Book Review: The Iroquois

The Iroquois: Watts Library, by Liz Sonneborn, Scholastic, New York, 2002.

The Iroquois were an interesting people.  They are not a particular tribe, but rather a confederation of tribes, initially five and eventually six tribes—The Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Tuscarora.  These groups had been subject to wars against each other, but came together as a result of the Peacemaker.  He recruited Hiawatha to help him, and together they brought peace to the Iroquois Nations, who as a result had a time of great prosperity as well as conquest over other nations, because they were peaceful towards each other.  However they were finally defeated,  They made peace, but this did not last.  They were drawn into the French and Indian War—most of the nations fighting with the French, while the Mohawk fought with the British.  The Tuscarora joined the confederacy of tribes later, when they were defeated by settlers in the south and were forced to move North into the territory of the Iroquois. 

The revolutionary war also saw the people divided, with most fighting with the British and the Oneida and Tuscarora with the Americans.  As a result, after they war many of the traditional tribal lands were forfeited through forced treaty, or sold to settlers.  The people were continually forced west into what was known as Indian territory.  Some also migrated to Canada.