How was the Iroquois Confederacy organized?
Iroquois Confederacy Constitution – The Great Council Each nation had several male leaders, or Sachems, called Hoyaneh. The Hoyaneh were the chiefs who represented the tribes at the meetings of the Grand Council. The Grand Council had 50 members who used a consensus to decisions.
What was the political structure of the Iroquois?
Each Iroquois nation ran its internal affairs with a council of elected delegates. They also sent delegates to a grand council. It ran affairs among nations. It was a pure federal system.
How does the Iroquois Confederacy work?
The Great Law of Peace established a government — the Iroquois Confederacy — that allowed the nations to work together and respect each other. Where was the Iroquois Confederacy? This map shows the location of the original five nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Within the Confederacy, each nation had a role.
What were the key ideas of the Iroquois Confederacy?
The Iroquois Confederacy were six tribes who lived, fought, ate, built, and worked together to better their lives. They created laws and government. Some of their ideas worked so well they helped our country create its first democratic government and constitution.
What did Iroquois eat?
What did the Iroquois eat? The Iroquois ate a variety of foods. They grew crops such as corn, beans, and squash. These three main crops were called the “Three Sisters” and were usually grown together.
Where did the name Iroquois come from?
The name “Iroquois” is a French variant on a term for “snake” given these people by the Hurons. There were other tribes who spoke a similar language, but who were not part of the confederacy. For example, the Erie natives were related to the Iroquois.
What made the Iroquois unique?
The Iroquois fought the Algonquin and the Huron tribe. Young Iroquois boys trained for war, they worked on courage, strength, and skill with tomahawks, arrow, bows, and clubs. The Iroquois spoke six different languages Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Tuscarora.
What did the Iroquois use as money?
The Iroquois used a gift economy as a form of money. They traded corn, tobacco and other agricultural products as forms of currency.
Who owned property in the Iroquois Clan?
The Iroquois had a similar communal system of land distribution. The tribe owned all lands but gave out tracts to the different clans for further distribution among households for cultivation.
Why did Native Americans use wampum?
Before contact with white settlers, the Indians used wampum primarily for ceremonial purposes, as a record of an important agreement or treaty, as an object of tribute given by subject tribes, or for gift exchange (q.v.). Its value derived from its ceremonial importance and the skill involved in making it.
What did the Iroquois use wampum for?
The Iroquoian- and Algonquian-speaking peoples used wampum for decoration and adornment. It was also used to make woven belts, with the two colors acting as mnemomic devices commemorating agreements and events important in politics, history and religion.
What was the value of wampum?
Wampum was officially recognized as a currency by Massachusetts Bay Colony on October 18, 1650, and rates of exchange were formalized. Strings of eight, 24, 96 and 480 beads were valued, respectively, at one, three and 12 pence and five shillings. Purple beads were worth twice as much as the white ones.
Why are quahog shells purple?
Wampums beads are made from broken pieces of whelk and clam shells which can be found all along our beaches. The quahog clam shell, where the purple shell pieces comes from to make wampums, is a native species of our coastal waters.
What are the purple shells called?
Wampum