Strength through unity: The Iroquois League

Each tribe looked after its own affairs - this is different from a modern government which is often in charge of a huge area. Most tribes were too small to be very strong. Somewhere between 1559 and 1570, five of the Iroquoian tribes joined together to form the League of the Five Nations. The other Iroquoian tribes did not join.

In their councils four tribes voted on things being discussed. The Fifth, the Onondaga, acted as the "Fire Keeper". If the other tribes had problems agreeing then the Fire Keeper helped them to reach a decision.

The Five Nations saw themselves as a giant longhouse. Each tribe was in charge of part of the longhouse. Together they made the longhouse very powerful. In the early seventeenth century the Tuscarora joined the Five Nations making it Six Nations. They helped work together on many things, including trading and warfare.

Historians argue about how successful the Five Nations was. Some think that it was remarkable, and gave ideas to those who later set up the United States of America. Others say that the Five Nations often did not work together and it was not very organised. Whichever view is correct, it is true that the Iroquois were very successful in the seventeenth century.

James Green: Native peoples of the Americas, Oxford University Press, 1993, page 16 f.