Mohawk people
Iroquoian peoples |
The Mohawk people (
At the time of European contact the Mohawk people were based in the valley of the Mohawk River in present-day upstate New York, west of the Hudson River. Their territory ranged north to the St. Lawrence River, southern Quebec and eastern Ontario; south to greater New Jersey and into Pennsylvania; eastward to the Green Mountains of Vermont; and westward to the border with the Iroquoian Oneida Nation's traditional homeland territory.
Kanienʼkehá:ka communities
This section splitting the content into a new article. (May 2023) |
Members of the Kanienʼkehá:ka people now live in settlements in northern New York State and southeastern Canada.
Many Kanienʼkehá:ka communities have two sets of chiefs, who are in some sense competing governmental rivals. One group are the hereditary chiefs (royaner), nominated by
- Northern New York:
- Kanièn:ke (Ganienkeh) "Place of the flint". Traditional governance.
- Kanaʼtsioharè:ke "Place of the washed pail". Traditional governance.
- Along the St Lawrence in Quebec:
- Ahkwesáhsne (St. Regis, New York and Quebec/Ontario, Canada) "Where the partridge drums". Traditional governance, band/tribal elections.
- Kahnawà:ke (south of Montréal) "On the rapids". Canada, traditional governance, band/tribal elections.
- Kanehsatà:ke (Oka) "Where the snow crust is". Canada, traditional governance, band/tribal elections.
- Tioweró:ton (Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, Quebec). Canada, shared governance between Kahnawà꞉ke and Kanehsatà꞉ke.
- Southern Ontario:
- Kenhtè꞉ke (Tyendinaga) "On the bay". Traditional governance, band/tribal elections.
- Wáhta(Gibson) "Maple tree". Traditional governance, band/tribal elections.
- Orange Lodgesin Canada.
Given increased activism for land claims, a rise in tribal revenues due to establishment of gaming on certain reserves or reservations, competing leadership, traditional government jurisdiction, issues of taxation, and the Indian Act, Mohawk communities have been dealing with considerable internal conflict since the late 20th century.
History
First contact with European settlers
In the Mohawk language, the Mohawk people call themselves the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka ("people of the flint"). The Mohawk became wealthy traders as other nations in their confederacy needed their flint for tool making. Their Algonquian-speaking neighbors (and competitors), the people of Muh-heck Haeek Ing ("food area place"), the Mohicans, referred to the people of Ka-nee-en Ka as Maw Unk Lin, meaning "bear people". The Dutch heard and wrote this term as Mohawk, and also referred to the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka as Egil or Maqua.
The French colonists adapted these latter terms as Aignier and Maqui, respectively. They also referred to the people by the generic Iroquois, a French derivation of the Algonquian term for the Five Nations, meaning "Big Snakes". The Algonquians and Iroquois were traditional competitors and enemies.
In the upper Hudson and Mohawk Valley regions, the Mohawks long had contact with the Algonquian-speaking
On June 28, 1609, a band of Hurons led
Beaver Wars
This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2022) |
In the seventeenth century, the Mohawk encountered both the
In 1614,
European contact resulted in a devastating
While the Dutch later established settlements in present-day
During their alliance, the Mohawks allowed Dutch Protestant missionary Johannes Megapolensis to come into their communities and teach the Christian message. He operated from the Fort Nassau area for about six years, writing a record in 1644 of his observations of the Mohawk, their language (which he learned), and their culture. While he noted their ritual of torture of captives, he recognized that their society had few other killings, especially compared to the Netherlands of that period.[6][7]
The trading relations between the Mohawk and Dutch helped them maintain peace even during the periods of Kieft's War and the Esopus Wars, when the Dutch fought localized battles with other native peoples. In addition, Dutch trade partners equipped the Mohawk with guns to fight against other First Nations who were allied with the French, including the Ojibwe, Huron-Wendat, and Algonquin. In 1645, the Mohawk made peace for a time with the French, who were trying to keep a piece of the fur trade.[8]
During the
In the winter of 1651, the Mohawk attacked on the southeast and overwhelmed the Algonquian in the coastal areas. They took between 500 and 600 captives. In 1664, the Pequot of New England killed a Mohawk ambassador, starting a war that resulted in the destruction of the Pequot, as the English and their allies in New England entered the conflict, trying to suppress the Native Americans in the region. The Mohawk also attacked other members of the Pequot confederacy, in a war that lasted until 1671.[citation needed]
In 1666, the French attacked the Mohawk in the central
Over time, some converted Mohawk relocated to Jesuit mission villages established south of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River in the early 1700s:
Kateri Tekakwitha, born at Ossernenon in the late 1650s, has become noted as a Mohawk convert to Catholicism. She moved with relatives to Caughnawaga on the north side of the river after her parents' deaths.[3] She was known for her faith and a shrine was built to her in New York. In the late 20th century, she was beatified and was canonized in October 2012 as the first Native American Catholic saint. She is also recognized by the Episcopal and Lutheran churches.
After the fall of New Netherland to England in 1664, the Mohawk in New York traded with the English and sometimes acted as their allies. During
From the 1690s, Protestant missionaries sought to convert the Mohawk in the New York colony. Many were baptized with English surnames, while others were given both first and surnames in English.
During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the Mohawk and
During the era of the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years' War), Anglo-Mohawk partnership relations were maintained by men such as Sir William Johnson in New York (for the British Crown), Conrad Weiser (on behalf of the colony of Pennsylvania), and Hendrick Theyanoguin (for the Mohawk). Johnson called the Albany Congress in June 1754, to discuss with the Iroquois chiefs repair of the damaged diplomatic relationship between the British and the Mohawk, along with securing their cooperation and support in fighting the French,[11] in engagements in North America.
American Revolutionary War
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2022) |
During the second and third quarters of the 18th century, most of the Mohawks in the
The Mohawk were among the four Iroquois people that allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War. They had a long trading relationship with the British and hoped to gain support to prohibit colonists from encroaching into their territory in the Mohawk Valley. Joseph Brant acted as a war chief and successfully led raids against British and ethnic German colonists in the Mohawk Valley, who had been given land by the British administration near the rapids at present-day Little Falls, New York.
A few prominent Mohawk, such as the
In retaliation for Brant's raids in the valley, the rebel colonists organized
After the Revolution
After the American victory, the British ceded their claim to land in the colonies, and the Americans forced their allies, the Mohawks and others, to give up their territories in New York. Most of the Mohawks migrated to Canada, where the Crown gave them some land in compensation. The Mohawks at the Upper Castle fled to Fort Niagara, while most of those at the Lower Castle went to villages near Montreal.
Joseph Brant led a large group of Iroquois out of New York to what became the reserve of the Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario. Brant continued as a political leader of the Mohawks for the rest of his life. This land extended 100 miles from the head of the Grand River to the head of Lake Erie where it discharges.[13] Another Mohawk war chief, John Deseronto, led a group of Mohawk to the Bay of Quinte. Other Mohawks settled in the vicinity of Montreal and upriver, joining the established communities (now reserves) at Kahnawake, Kanesatake, and Akwesasne.
On November 11, 1794, representatives of the Mohawk (along with the other Iroquois nations) signed the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States, which allowed them to own land there.
The Mohawks fought as allies of the British against the United States in the War of 1812.
20th century to present
In 1971, the Mohawk Warrior Society, also Rotisken’rakéhte in the Mohawk language, was founded in Kahnawake. The duties of the Warrior Society are to use roadblocks, evictions, and occupations to gain rights for their people, and these tactics are also used among the warriors to protect the environment from pollution. The notable movements started by the Mohawk Warrior Society have been the Oka Crisis blockades in 1990 and the Caledonia occupation of a construction site in summer 2020. As an act of solidarity, they renamed the street the construction site sits on to "1492 Land Back Lane".
On May 13, 1974, at 4:00 a.m, Mohawks from the Kahnawake and Akwesasne reservations repossessed traditional Mohawk land near Old Forge, New York, occupying Moss Lake, an abandoned girls camp. The New York state government attempted to shut the operation down, but after negotiation, the state offered the Mohawk some land in Miner Lake, where they have since settled.
The Mohawks have organized for more sovereignty at their reserves in Canada, pressing for authority over their people and lands. Tensions with the Quebec Provincial and national governments have been strained during certain protests, such as the Oka Crisis in 1990.
In 1993, a group of Akwesasne Mohawks purchased 322 acres of land in the Town of Palatine in Montgomery County, New York which they named Kanatsiohareke. It marked a return to their ancestral land.
Mohawk ironworkers in New York
Mohawks came from Kahnawake and other reserves to work in the construction industry in
The work and home life of Mohawk ironworkers was documented in Don Owen's 1965 National Film Board of Canada documentary High Steel.[17] The Mohawk community that formed in a compact area of Brooklyn, which they called "Little Caughnawaga", after their homeland, is documented in Reaghan Tarbell's Little Caughnawaga: To Brooklyn and Back, shown on PBS in 2008. This community was most active from the 1920s to the 1960s. The families accompanied the men, who were mostly from Kahnawake; together they would return to Kahnawake during the summers. Tarbell is from Kahnawake and was working as a film curator at the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian, located in the former Custom House in Lower Manhattan.[18]
Since the mid-20th century, Mohawks have also formed their own construction companies. Others returned to New York projects. Mohawk skywalkers had built the World Trade Center buildings that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks, helped rescue people from the burning towers in 2001, and helped dismantle the remains of the building afterwards.[19] Approximately 200 Mohawk ironworkers (out of 2,000 total ironworkers at the site) participated in rebuilding the One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. They typically drive the 360 miles from the Kahnawake reserve on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec to work the week in lower Manhattan and then return on the weekend to be with their families. A selection of portraits of these Mohawk ironworkers were featured in an online photo essay for Time Magazine in September 2012.[20]
Contemporary issues
Casinos
Both the elected chiefs and the Warrior Society have encouraged gambling as a means of ensuring tribal self-sufficiency on the various reserves or Indian reservations. Traditional chiefs have tended to oppose 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, practicing consensus-democratic values, while the Warrior Society has attacked that religion and asserted independence. Meanwhile, the elected chiefs have tended to be associated (though in a much looser and general way) with democratic, legislative and Canadian governmental values.
On October 15, 1993, Governor
On June 12, 2003, the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the lower courts' rulings that Governor Cuomo exceeded his authority by entering into the compact absent legislative authorization and declared the compact void [21] On October 19, 2004, Governor George Pataki signed a bill passed by the State Legislature that ratified the compact as being nunc pro tunc, with some additional minor changes.[22]
In 2008 the Mohawk Nation was working to obtain approval to own and operate a casino in Sullivan County, New York, at Monticello Raceway. The U.S. Department of the Interior disapproved this action although the Mohawks gained Governor Eliot Spitzer's concurrence, subject to the negotiation and approval of either an amendment to the current compact or a new compact. Interior rejected the Mohawks' application to take this land into trust.[23]
In the early 21st century, two legal cases were pending that related to Native American gambling and land claims in New York. The State of New York has expressed similar objections to the Dept. of Interior taking other land into trust for federally recognized 'tribes', which would establish the land as sovereign Native American territory, on which they might establish new gaming facilities.[24] The other suit contends that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act violates the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as it is applied in the State of New York. In 2010 it was pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.[25]
Culture
Social organization
The main structures of social organization are the clans (ken'tara'okòn:'a). The number of clans vary among the Haudenosaunee; the Mohawk have three: Bear (Ohkwa:ri), Turtle (A'nó:wara), and Wolf (Okwaho).[26] Clans are nominally the descendants of a single female ancestor, with women possessing the leadership role. Each member of the same clan, across all the Six Nations, is considered a relative. Traditionally, marriages between people of the same clan are forbidden.[note 1] Children belong to their mother's clan.[27]
Religion
Traditional Mohawk religion is mostly
In 1632 a band of
Traditional dress
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2012) |
Historically, the traditional hairstyle of Mohawk men, and many men of the other groups of the Iroquois Confederacy, was to remove most of the hair from the head by plucking (not shaving) tuft by tuft of hair until all that was left was a smaller section, that was worn in a variety of styles, which could vary by community. The women wore their hair long, often dressed with traditional bear grease, or tied back into a single braid.
In traditional dress women often went topless in summer and wore a skirt of deerskin. In colder seasons, women wore a deerskin dress. Men wore a
Marriage
The Mohawk Nation people have a
Communities
Replicas of seventeenth-century longhouses have been built at landmarks and tourist villages, such as
- Ohswé꞉ken (Six Nations)[34] First Nation Territory, Ontario holds six Ceremonial Mohawk Community Longhouse.
- Wáhta[35] First Nation Territory, Ontario holds one Ceremonial Mohawk Community Longhouse.
- Kenhtè꞉ke (Tyendinaga)[36] First Nation Territory, Ontario holds one Ceremonial Mohawk Community Longhouse.
- Ahkwesásne[37] First Nation Territory, which straddles the borders of Quebec, Ontario and New York, holds two Mohawk Ceremonial Community Longhouses.
- Kaʼnehsatà꞉keFirst Nation Territory, Quebec holds one Ceremonial Mohawk Community Longhouses.
- Kahnawà꞉ke[38]First Nation Territory, Quebec holds three Ceremonial Mohawk Community Longhouse.
- Kanièn꞉ke[39] First Nation Territory, New York State holds one Ceremonial Mohawk Community Longhouse.
- Kanaʼtsioharà꞉ke[40] First Nation Territory, New York State holds one Ceremonial Mohawk Community Longhouse.
Notable Mohawk
- Tammy Beauvais, Mohawk fashion designer
- Beth Brant, Mohawk writer and poet
- Joseph Brant, Mohawk leader, British officer
- Molly Brant, Mohawk leader, sister of Joseph Brant
- Joseph Tehawehron David, Mohawk artist
- Esther Louise Georgette Deer, Mohawk dancer and singer
- Tracey Deer, Mohawk filmmaker
- John Deseronto, Mohawk chief
- Canaqueese, called Flemish Bastard, Mohawk chief
- Carla Hemlock, quilter, beadwork artist
- Donald "Babe" Hemlock, woodcarver, sculptor
- Hiawatha, Mohawk chief
- Karonghyontye or Captain David Hill, Mohawk leader
- Kahn-Tineta Horn, activist
- Kaniehtiio Horn, film and television actress
- Waneek Horn-Miller, Olympic water polo player
- Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, actress
- Sid Jamieson, lacrosse player, coach
- George Henry Martin Johnson, Mohawk chief and interpreter
- Pauline Johnson, writer
- Stan Jonathan, former NHL hockey player
- Dawn Martin-Hill, professor
- Derek Miller, singer-songwriter
- Patricia Monture-Angus, lawyer, activist, educator, and author.
- Alwyn Morris, Olympic K–2 1000m.
- Shelley Niro (b. 1954), filmmaker, photographer, and installation artist
- John Norton, Scottish born, adopted into the Mohawk First Nation and made an honorary "Pine Tree Chief"
- Richard Oakes, Mohawk activist
- Ots-Toch, wife of Dutch colonist Cornelius A. Van Slyck
- Alex Rice, actress
- Robbie Robertson, singer-songwriter, The Band
- August Schellenberg, actor
- Jay Silverheels, actor
- Skawennati, multimedia artist and curator
- Barbara Stanley, professor, writer/author, activist, and GSNEO Woman of Distinction 2012
- Taiaiake Alfred, professor and activist
- Kiawentiio Tarbell, actress, singer-songwriter, and visual artist
- Julian Taylor, rock singer (Staggered Crossing, Julian Taylor Band)[41]
- Hendrick Tejonihokarawa Mohawk chief of the Wolf Clan; one of the four kings to visit England to see Queen Anne to ask for help fighting the French
- Devery Jacobs, actress, writer, and director
- Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, "Lily of the Mohawks", a Catholic saint
- Mary Two-Axe Earley, women's rights activist
- Billy Two Rivers, professional wrestler
- Oronhyatekha, physician, Scholar
- Tom Wilson, rock singer (Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Lee Harvey Osmond)
See also
- Iroquois Confederacy
- Iroquoian languages
- Kahnawake surnames
- Mohawk language
- Native Americans in the United States
- Native American tribe
- Oka Crisis
- The Flying Head
Notes
- ^ "Within certain clans there may also be different types of one animal or bird. For example, the turtle clan has three different types of turtles, the wolf clan has three different types of wolves and the bear clan includes three different types of bears allowing for marriage within the clan as long as each belongs to a different species of the clan."[27]
References
- ^ "Canada Census Profile 2021". Census Profile, 2021 Census. Statistics Canada Statistique Canada. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "About the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka Nation Council of Chiefs". Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy. Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
- ^ ISBN 0-8156-2723-8. Archivedfrom the original on 2016-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
- ^ a b Donald A. Rumrill, "An Interpretation and Analysis of the Seventeenth Century Mohawk Nation: Its Chronology and Movements", The Bulletin and Journal of Archaeology for New York State, 1985, vol. 90, pp. 1–39
- ^ a b Dean R. Snow, (1995) Mohawk Valley Archaeology: The Sites, University at Albany Institute for Archaeological Studies (First Edition); Occasional Papers Number 23, Matson Museum of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University (Second Edition).
- ^ "Dutch missionary John Megapolensis on the Mohawks (Iroquois), 1644". Smithsonian Source. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
- ^ "A Short History of the Mohawk" Archived 2016-06-24 at the Wayback Machine, in In Mohawk Country: Early Narratives about a Native People, ed. Dean R. Snow, Charles T. Gehring, William A. Starna; Syracuse University Press, 1996, pp. 38–46
- ^ William N. Fenton, Francis Jennings, Mary A. Druke: The Earliest Recorded Description. The Mohawk Treaty with New France at Three Rivers 1645, in Jennings ed., The History and Culture of Iroquois Diplomacy. Syracuse University Press, 1985, pp. 127–153
- ^ "General History of Duchess County, From 1609 to 1876, Inclusive", Philip H. Smith, Pawling, New York, 1877, p. 154
- ^ John Demos, The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994
- ^ "The Albany Congress". Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- ^ "Little Abraham Tyorhansera, Mohawk Indian, Wolf Clan Chief". Native Heritage Project. 16 August 2012. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
- ^ Stone, William (September 1838). "Life of Joseph Brant--Thayendanegea; including the Border Wars of the American Revolution". American Monthly Magazine. 12: 12, 273–284.
- ^ Sky Walking: Raising Steel, A Mohawk Ironworker Keeps Tradition Alive, archived from the original on 2016-11-01, retrieved 2016-10-29
- ^ Joseph Mitchell, "The Mohawks in High Steel", in Edmund Wilson, Apologies to the Iroquois (New York: Vintage, 1960), pp. 3–36.
- ^ Nessen, Stephen (19 March 2012), Sky Walking: Raising Steel, A Mohawk Ironworker Keeps Tradition Alive, archived from the original on 1 November 2016, retrieved 2016-10-29
- ^ Owen, Don. "High Steel" (Requires Adobe Flash). Online documentary. National Film Board of Canada. Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
- ^ Tarbell, Reaghan (2008). "Little Caughnawaga: To Brooklyn and Back". National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
- ^ Wolf, White. "The Mohawks Who Built Manhattan (Photos)". White Wolf. Archived from the original on 2017-10-22. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
- ^ Wallace, Vaughn (2012-09-11). "The Mohawk Ironworkers: Rebuilding the Iconic Skyline of New York". Time. Archived from the original on 2012-09-15. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
- ^ ROSENBLATT (12 June 2003). "3 No. 42: Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce Inc., et al. v. George Pataki, as Governor of the State of New York, et al". www.law.cornell.edu. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
- ^ see C. 590 of the Laws of 2004
- ^ "The Associate Deputy Secretary of the Interior" (PDF). Washington. 4 January 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
- ^ "Former Website of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
- ^ "Warren v. United States of America, et al". Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
- ^ "Mohawk Language Lessons 2017 Lesson 5 Clans". Kenhtè:ke nene kanyen’kehá:ka. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ a b "Clan System". Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ "mohawk". Cultural Survival. Archived from the original on May 28, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- ^ Anderson, Emma (2013). The Death and Afterlife of the North American Martyrs. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 25.
- ISBN 9780524060162.
- ^ Inglish, Patty (February 27, 2020). "Traditional Mohawk Nation Daily and Ceremonial Clothing". Owlcation. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- ^ Megapolensis, Jr., Johannes. "A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians." Short Account of the Mohawk Indians, August 2017, 168
- ^ Anne Marie Shimony, "Conservatism among the Iroquois at Six Nations Reserve", 1961
- ^ "Six Nations Of The Grand River". Archived from the original on 2016-01-28. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "Home Page". www.wahta.ca. Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
- ^ "Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte – Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory » Home". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ "She꞉kon/Greetings – Mohawk Council of Akwesasne". Archived from the original on 2007-12-26. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ Kahnawá:ke, Mohawk Council of. "Mohawk Council of Kahnawá:ke". www.kahnawake.com. Archived from the original on 2013-09-06.
- ^ "— ganienkeh.net-- Information from the People of Ganienkeh". Archived from the original on 2013-06-03. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
- ^ "Kanatsiohareke Mohawk Community". Archived from the original on 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ Madeline Crone, "Julian Taylor Premieres Title Track, 'The Ridge'". American Songwriter, April 8, 2020.
- ISBN 1-55786-938-3.
- ISBN 9780815604105.
External links
- Culture of the Haudenosaunee Archived 2019-04-14 at the Mohawks of the Bay of Quintewebsite
- Akwesasne News at the Akwesasne website
- The Wampum Chronicles: Mohawk Territory articles on history and culture
- "Mohawk Institute", Geronimo Henry archived site
- Mohawk skyscraper builders and construction workers in New York City?
- The Iroquois Book of Rites by Horatio Hale, at Project Gutenberg