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Iroquois confederacy

Iroquois
Haudenosaunee
Flag of the Iroquois Confederacy.svg
Total population
125,000 (2010, est.)
Regions with significant populations
North America
 United States 80,000
 Canada 45,000
Languages
Northern Iroquoian languages (including Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora), English, French
Religion
Longhouse Religion, Karihwiio, Kanoh'hon'io, Kahni'kwi'io,Christianity, others

The Iroquois (/ˈɪrəkwɔɪ/ or /ˈɪrəkwɑː/) or Haudenosaunee (/ˈhdənˈʃni/) were a historically powerful and important northeast Native American confederacy. They were known during the colonial years to the French as the "Iroquois League," and later as the "Iroquois Confederacy," and to the English as the "Five Nations" (before 1722), and later as the "Six Nations," comprising the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora peoples.

The Iroquois have absorbed many other peoples into their cultures as a result of warfare, adoption of captives, and by offering shelter to displaced peoples.

The historic Erie, Susquehannock, Wyandot (Huron), and St. Lawrence Iroquoians, all independent peoples, spoke Iroquoian languages. In the larger sense of linguistic families, they are often considered Iroquoian peoples because of their similar languages and cultures, all culturally and linguistically descended from the Proto-Iroquoian people and language; but they were traditionally enemies of the nations in the Iroquois League.


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Wikipedia

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