Mohawk nation

The Kanienkehaka, or Mohawk tribe of Native American people live around Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in what is now Canada and the United States. Their traditional homeland is further south, in New York State, around present day Albany, New York. They belong to the Iroquois confederation. After the pre-historic formation of the Iroquois confederation (Hodenosaunee), the Mohawks became keepers of the Eastern Door, guarding the members against invasions from that direction.

Mohawk History

A 1634 Dutch expedition from Ft. Orange to the Mohawk settlements in the west was led by a surgeon named Harmen Van Den Bogaert. At the time of the expedition there were only 8 villages - from east to west: Onekahoncka, Canowarode, Schatsyerosy, Canagere, Schanidisse, Osquage, Cawaoge, and Tenotoge. All villages were on the south side of the river, between present-day Fonda and Fort Plain. The first (Onekahoncka) being situated on the south side of the Mohawk River where it meets the Cayadutta Creek, and the last being on the south side of the Mohawk River where it meets the Caroga Creek.

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During the 17th century, the Mohawks became allied with the Dutch at Fort Orange, New Netherland (now Albany, New York). Their Dutch trade partners equipped the Mohawks to fight against other nations allied with the French, including the Ojibwes, Huron-Wendats, and Algonkins. After the fall of New Netherland to the English, the Mohawks became allies of the English Crown. Because of ongoing conflict with Anglo-American settlers infiltrating into the Mohawk Valley and outstanding treaty obligations to the Crown, the Mohawks generally fought against the United States during the American Revolutionary War, the War of the Wabash Confederacy, and the War of 1812. After the Americans' victory, one prominent Mohawk leader, Joseph Brant, led a large group of Iroquois out of New York to a new homeland at Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario.

Related Topics:
17th century - Dutch - Fort Orange - New Netherland - Albany, New York - French - Ojibwe - Huron-Wendats - Algonkin - Mohawk Valley - United States - American Revolutionary War - War of the Wabash Confederacy - War of 1812 - Joseph Brant - Six Nations of the Grand River - Ontario

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On November 11, 1794, representatives of the Mohawks (along with the other Haudenosaunee nations) signed the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States.

Related Topics:
November 11 - 1794 - Treaty of Canandaigua

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One large group of Mohawks, who were expelled by the United States as traitors were given land by the British Governor Craig and imposed to French speaking Quebecois who were refused new land because of not being English. They stayed in the vicinity of Montreal, where they served as the mercenaries of the British army. One of the most famous Catholic Mohawks was Kateri, who was later beatified. From this group descend the Mohawks of Kahnawake, Akwesasne and Kanesatake.

Related Topics:
Montreal - Kateri - Beatified - Kahnawake - Akwesasne - Kanesatake

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Members of the Mohawk tribe now live in settlements spread throughout New York State and Southeastern Canada. Among these are Ganienkeh and Kanatsiohareke in Northeast New York, Akwesasne/St.Regis along the Ontario-New York State border, Kanesatake/Oka and Kahnawake/Caughnawaga in southwest Quebec, and Tyendinaga and Wahta/Gibson in southern Ontario. Mohawks also form the majority on the mixed Iroquois reserve, Six Nations of the Grand River, in Ontario.

Related Topics:
New York State - Canada - Ganienkeh - Kanatsiohareke - New York - Akwesasne - St.Regis - Ontario - Kanesatake - Kahnawake - Quebec - Tyendinaga - Wahta - Six Nations of the Grand River

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There are also Mohawk Orange Lodges in Canada.

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Many Mohawk communities have two sets of chiefs that exist in parallel and are in some sense rivals. One group are the hereditary chiefs nominated by clan matriarchs in the traditional fashion; the other are elected chiefs with whom the Canadian and US governments usually deals exclusively. Since the 1980s, Mohawk politics have been driven by factional disputes over gambling. Both the elected chiefs and the controversial Warrior Society have encouraged gaming as a means of ensuring tribal self-sufficiency on the various reserves/reservations, while traditional chiefs have opposed gaming on moral grounds and out of fear of corruption and organized crime. Such disputes have also been associated with religious divisions: the traditional chiefs are often associated with the Longhouse tradition, while Warrior Society has attacked that religion in favour of the pre-Longhouse Old tradition. Meanwhile, the elected chiefs have tended to be associated (though in a much looser and general way) with democratic values. The Government of Canada who ruled the Indians imposed English school and separated families to place children in English boarding school. Mohawks like other tribes have mostly lost their native language and many left the reserve to mesh with the English Canadian culture.

Related Topics:
1980s - Warrior Society - Longhouse tradition - Government of Canada

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The name "Mohawk" was perhaps bestowed upon the tribe by the German mercenaries who fought with the British troops, who, mistaking a personal name for the group name, started to call the Kanienkehaka "Moackh." An English corruption of pronunciation turned it into the familiar "Mohawk" which is still used today. The name of the people in the Mohawk language (which does not possess an /m/ sound) is Kanien'kehá:ka. The Dutch referred to the Mohawk as Maquasen, or Maquas. The common theory of the origination of the current "Mohawk" name is the combination of the Narraganset word for "man-eaters" (Mohowawog) and the Unami term Mhuweyek - "cannibal-monsters."

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The Mohawks, like many indigenous tribes in the Great Lakes region, wore a type of hair style in which all their hair would be cut off except for a narrow strip down the middle of the scalp. Today such a hair style is still called a Mohawk.

Related Topics:
Great Lakes - Mohawk

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