Native Americans of New York

Click here for the chapter's vocabulary
Click here for test information
Click here for longhouse project information
(Also check out the links at the bottom of this page to help you find out about longhouses)

Note: The Iroquois are now known as the Haudenosaunee People. This is important to know as you visit websites and you see this term.

The Native Americans, also known as American Indians, were the first people to live in what we now call New York State. They lived here for many, many years before explorers from Europe discovered the land. The Native Americans lived much differently from the way we live today.

HOW DID THEY GET HERE ?
It is believed that thousands of years ago they crossed from the continent of Asia to what we now call Alaska. Over hundreds and thousands of years they spread throughout the North American continent, including what we now call New York.

The Native Americans in New York were in two groups: Iroquois and Algonquian
Look at the map on page 87 to see where each lived.

VILLAGES
At first, Native Americans lived in caves. About 3,000 years ago they began to live in villages. Villages were always near water. The water was used for traveling, fishing, cooking, and drinking. Some villages were open, meaning they didn't have any fences or walls around them. Other villages had high fences or walls around them called stockades. The stockades protected them from wild animals and enemies. The Native Americans didn't stay in one place forever. They moved and set up villages in new places when the old area ran out of fish or animals to hunt or the soil was no longer good for farming.

Native Americans traded with each other. People in one village would trade with those in another village. They traded things such as furs, food, tobacco, and canoes.

HOUSING
Young trees, bark, leather, and furs were used to make the roundhouses and longhouses. They made fires inside for cooking and to give heat. They had smokeholes in the top to let the smoke from the fires escape.
Roundhouses-used by the Algonquians. One family lived in each roundhouse.
Longhouses-used by the Iroquois. There could be as many as 10 families living in each longhouse. A longhouse could be 60 feet long and as much as 18 feet wide. All of the families in a longhouse were related to each other.
Features of the longhouse:
+ 5 or 6 fires in the center.....2 families shared a fire
+ raised platforms along walls....used for eating, sitting, and sleeping
+ dried food hung from poles overhead
+ furs were used as rugs and blankets
+ winter was very hard....it was very cold outside the longhouse and there was little food

HUNTING
The men and boys did the hunting and fishing. Women and girls planted gardens. They used bows & arrows, tomahawks, spears, and traps to catch animals. Small animals were eaten right away. The meat from large animals was dried and saved for eating in the winter. They also caught fish.

FARMING
Before land could be used for farming, the men and boys had to use hand tools to clear trees off the land. Then the women and girls did the farming on that land. They grew corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins. Some of the food was dried and saved for the winter. They also gathered berries, roots, and nuts. In the spring they tapped maple trees for sap to make sugar.

CEREMONIES AND CELEBRATIONS
The Native Americans had many celebrations during the year. Many of these celebrations gave thanks for what nature provides them. In the spring they give thanks at planting time, they gave thanks at maple syrup time, at a strawberry festival in the summer, at a corn festival, and at harvest time in the fall.
During each celebration and festival the oldest men in the village told stories. The Native Americans used these stories to pass the story of their past from one generation to another. They didn't have a written language so they could not write down their history. It had to be told verbally. (They did have a picture language)

CLOTHING
Native Americans wore clothing made out of animal skins. First the skins were scraped and dried. Then they were made into leather for moccasins(shoes), belts, and clothing. Winter clothing was made by leaving the fur on one side of the skin instead of scraping it off. During the warm summer months they wore very little clothing and walked around barefoot. They rubbed bear grease in their hair to make it shiny. Both men and women worejewelry. Men also painted their faces for ceremonies, festivals, and when going into battle.

CLANS AND COUNCILS
Each tribe was divided into clans. Each clan was a group of families with a common ancestor. Each clan had an animal name. They were not allowed to marry someone in the same clan. For example, someone from the Turtle clan in the Seneca tribe couldn't marry someone from the Turtle clan in the Mohawk tribe. When a child was born, it became part of the mother's clan.
Each clan had a council, which governed the clan. Only men were allowed to be on the council, but the women were the ones whose chose which men got to be on the council. Women also chose the chiefs.

BELIEFS
Some of the beliefs the Native Americans had:
+ The Great Spirit - they would ask the Great Spirit for protection and to protect their crops
+ World was ruled by good and evil
   Good - sun and rain
   Bad - hurricanes and hail
+ Corn, beans, and squash were called "The Three Sisters" - most important things in nature
+ Sharing - they shared everything with everyone in the tribe. No one "owned" anything. The land, food, and their homes belonged to everyone in the tribe.

CHILDREN
Children didn't go to school. The boys watched, listened to, helped, and learned from the men. The girls watched, listened to, helped, and learned from the women.

LEAGUE OF FIVE NATIONS
Five Iroquois tribes joined together and formed The League of Five Nations. They were the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Seneca tribes. Before they joined together, these tribes sometimes fought with each other. The chiefs wanted to stop the fighting so they formed the league. The league was governed by a council made up of sachems (peace chiefs from each tribe). This council was divided into three groups. The Senecas and Mohawks were called the 'older brothers'. The Senecas were the "Keepers of the Western Door" because they lived the farthest west and guarded the western side. The Mohawks were the "Keepers of the Eastern Door" because they lived the farthest east and guarded the eastern side. The Cayuga and Oneidas were the 'younger brothers'. The third group was the Onondagas. They were the "fire keepers". They kept the council fires by Syracuse and decied when meeting woould be held. Years later the Tuscaroras joined the league and it became The League of Six Nations.

Hiawatha's Belt: The wampum belt
created when the Five Nations
joined together.

GOODBYE ALGONQUIANS
After the Iroquois tribes joined together into the League of Five Nations, they became strong. Over the years they attacked the Algonquians. Eventually the Algonquians became weak and left the area. They went west and joined with other tribes that lived out there. Then the Iroquois were the only Native American tribes living in New York.

RESERVATIONS
Many years later, after Europeans settled on the land and the United States was formed, the Native Americans were put on reservations. These reservations were areas of land set aside by the government for Native Americans to live. There are about 40,000 Native Americans living in New York today. About 9,000 of them live on reservations.

Today, many places in New York State have Indian names. Some roads and highways follow old Indian paths and trails. Many of their stories and legends have become an important part of New York's heritage and history. Their heritage lives on, and has not been forgotten.

The Six Nations are identified by the style of hat
they're wearing located about the six smokeholes.

Native American Website Links
Many of these links also link to other pages and sites
1. Haudenosaunee Children's Page - Information on Iroquois clothing and dolls
2. The Six Nations of the Iroquois
3. Check out the links below about the Iroquois
   Visit a nearby school in Niagara County located on a reservation
   See Longhouses made by 4th graders - Read about them and view pictures
   Find out about the Iroquois clans
   All you want to know about Iroquois culture (including the Tuscaroras)
4. Cayuga Nation - Excellent history of the Six Nations and has info on Hiawatha's Belt and a picture of the belt
5. Native American housing - Has a colored map showing different types of Native American housing in North America. If you scroll down the page at the website, you can see pictures of the different types, such as longhouse, tipi, adobe, and others.
6. Seneca Nation of Indians
7. Do a web search for "Iroquois" or some other Native American topic. See what you find !