Woodland people: North-East Indians: The Iroquois and the Algonquians

There were two main groupings in the North-East - the Iroquois, and the Algonquians. From the beginning of the seventeenth century there were not more than 15,000 Iroquois in total. They lived in villages or towns. Towns were small. They were often protected with up to three fences all around the town. The Iroquois built special platforms to shoot arrows or throw stones at attackers. Towns had up to 50 houses, often "long houses" occupied by several families. Towns usually lasted for about three generations. After this the people moved about 16 km, to better land, and started again.

There were about 60 Algonquian tribes, each having a number of villages. Some were fenced, but many were open.

When the tribes fought each other they did not have the horses, guns and metal tomahawks of Hollywood films. Early fighting was on foot with short wooden clubs with a heavy ball head - this was the original tomahawk. This was usually to capture men. These men became members of the new tribe. Unlucky ones were sacrificed. Often they were horribly burnt on different parts of their body for over a day until they died. Iroquoian women could be particularly cruel.

James Green: Native peoples of the Americas, Oxford University Press, 1993, page 14