Hiawatha

Hiawatha (also known as Ayenwatha, Aiionwatha, or Haiëñ'wa'tha in Onondaga) was a pre-colonial Native American leader and co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy. Depending on the version of the narrative, he was a leader of the Onondaga, or the Mohawk, or both. According to some versions, he was born an Onondaga, but adopted into the Mohawk.

Hiawatha was a follower of the Great Peacemaker (Deganawida), a Huron prophet and spiritual leader who proposed the unification of the Iroquois peoples, who shared common ancestry and similar languages. The Great Peacemaker was a compelling spiritual presence, but was impeded in evangelizing his prophecy by foreign affiliation and a severe speech impediment. Hiawatha, a skilled and charismatic orator, along with a clan mother named Jigonhsasee, was instrumental in persuading the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks to accept the Great Peacemaker's vision and band together to become the Five Nations of the Iroquois confederacy. The Tuscarora nation joined the Confederacy in 1722 to become the Sixth Nation.

In attempting to date the Great Peacemaker and Hiawatha, focus has come to an incident related to the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy, their lifework. One rendition of the oral history eventually written down by scholars involves a division among the Seneca nation, the last nation to join the original confederacy. A violent confrontation began and was suddenly stopped when the sun darkened, and it seemed like night. Scholars have successively studied the possibilities of this being a solar eclipse since 1902 when William Canfield wrote Legends of the Iroquois; told by "the Cornplanter". Successive other scholars who mention it were (chronologically): Paul A. W. Wallace, Elizabeth Tooker,Bruce E. Johansen, Dean R. Snow, Barbara A. Mann and Jerry L. Fields,William N. Fenton,David Henige, Gary Warrick, and Neta Crawford.

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