Lesson 1:
The Eastern Woodlands
 Known as The Great Peace Maker
 founder of the Iroquois Confederacy, a political and
cultural union of several Native American tribes
residing in the present-day state of New York.
 The Great Peacemaker established a council of village
chiefs to govern the confederacy.
 Confederacy - an alliance between persons, parties,
states, etc., for some purpose
 Follower of Deganawidah cofounder of the Iroquois
Confederacy.
 Convinced the five warring groups to join together in a
“Great Peace”.
 According to legend, after the Great Peace, the five
groups buried their weapons, and over these weapons
Deganawidah planted a magnificent white pine tree.
 The Tree of Peace is a symbol of peace in the Iroquois
culture.
 A group of families bound together under a single
leadership.
 A term often used to describe people who share a
common culture.
 An organization that people form which unites them
for a particular purpose.
 The Iroquois League is an example of a league.
 The “Great Peace” brought about the Iroquois League
 Members tribes of the Iroquois League:
 Seneca
 Cayuga
 Onondaga
 Oneida
 Mohawk
 Later a 6th joined… Tuscarora
 Scolars believe it came together around 1580 AD.
 The 5 tribes sent 50 representatives to a Great Council
 Linked the lands of the League.
 Today, the New York Thruway follows part of the route
of the Iroquois Trail.
 This is where the Iroquois lived.
 This is one of several regions that we will learn in this
chapter!
 An area in which people with similar cultures live.
 Native Americans tribes in each region developed
similar cultures using the resources of the
environment.
 An Iroquois building used for shelter.
 Young trees provided poles for the frames and slabs of
elm bark served as walls.
 Why did the Iroquois use trees to build their houses?
 What were other cultures we talked about building
their shelters from and why?
 Polished seashells that were hung on strings or were
woven onto belts.
 Highly valued by the Iroquois.
 Could be used for:
 Gift to honor marriage
 Comfort someone after a death
 Symbolize an important event
 Used as an invitation to peaceful talks
 Use the information from your “Summarize”
worksheet and organize these important ideas into a
brief sentence on how the Iroquois lived?
 Then for homework, compare the Iroquois life to
anyone of the cultures/civilizations from Chapter 1.