Given her emphasis on the degree to which Eastern Wendats felt compelled to manifest pious Christian devotion while living among the French, the fundamental geographic divergence of the Wendat population appears to be explained by this cultural fault line--a point further supported by the decision of many Eastern Wendats to relocate voluntarily to the lands of their former enemies, the
Iroquois League, after their arrival in Quebec.
Although thoroughly American Indian -- he was the last grand sachem of the
Iroquois League of Five Nations -- Parker was educated by Baptist missionaries, eventually earning a degree in civil engineering.
The intriguing stories of how language played a key role in conflict and warfare, beginning with the Mongol Empire and Genghis Khan and the great hunt or the nerge, the
Iroquois League during the American Revolution, and the early-nineteenth-century Zulu kingdom in southern Africa, set the tone for the power of social networking.
"The Origins" sets the stage geographically and summarizes the story of native peoples (Delaware and
Iroquois League Indians) and the struggle among European empires (Dutch, Swedes, and [New] English) to make use of the mid-Atlantic region in their respective ventures of trade and settlement.
The Mohawks believed that they were defending their land, basing their actions on historic events; the Mohawk "warriors" believed that they were aiding in that defense, coming to the aid of brothers, as the Gayanasogowa (lit., the Great Law of Peace) required, and defending the interests of the
Iroquois League; Canada believed that it was preventing the escalation of a local situation; the Armed Forces believed that it was preventing the loss of life and acting on Quebec's call for assistance; and the SQ believed that it was enforcing the law of Quebec.
But he was also a diplomat and played an important role in a complex set of diplomatic struggles within the
Iroquois League following the Franco-Iroquois peace of 1653.
I summarized, I believe correctly, Mann's claim that "the
Iroquois League provided the colonists with a model of 'limited government and personal autonomy.'" I still find this unconvincing for the reasons stated in the review.
Unconquered; the
Iroquois League at war in colonial America.
Barr's UNCONQUERED: THE
IROQUOIS LEAGUE AT WAR IN COLONIAL AMERICA (0275984664, $49.95) joins others in the 'Modern Military Tradition' series, exploring the nature of Iroquois warfare and reviewing nearly two hundred years of conflict during colonial times in this country.
* The United States government's democratic structure was patterned in a small way after the governing body of the
Iroquois League of Nations.
The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the
Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization.
For an incisive critique, see Elisabeth Tooker, "The United States Constitution and the
Iroquois League," Ethnohistory 37 (Summer 1990): 305-336.
Iroquois League - a league of Iroquois tribes including originally the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca (the Five Nations); after 1722 they were joined by the Tuscarora (the Six Nations)