Dr. Elizabeth Penton
ANT 105
11 April 2010
The Iroquois
Five Native American nations; the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca, make the League of the Iroquois some clip between 1400 and 1600 A.D. (Reid 1). The Tuscarora were added as a one-sixth in 1722 after their exile from North Carolina following the Tuscaroran state of war in 1713 (Landy 518). The territory of the Iroquois, prior to being forced onto reservations, cover much of what is now New York State, as well as portions of northern Pennsylvania. The land of the area is set fire toacterized by rolling hills and niggling mountain ranges covered in thick forests. Rivers and lakes are abundant, as are a diverse population of wildlife upon which the Iroquois depended on for survival.
The Iroquois lived in semi-permanent villages composed of buildings known as longhouses. Each longhouse housed an entire widen family and their size varied depending on the number of inhabitants, though they were broadly about sixteen feet wide and at least l feet long (Morgan 307). Longhouses were subdivided, with each family having their own fire hearth and beds. The villages subsisted on a combination of meat and fish hunted by the men and crops such as maize, squash, and beans that were planted, tended and harvested by the women of the tribe.
They also garner berries, roots, and other wild plants as well (Morgan 250). The Iroquois employed a slash and burn method of horticulture in cultivating their crops, which over time reduced the lands capacity for continued emergence (Reid 2). As a result villages would be moved to new, more than fertile, locations as the old ones began to prove incapable of supporting the population. This occurred either ten to twelve years on average (Foley 7). The Iroquois would char and dry portions of their crops of corn and beans for later use when the harvests were plentiful. These dried vegetables, as well as cured and dried meats, would be stored in wooden barrels within the...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com
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