes fought each other for control of
land and resources
Cultures and Conflict
• By early 1600s, Europeans began to settle
in parts of North America
• Settlements grew and spread into Native
American territory --- conflict
Cultures and Conflict
• Europeans and Native Americans traded.
– Native Americans traded animal skins and furs
for European goods such as cloth, glass, and
metal tools and weapons.
• As fur trade increased, so did the demand
for furs.
– Led to conflicts between Native Americans over
hunting lands
The Iroquois
• 1650  came to Ohio from the Northeast
• powerful – fought and drove out other tribes
who lived around Lake Erie and along Ohio’s
rivers
The Iroquois
• Mostly wanted to hunt and trap animals in
Ohio – did NOT want to settle there
• Fished, hunted deer, beavers, foxes, and
mink
– Became a major source of furs for European
traders
• Gathered nuts and fruits, grew corn, beans,
and squash
The Iroquois
• Lived in villages and built large wooden
homes called longhouses
– Wooden poles = frame; sheets of bark = cover
– Small fires kept burning inside
• Several families lived in one longhouse 
clan
– Clans were led by women and often named
after animals
– Put their crest at their longhouse entrance
The Iroquois
• Each family slept on a platform
– Weapons, tools, and baskets stored underneath
– Pots, food, skins stored on shelves above the
platform
The Mingo
• Related to the Iroquois; spoke an Iroquois
language and had similar customs; also
known as the Seneca
• mid-1770s  moved to Ohio from the east
• Lived along the riverbanks of the Scioto and
Sandusky Rivers in longhouses.
• Communities develops near present-day
Columbus
The Mingo
• The tribe was formed by members of the
Iroquois and other tribes.
– Some were hunters who had left the Iroquois
– Others were members of tribes who had been
defeated by the Iroquois
The Mingo
• At first, lived peacefully with the Iroquois
– Treated as equals by the Iroquois
• Members of the Mingo tribe were not
allowed to serve as Iroquois leaders
– Began to act more like their own tribe over time
• 1750  conflicts with the Iroquois and European
settlers pushed the Mingo tribe into eastern Ohio
The Wyandot
• 1650  Iroquois attacked tribes near
Ontario to gain hunting land
– Wyandot formed from tribes fleeing the
Iroquois
• mid-1700s  moved into northern Ohio
from Canada
– Settled mainly in villages along the Sandusky
River and the Huron River
The Wyandot
• Their language is related to the Iroquois
language
• Lived in longhouses
• Women leaders chose the Wyandot chiefs
• Fierce warriors
• Strongly resisted European settlements
near where they lived