Huron Tribe
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The Wyandot people (also Wyandotte, Wendat, Waⁿdát, or Huron) are an
Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands include Native American tribes and First Nation bands residing in or originating from a cultural area encompassing the northeastern and Midwest United States and southeastern Canada. It is part ...
of the present-day
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. Their
Wyandot language Wyandot (also Wyandotte, Wendat, Quendat or Huron) is the Iroquoian language traditionally spoken by the people known as Wyandot or Wyandotte, descended from the Tionontati. It is considered a sister to the Wendat language, spoken by descendan ...
belongs to the Iroquoian language family. In Canada, the
Huron-Wendat Nation The Huron-Wendat Nation (or Huron-Wendat First Nation) is an Iroquoian-speaking nation that was established in the 17th century. In the French language, used by most members of the First Nation, they are known as the . The French gave the nickn ...
has two
First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...
reserves at
Wendake Wendake () is the current name for two urban reserves, Wendake 7 () and Wendake 7A, () of the Huron-Wendat Nation in the Canadian province of Quebec. They are enclaves entirely surrounded by the La Haute-Saint-Charles borough of Quebec City, w ...
, Quebec. In the United States, the
Wyandotte Nation The Wyandotte Nation is a Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Native American tribe headquartered in northeastern Oklahoma. They are descendants of the Wyandot people, Wendat Confederacy and Native Americans with territory near ...
is a
federally recognized tribe A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...
headquartered in
Wyandotte, Oklahoma Wyandotte is a town in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 333 at the 2010 census, a decline of 8.26 percent from the figure of 363 recorded in 2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Cult ...
. There are also organizations that self-identify as Wyandot. The Wendat emerged as a confederacy of five nations in the St. Lawrence River Valley, especially in Southern Ontario, including the north shore of
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
. Their original homeland extended to the
Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...
of
Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...
and
Lake Simcoe Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly within the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century, the lake was called ''Ouentir ...
in Ontario, Canada and occupied territory around the western part of the lake. The Wyandotte Nation (the U.S. Tribe) descends from remnants of the
Tionontati The Petun (from ), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati (Dionnontate, Etionontate, Etionnontateronnon, Tuinontatek, Dionondadie, or Khionotaterrhonon) ("People among the hills/mountains"), were an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, i ...
(or Tobacco/Petun) people, who did not belong to the Wendat (Huron) Confederacy. However, the Wyandotte have connections to the Wendat-Huron through their lineage from the Attignawantan, the founding nation of the Confederacy. After their defeat in 1649 during prolonged warfare with the Five Nations of the
Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...
, the surviving members of the confederacy dispersed; some took residence at Quebec with the Jesuits and others merged with neighboring nations, such as the
Tionontati The Petun (from ), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati (Dionnontate, Etionontate, Etionnontateronnon, Tuinontatek, Dionondadie, or Khionotaterrhonon) ("People among the hills/mountains"), were an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, i ...
or Tobacco to become the Wyandot. Afterward, they occupied territory extending into what is now the United States, especially Michigan, and northern Ohio. In the 1830s, they were forced west to Indian Territory (Kansas and finally northeastern Oklahoma) due to U.S. federal removal policies. They are related to other Iroquoian peoples in the region, such as their powerful competitors, the Five Nations of the Iroquois who occupied territory mostly on the south side of Lake Ontario but also had hunting grounds along the
St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...
. They are also related to the neighboring
Erie Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...
, Neutral Nation,
Wenro The Wenrohronon or Wenro people were an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous nation of North America, originally residing in present-day western New York (state), New York (and possibly fringe portions of ...
,
Susquehannock The Susquehannock, also known as the Conestoga, Minquas, and Andaste, were an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian people who lived in the lower Susquehanna River watershed in what is now Pennsylvania. Their name means “people of the muddy river.” T ...
, and
Tionontate The Petun (from ), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati (Dionnontate, Etionontate, Etionnontateronnon, Tuinontatek, Dionondadie, or Khionotaterrhonon) ("People among the hills/mountains"), were an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, i ...
— all speaking varieties of
Iroquoian languages The Iroquoian languages () are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, almost all surviving I ...
, but traditional enemies of the Five Nations of the Iroquois. At various points in history these other nations have also engaged in trade and warfare with one another.


Etymology

In the early 17th century, this Iroquoian people called themselves the Wendat, an
autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...
which means "Dwellers of the Peninsula" or "Islanders". The Wendat historic territory was bordered on three sides by the waters of
Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...
and
Lake Simcoe Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly within the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century, the lake was called ''Ouentir ...
. Similarly, in other Iroquois languages, such as
Cayuga Cayuga often refers to: * Cayuga people, a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy * Cayuga language, the language of the Cayuga Cayuga may also refer to: Places Canada *Cayuga, Ontario United States * Cayuga, Illinois ...
, refer to this nation as "Island dwellers". Early French explorers referred to these
Indigenous Peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
as the Huron, either from the French ' ("ruffian", "rustic"), or from ' ("boar's head"). According to tradition, French sailors thought that the bristly hairstyle of Wendat
warrior A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste. History ...
s resembled that of a
boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
. French fur traders and explorers referred to them as the "" (good Iroquois). An alternate etymology from
Russell Errett Russell Errett (November 10, 1817 – April 7, 1891) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Biography Russell Errett was born in New York City. In 1829 he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and became en ...
in 1885 is that the name is from the Iroquoian term ' ("Cat Nation"), a name also applied to the Erie nation. The French pronounced the name as ''Hirri-ronon'', and it gradually became known as ''Hirr-on'', and finally spelled in its present form, ''Huron''.
William Martin Beauchamp William Martin Beauchamp (March 25, 1830 – December 13, 1925)BEAUCHAMP, William Marti ...
concurred in 1907 that ''Huron'' was at least related to the Iroquoian root ' ("nation"). Other etymological possibilities are derived from the Algonquin words ' ("straight coast") or ' ("crooked coast"). In the late 17th century, elements of the Huron Confederacy and the Petun joined and became known as the Wyandot, a variation of Wendat.


History


Origin, and organization: before 1650

Early theories placed the Wendat's origin in the
St. Lawrence Valley The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...
. Some historians or anthropologists proposed the people were located near the present-day site of Montreal and former sites of the historic St. Lawrence Iroquoian peoples. Wendat is an Iroquoian language. Early 21st-century research in linguistics and archaeology confirm a historical connection between the Wendat and the St. Lawrence Iroquois. But all of the Iroquoian-speaking peoples shared some aspects of their culture, including the Erie people, any or all of the later Haudenosaunee, and the Susquehannock. By the 15th century, the
precontact In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European co ...
Wendat occupied the large area from the north shores of most of the present-day
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
, northward up to the southeastern shores of
Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...
. From this homeland, they encountered the French explorer
Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; 13 August 1574#Fichier]For a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see #Ritch, RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December ...
in 1615. They historically spoke the
Wyandot language Wyandot (also Wyandotte, Wendat, Quendat or Huron) is the Iroquoian language traditionally spoken by the people known as Wyandot or Wyandotte, descended from the Tionontati. It is considered a sister to the Wendat language, spoken by descendan ...
, a Northern Iroquoian language. They were believed to number more than 30,000 at the time of European contact in the 1610s to 1620s. In 1975 and 1978, archaeologists excavated a large 15th-century Huron village, now called the
Draper site The Draper Site is a precontact period (late fifteenth-century) Huron-Wendat ancestral village located on a tributary of West Duffins Creek in present-day Pickering, Ontario, approximately 35 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The site is found in ...
, in
Pickering, Ontario Pickering (2021 Canadian census, 2021 population 99,186) is a city located in Southern Ontario, Canada, immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region, Ontario, Durham Region. Beginning in the 1770s, the area was settled by primarily British colon ...
near
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
. In 2003 a larger village was discovered away in
Whitchurch-Stouffville Whitchurch-Stouffville (2021 Canadian census, 2021 population 49,864) is a town in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada, approximately north of downtown Toronto, and north-east of Toronto Pearson International Airport. It is in area, ...
; it is known as the
Mantle Site The "Jean-Baptiste Lainé" or Mantle Site in the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville, north-east of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is the largest and most complex ancestral Wendat-Huron village to be excavated to date in the Lower Great Lakes region. Th ...
and was occupied from the late 16th to early 17th century. It has been renamed the Jean-Baptiste Lainé Site, named in honor of a decorated Wendat-Huron soldier of World War II whose name in French was Jean-Baptiste Lainé. All four Lainé brothers, from the Huron-Wendat Reserve in Wendake, Quebec, fought through and survived the WWII. Each of the sites had been surrounded by a defensive wooden
palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...
, as was typical of regional cultures. Four Wendat ancestral village sites have been excavated in
Whitchurch-Stouffville Whitchurch-Stouffville (2021 Canadian census, 2021 population 49,864) is a town in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada, approximately north of downtown Toronto, and north-east of Toronto Pearson International Airport. It is in area, ...
. The large
Mantle site The "Jean-Baptiste Lainé" or Mantle Site in the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville, north-east of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is the largest and most complex ancestral Wendat-Huron village to be excavated to date in the Lower Great Lakes region. Th ...
had more than 70 multifamily
longhouses A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from timber and often re ...
. Based on radiocarbon dating, it has been determined to have been occupied from 1587 to 1623. Its population was estimated at 1500–2000 persons. Canadian archaeologist James F. Pendergast states: The Wendat were not a single nation, but a confederacy of several nations who had
mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...
languages. These self-governing nations included: * Arendaenronnon ("people of the lying rock") * Atahontaenrat ("two white ears", referring to "deer people") * Ataronchronon ("people of the bog") * Attinniaoenten ("people of the bear") * Hatingeennonniahak ("makers of cords for nets"). The Attinniaoenten and Hatingeennonniahak first allied in the 15th century. Arendaenronnon joined them about 1590, and the Atahontaenrat join around 1610. The fifth group, the Ataronchronon may not have attained full membership in the confederacy, and may have been a division of the Attignawantan. The largest Wendat settlement and capital of the confederacy, at least during the time of
Jean de Brébeuf Jean de Brébeuf () (25 March 1593 16 March 1649) was a French Jesuit missionary who travelled to New France (Canada) in 1625. There he worked primarily with the Huron for the rest of his life, except for a few years in France from 1629 to 1 ...
and the Jesuits was located at Ossossane. When
Gabriel Sagard Gabriel Sagard, OMR ( ''fl.'' 1614–1636) was a French lay brother and member of the Recollects, a reform branch of the Order of Friars Minor known for its strict poverty. He was among the first Christian missionaries to New France, and is ...
was among them however, Quienonascaran was the principal village of the Attignawantan, when
Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; 13 August 1574#Fichier]For a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see #Ritch, RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December ...
and Father
Joseph Le Caron Joseph Le Caron, O.M.R., (c. 1586 near Paris – March 29, 1632 in Gisors, France) was one of the four pioneer missionaries of Canada (together with Denis Jamet, Jean Dolbeau, and Pacifique du Plessis, all Recollect friars), and was the first ...
were among the Hurons in 1615, a village called
Carhagouha Carhagouha was a settlement of the Huron/Wendat people. The place where it is thought to have existed, near present-day Lafontaine, Ontario, Canada, is commemorated with a historical marker. Carhagouha was the site of the first Catholic Mass c ...
may have been the capital. Modern-day
Elmvale Elmvale is a rural town in Springwater Township, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the intersection of County Road 27 and County Road 92 (Queen Street), 20 minutes north of Barrie. Elmvale is home to 2,314 people, as of 2016. History Elmva ...
, Ontario developed near that site. The Wendat called their traditional territory ''Wendake''. Closely related to the people of the Huron Confederacay were the Tionontate, an Iroquoian-speaking group whom the French called the ''
Petun The Petun (from ), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati (Dionnontate, Etionontate, Etionnontateronnon, Tuinontatek, Dionondadie, or Khionotaterrhonon) ("People among the hills/mountains"), were an indigenous Iroquoian people of the w ...
'' (Tobacco), for their cultivation of that crop. They lived further south and were divided into two moitiés or groups: the Deer and the Wolves. Considering that they formed the nucleus of the nation later known as the Wyandot, they too may have called themselves Wendat. There were ongoing hostilities between the Iroquoian Wendat and the
Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...
, another Iroquoian confederacy, but the Wendat had good relations with the
Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...
.
Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
became endemic among the Huron, aggravated by their close and smoky living conditions in the longhouses. Despite this, the Huron on the whole were healthy. The Jesuits wrote that the Huron effectively employed natural remedies and were "more healthy than we".


European contact and Wendat dispersal

The earliest written accounts of the Huron were made by the French, who began exploring North America in the 16th century. News of the Europeans reached the Huron, particularly when Samuel de Champlain explored the Saint Lawrence River in the early 17th century. Some Huron decided to go and meet the Europeans. Atironta, the principal headman of the Arendarhonon nation, went to
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
and allied with the French in 1609. The ''
Jesuit Relations ''The Jesuit Relations'', also known as ''Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France (Relation de ce qui s'est passé ..'', are chronicles of the Jesuit missions in New France. The works were written annually and printed beginning in 1632 an ...
'' of 1639 describes the Huron: The total population of the Huron at the time of European contact has been estimated at 20,000 to 40,000 people. From 1634 to 1640, the Huron were devastated by Eurasian infectious diseases, such as measles and smallpox, which were endemic among the Europeans. The Indigenous peoples of North America had no acquired immunity to these diseases and suffered very high mortality rates.
Epidemiological studies Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent diseases. It is a cornerstone ...
have shown that beginning in 1634, more European children emigrated with their families to the New World from cities in France, Britain, and the Netherlands, which had
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
smallpox. Historians believe the disease spread from the children to the Huron and other nations, often through contact with traders. So many Huron died that they abandoned many of their villages and agricultural areas. About half to two-thirds of the population died in the epidemics, decreasing the population to about 12,000. Such losses had a high social cost, devastating families and clans, and disrupting their society's structure and traditions. Before the French arrived, the Huron had already been in conflict with the
Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...
Confederacy (Five Nations) to the south. Once the European powers became involved in trading, the conflict among natives intensified significantly as they struggled to control the lucrative
fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...
and satisfy European demand. The French allied with the Huron because they were the most advanced trading nation at the time. The Haudenosaunee tended to ally with the Dutch and later English, who settled at Albany and in the
Mohawk Valley The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...
of their New York territory. The introduction of European weapons and the fur trade increased competition and the severity of inter-tribal warfare. While the Haudenosaunee could easily obtain guns in exchange for furs from Dutch traders in New York, the Wendat were required to profess Christianity to obtain a gun from French traders in Canada. Therefore, they were unprepared, on March 16, 1649, when a Haudenosaunee war party of about 1,000 entered Wendake and burned the Huron mission villages of St. Ignace and St. Louis in present-day
Simcoe County Simcoe County is a county and census division located in the central region of Ontario, Canada. The county is located north of the Greater Toronto Area, and forms the north western edge of the Golden Horseshoe. The county seat is located in Mi ...
, Ontario, killing about 300 people. The Iroquois also killed many of the Jesuit missionaries, who have since been honored as
North American Martyrs The Canadian Martyrs (), also known as the North American Martyrs ( French: ''Saints martyrs canadiens'', Holy Canadian Martyrs), were eight Jesuit missionaries from Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. They were ritually tortured and killed on various ...
. The surviving Jesuits burned the mission after abandoning it to prevent its capture. The extensive Iroquois attack shocked and frightened the surviving Huron. The Huron were geographically cut off from trade with the Dutch and British by the Iroquois Confederacy, who had access to free trade with all the Europeans in the area especially the Dutch. This forced them to continue to use lithic tools and weapons like clubs, bows and arrows, stone scrapers, and cutters. This is compared to the near-universal use of European iron tools by Iroquois groups in the area. Huron trade routes were consistently pillaged by raiders, and the lack of firearms discouraged the Hurons' trade with the French, at least without French protection. As a result of their lack of exposure, the Huron did not have as much experience using firearms compared to their neighbors, putting them at a significant disadvantage when firearms were available to them, and when available, their possession of firearms made them a larger target for Iroquois aggression. After 1634 their numbers were drastically reduced by epidemics of new infectious diseases carried by Europeans, among whom these were endemic. The weakened Wendat were dispersed by the war in 1649 waged by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, then based largely south of the Great Lakes in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
and Pennsylvania. Archaeological evidence of this displacement has been uncovered at the Rock Island II Site in Wisconsin. By May 1, 1649, the Huron had burned 15 of their villages to prevent their stores from being taken and fled as refugees to surrounding areas. About 10,000 fled to Gahoendoe (now also called Christian Island). Most who fled to the island starved over the winter, as it was an unproductive settlement and could not provide for them. After spending the bitter winter of 1649–50 on the island, surviving Huron relocated near Quebec City, where they settled at
Wendake Wendake () is the current name for two urban reserves, Wendake 7 () and Wendake 7A, () of the Huron-Wendat Nation in the Canadian province of Quebec. They are enclaves entirely surrounded by the La Haute-Saint-Charles borough of Quebec City, w ...
. Absorbing other refugees, they became the Huron Confederacy. Some Huron, along with the surviving Petun, whose villages the Iroquois attacked in the fall of 1649, fled to the upper Lake Michigan region, settling first at Green Bay, then at
Michilimackinac Michilimackinac ( ) is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire region ...
. In the late 17th century, the Huron (Wendat) Confederacy merged with the Iroquoian-speaking
Tionontati The Petun (from ), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati (Dionnontate, Etionontate, Etionnontateronnon, Tuinontatek, Dionondadie, or Khionotaterrhonon) ("People among the hills/mountains"), were an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, i ...
nation (known as the ''Petun'' in French, also known as the Tobacco people for their chief commodity crop). They may originally have been a splinter colony of the Huron, to their west to form the historical Wendat. The Huron Range spanned the region from downriver of the source of the St. Lawrence River, along with three-quarters of the northern shore of Lake Ontario, to the territory of the related
Neutral people The Neutral Confederacy (also Neutral Nation, Neutral people, or ) was a tribal confederation of Iroquoian peoples. Its heartland was in the floodplain of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River in what is now Ontario, Canada. At its height, its w ...
, extending north from both ends to wrap around Georgian Bay. This became their territorial center after their 1649 defeat and dispossession.


Kondiaronk

Kondiaronk Kondiaronk (–1701) (Gaspar Soiaga, Souojas, Sastaretsi), known as ''Le Rat'' (The Rat), was chief of the Native American Wendat people at Michilimackinac in New France. As a result of an Iroquois attack and dispersal of the Hurons in 1649, the ...
gained fame from 1682 through 1701 as a skilled diplomat and brilliant negotiator of the Huron-Wendat, famed for his skilled argumentation. Initially, Kondiaronk played a game with the French to ensure that they would ally with the Huron-Wendat against Haudenosaunee-Iroquois aggression. Later, and directly before his death at 52, he led the 1701 final Indian congress between many of the different Indigenous nations, creating the
Great Peace of Montreal The Great Peace of Montreal () was a peace treaty between New France and 39 First Nations of North America that ended the Beaver Wars. It was signed on August 4, 1701, by Louis-Hector de Callière, governor of New France, and 1300 representati ...
, a peace treaty between
New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...
and 39
First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...
of North America that ended the
Beaver Wars The Beaver Wars (), also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars (), were a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th century in North America throughout the Saint Lawrence River valley in Canada and the Great L ...
.


Huron–British Treaty of 1760

On September 5, 1760, just prior to the capitulation of Montreal to British forces, Brigadier-General James Murray signed a "Treaty of Peace and Friendship" with a Wendat chief then residing in the settlement of Lorette. The text of the treaty reads as follows: The treaty recognized the Huron (Wendat) as a distinct nation and guaranteed that the British would not interfere with the nation's internal affairs. In 1990, the Supreme Court of Canada, ruling in '' R v Sioui'', found that the Huron-British Treaty of 1760 was still valid and binding on the Canadian Crown. Accordingly, the exercise of Wendat religion, customs, and trade benefit from continuing Canadian constitutional protection throughout the territory frequented by the tribe during the period the treaty was concluded.


Emergence of the Wyandot

In the late 17th century, elements of the Huron Confederacy and the Petun joined and became known as the Wyandot (or Wyandotte), a variation of Wendat. (This name is also related to the French transliteration of the Mohawk term for tobacco.) The western Wyandot re-formed in the area of southern Michigan but migrated to Ohio after their alliance with the "Flathead"
Catawba Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany *Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other ...
got them in trouble with their former ally the
Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ) are an Indigenous North American people who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, now in jurisdictions of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Their territory long prec ...
. In August 1782, the Wyandot joined forces with
Simon Girty Simon Girty (14 November 1741 – 18 February 1818) was an interpreter with the British Indian Department during the American Revolutionary War and Northwest Indian War. As a child he and his brothers James and George were captured and adopted b ...
, a British soldier. On August 15 through 19, 1782, they unsuccessfully besieged
Bryan Station Bryan Station (also Bryan's Station, and often misspelled Bryant's Station) was an early fortified settlement in Lexington, Kentucky. It was located on present-day Bryan Station Road, about three miles (5 km) northeast of New Circle Road, ...
in Kentucky (near present-day Lexington). They drew the Kentucky militia to Lower Blue Licks, where the Wyandot defeated the militia led by
Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...
. The Wyandot gained the high ground and surrounded Boone's forces. Also in late 1782, the Wyandot joined forces with
Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
,
Seneca Seneca may refer to: People, fictional characters and language * Seneca (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname : :* Seneca the Elder (c. 54 BC – c. AD 39), a Roman rhetorician, writer and father ...
, and
Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...
in an unsuccessful siege of Fort Henry on the
Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
. During the
Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1785–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native Americans in the United States, Native American na ...
, the Wyandot fought alongside British allies against the United States. Under the leadership of
Tarhe Tarhe (c. 1742–1818) was a leader of the Wyandot people in the Ohio Country. His nickname was "The Crane". He fought American expansion into the region until the Northwestern Confederacy was defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. ...
, they were signatories to the
Treaty of Greenville The Treaty of Greenville, also known to Americans as the Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., but formally titled ''A treaty of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Ottawas ...
in 1795. In 1807, the Wyandot joined three other tribes – the Odawa,
Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...
, and
Ojibwe people The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thr ...
– in signing the
Treaty of Detroit The Treaty of Detroit was a treaty between the United States and the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandot and Potawatomi Native American nations. The treaty was signed in Detroit, Michigan on November 17, 1807, with William Hull, governor of the Mi ...
, which resulted in a major land cession to the United States. This agreement between the tribes and the
Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit ...
(represented by
William Hull William Hull (June 24, 1753 – November 29, 1825) was an American military officer and politician. A veteran of the American Revolutionary War, he later served as governor of the Michigan Territory (1805–1813), where he negotiated land cessi ...
) ceded to the United States a part of their territory in today's southeastern Michigan and a section of Ohio near the
Maumee River The Maumee River (pronounced ) (; ) is a river running in the Midwestern United States from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph River (Maumee River), St. Joseph and St. Mar ...
. The tribes were allowed to keep small pockets of land in the territory. The Treaty of Brownstown was signed by Governor Hull on November 7, 1807, and provided the Indigenous nations with a payment of $10,000 in goods and money along with an annual payment of $2,400 in exchange for an area of land that included the southeastern one-quarter of the lower peninsula of Michigan. In 1819, the Methodist Church established a mission to the Wyandot in Ohio, its first to Native Americans. In the 1840s, most of the surviving Wyandot people were displaced to Kansas Indigenous territory through the US federal policy of forced Indian removal. Using the funds they received for their lands in Ohio, the Wyandot purchased of land for $46,080 in what is now
Wyandotte County, Kansas Wyandotte County () is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Kansas City, with which it shares a unified government. As of the 2020 census, the population was 169,245, making it Kansas's fourth ...
from the Lenape. The Lenape had been grateful for the hospitality which the Wyandot had given them in Ohio, as the Lenape had been forced to move west under pressure from Anglo-European colonists. The Wyandot acquired a more-or-less square parcel north and west of the junction of the
Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a meandering river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is potentially the southwestern most part of the Missouri River drainage, which is sometimes in turn the northwesternmost portion of ...
and the
Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...
. A United States government treaty granted the Wyandot Nation a small portion of fertile land located in an acute angle of the Missouri River and Kansas River, which they purchased from the Delaware in 1843. Also, the government granted 32 "floating sections", located on public lands west of the Mississippi River. In June 1853, Big Turtle, a Wyandot chief, wrote to the ''Ohio State Journal'' regarding the current condition of his tribe. The Wyandot had received nearly $127,000 for their lands in 1845. Big Turtle noted that, in the spring of 1850, the tribal chiefs retroceded the granted land to the government. They invested $100,000 of the proceeds in 5% government stock. After removal to Kansas, the Wyandot had founded good libraries along with two thriving
Sabbath school Sabbath school is a function of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh Day Baptist, Church of God (Seventh-Day), and some other sabbatarian denominations, usually comprising a song service and Bible study lesson on the Sabbath. It is usual ...
s. They were in the process of organizing a division of the
Sons of Temperance The Sons of Temperance was and is a brotherhood of men who promoted the temperance movement and Benefit society, mutual support. The organization was started in New York City in 1842. In the 1840s, it spread quickly across the United States and ...
and maintained a sizable
temperance society The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emphasi ...
. Big Turtle commented on the agricultural yield, which produced an annual surplus for the market. He said that the thrift of the Wyandot exceeded that of any tribe north of the Arkansas line. According to his account, the Wyandot nation was "contented and happy", and enjoyed better living conditions in the Indigenous territory than they had in Ohio. By 1855 the number of Wyandot had diminished to 600 or 700 people. On August 14 of that year, the Wyandot Nation elected a chief. The Kansas correspondent of the ''
Missouri Republican The ''Missouri Republican'' was a newspaper founded in 1808 and headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its predecessor was the ''Morning Gazette''. It later changed its name to ''St. Louis Republic''. After supporting the Whig Party, the paper be ...
'' reported that the judges of the election were three elders who were trusted by their peers. The Wyandot offered some of the floating sections of land for sale on the same day at $800. A section was composed of . Altogether were sold for $25,600. They were located in Kansas, Nebraska, and unspecified sites. Surveys were not required, with the title becoming complete at the time of location. The Wyandot played an important role in Kansas politics. On July 26, 1853, at a meeting at the Wyandot Council house in
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
,
William Walker William Walker may refer to: Arts * William Walker (engraver) (1791–1867), mezzotint engraver of portrait of Robert Burns * William Sidney Walker (1795–1846), English Shakespearean critic * William Walker (composer) (1809–1875), American Bap ...
(Wyandot) was elected provisional governor of
Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Nebraska. The Nebrask ...
, which included Kansas. He was elected by Wyandot, white traders, and outside interests who wished to preempt the federal government's organization of the territory and to benefit from the settlement of Kansas by white settlers. Walker and others promoted Kansas as the route for the proposed transcontinental railroad. Although the federal government did not recognize Walker's election, the political activity prompted the federal government to pass the
Kansas–Nebraska Act The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 () was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law b ...
to organize Kansas and Nebraska territories. An October 1855 article in ''The New York Times'' reported that the Wyandot were free (that is, they had been accepted as US citizens) and without the restrictions placed on other tribes. Their leaders were unanimously
pro-slavery Proslavery is support for slavery. It is sometimes found in the thought of ancient philosophers, religious texts, and in American and British writings especially before the American Civil War but also later through the 20th century. Arguments in ...
, which meant 900 or 1,000 additional votes in opposition to the Free State movement of Kansas. In 1867, after the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, additional members were removed from the Midwest to
Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
. Today more than 4,000 Wyandot can be found in eastern
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
and northeastern
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
. The last known original Wyandot of Ohio was
Margaret Grey Eyes Solomon Margaret Grey Eyes Solomon (November 1816 – August 18, 1890), better known as Mother Solomon, was a Wyandot people, Wyandot nanny and cultural activist. Solomon was born along Kokosing River, Owl Creek in Marion County, Ohio, to a Wyandot chi ...
, known as "Mother Solomon". The daughter of Chief John Grey Eyes, she was born in 1816 and left Ohio in 1843. By 1889 she had returned to Ohio, when she was recorded as a spectator to the restoration of the
Wyandot Mission Church The Wyandot Mission Church is an early 19th century Methodism, Methodist church in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. The church's interior contains hand-hewn benches, dark pews, and portraits of the missionary John Stewart (missionary), John Stewart and his ...
in Upper Sandusky. She died in Upper Sandusky on August 17, 1890. The last full blood Wyandot was Bill Moose Crowfoot who died in Upper Arlington, Ohio in 1937. He stated that 12 Wyandot families remained behind.


20th century to present

Archeological work in Canada and the United States has revealed the Wyandot's ancestral roots in what are now Canada and the United States. It also has provided evidence about the peoples' migrations and interactions with other Indigenous groups, as well as the French and British colonists. Beginning in 1907, archaeological excavations were conducted at the Jesuit mission site near Georgian Bay. The mission has since been reconstructed as
Sainte-Marie among the Hurons Sainte-Marie among the Hurons () was a French Jesuit settlement in Huronia or Wendake, the land of the Wendat, near modern Midland, Ontario, from 1639 to 1649. It was the first European settlement in what is now the province of Ontario. Eigh ...
, a living museum to interpret Wyandot and Jesuit history; it is adjacent to the Martyrs' Shrine. This Roman Catholic shrine is consecrated to the ten
North American martyrs The Canadian Martyrs (), also known as the North American Martyrs ( French: ''Saints martyrs canadiens'', Holy Canadian Martyrs), were eight Jesuit missionaries from Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. They were ritually tortured and killed on various ...
. Since the mid-century, the Wyandot pursued land claims in the United States since they had not been fully compensated for lost lands. The US federal government set up the Indian Claims Court in the 1940s to address grievances filed by various Native American tribes. The court adjudicated claims, and Congress allocated $800 million to compensate tribes for losses due to treaties broken by the US government, or losses of land due to settlers who invaded their territories. The Wyandot filed a land claim for compensation due to the forced sale of their land in the Ohio region to the federal government under the 1830
Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States president Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, ...
, which forced Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi River to an area designated as
Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
. Originally the United States paid the Wyandot for their land at the rate of 75 cents per acre, but the land was worth $1.50 an acre. Although Congress intended to have a deadline by which Indigenous claims had to be settled, Federal district courts continued to hear land claims and other cases for compensation. In February 1985, the US government finally agreed to pay descendants of the Wyandot $5.5 million to settle the tribe's outstanding claim. The decision settled claims related to the 143-year-old treaty. In 1842 the United States had forced the tribe to sell their Ohio lands for less-than-fair value. A spokesman for the
Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...
said that the government would pay $1,600 each, in July 1985, to 3,600 people in Kansas and Oklahoma who could prove they were descendants of Wyandot affected by Indian Removal. During the 20th century, contemporary Wyandot continued to assert their culture and identity. On August 27, 1999, representatives of the far-flung Wyandot bands from Quebec, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Michigan gathered at their historic homeland in
Midland, Ontario Midland is a town located on Georgian Bay in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Huronia/Wendat region of Central Ontario. Located at the southern end of Georgian Bay's 30,000 Islands, Midland is the economic centre of the region ...
. There they formally re-established the Wendat Confederacy. There are also groups in List of organizations that self-identify as Native American tribes#Kansas and List of organizations that self-identify as Native American tribes#Michigan who
self-identify Personal identity is the unique numerical identity of a person over time. Discussions regarding personal identity typically aim to determine the necessary and sufficient conditions under which a person at one time and a person at another time ...
as Wyandot descendants.


Recognized Wyandot nations

In Canada, there is one Wyandot First Nation: * The
Huron-Wendat Nation The Huron-Wendat Nation (or Huron-Wendat First Nation) is an Iroquoian-speaking nation that was established in the 17th century. In the French language, used by most members of the First Nation, they are known as the . The French gave the nickn ...
is based on two reserves in
Wendake, Quebec Wendake () is the current name for two urban reserves, Wendake 7 () and Wendake 7A, () of the Huron-Wendat Nation in the Canadian province of Quebec. They are enclaves entirely surrounded by the La Haute-Saint-Charles borough of Quebec City, w ...
, now within the Quebec City limits. The First Nation had approximately 6,980 members in 2021, who primarily speak French as their first language and are Roman Catholic. They have begun revitalizing Wyandot language among their children. For many decades, a leading source of income for the Wendat of Quebec has been selling pottery,
snowshoes Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footw ...
, summer and winter moccasins, and other locally produced crafts. The United States, has one
federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes are legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United States.
Wendat tribe: * The
Wyandotte Nation The Wyandotte Nation is a Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Native American tribe headquartered in northeastern Oklahoma. They are descendants of the Wyandot people, Wendat Confederacy and Native Americans with territory near ...
is headquartered in
Wyandotte, Oklahoma Wyandotte is a town in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 333 at the 2010 census, a decline of 8.26 percent from the figure of 363 recorded in 2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Cult ...
, and in 2023 had 6,883 enrolled members.


Unrecognized and defunct groups

Two
organizations that self-identify as Native American tribes These organizations, located within the United States, self-identify as Native American tribes, heritage groups, or descendant communities, but they are not federally recognized or state-recognized as Native American tribes. The U.S. Governmental ...
in the United States identify as Wyandot: *
Wyandot Nation of Kansas The Wyandot Nation of Kansas is an self-identifying tribe and nonprofit organization headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas. They identify as being Wyandot. History An 1855 treaty attempted to dissolve the Wyandot tribe, but not all members a ...
, headquartered in
Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...
*
Wyandot of Anderdon Nation The Wyandot of Anderdon Nation is a self-identifying tribe and nonprofit organization headquartered in Trenton, Michigan, on the Detroit River. History The Wyandot people have lived along the Detroit River since the early 18th century. The ...
, with headquarters in
Trenton, Michigan Trenton is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County, Michigan, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city population was 18,853. A Shawnee village was built in the area by war chief Blue Jacket after the 1795 Tre ...
Defunct Wendat communities include: *
Upper Sandusky Reservation The Upper Sandusky Reservation was home to many of the Wyandot people, Wyandot from 1818–1842. It was the last Native American reservation in Ohio when it was dissolved, and was also the largest Native American reservation in Ohio, although up u ...
(1818–1842), a former Wyandot reservation in Ohio, United States *
Kuskusky Kuskusky, also known as the Kuskuskies Towns, Kuskuskie Towns, or Kuskuskies' Indian Town, with a wide variety of other spellings, were several Native American communities inhabited near New Castle, Mahoning, and Edinburg, Pennsylvania, and Yo ...
, several Wyandot communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio, during the mid-18th century


Culture

Like other Iroquoian-speaking peoples, the Wyandot have historically been sedentary farmers who supplemented their diet with hunting and fishing. The women historically cultivated several varieties of maize, squash, and beans (the " Three Sisters") as the mainstay of their diet, saving seeds of various types, and working to produce the best crops for different purposes. They have also collected nuts, fruit, and wild root vegetables, with their preparation of this produce supplemented primarily by fish caught by the men. The men historically hunt deer and other animals available during the game seasons. Women have traditionally done most of the crop planting, cultivation, and processing, although men help with the heaviest work of clearing fields or, historically, fortifying villages with wooden palisades. Wood has traditionally been gathered and brush cleared by the
slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a Field (agriculture), field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody p ...
method. Each family has traditionally owned a plot of land which they farmed, which then reverted to the common property of the community when the individual family no longer used it. Historically, the Huron have lived in villages spanning from one to ten acres (40,000 m2), most of which were strongly fortified and enclosed by high and strong palisades of wood in double and sometimes triple rows for defense against enemy attack. They have also lived in longhouses covered with tree bark similar to other Iroquoian cultural groups, which could house twenty or more families in one dwelling, and were in different lengths, some being thirty or forty feet in length. A typical village or town historically had 900 to 1,600 people organized into 30 or 40 longhouses. Villages were moved about every ten years as the soil became less fertile and the nearby forest – from which they took firewood – grew thin. The Huron engaged in trade with neighboring nations, notably for tobacco with the neighboring Petun and
Neutral Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...
nations. The Huron way of life was in antiquity very gender-specific in practice. Men set off for war or hunted for game to feed their people. Women made the clothes, cooked and processed game, farmed, and raised the children. Like other Iroquoian peoples, the Wyandot have traditionally followed a matrilineal kinship system, with children considered born to the mother's lineage, their status inherited from hers. In this way her older brother is traditionally more important to her sons than their biological father. As children grow older, they slowly grow into their roles within their society. Both genders learn from adults how to do certain things that later will help the community. For example, as children, girls learn how to make doll clothing, which teaches them the skills needed to make garments for people. Boys are given miniature bows so they may practice hunting very small game. All young children are integrated into society, and given small tasks and responsibilities based on their age. Boys accompany men on some hunting events to learn firsthand how to hunt, receive tips on what to do while hunting, and develop needed skills for when they are older. Girls learn the same way, by following and watching the women conduct their daily routines, mimicking them on a smaller scale.


Religion

Huron medicine men were called ''arendiwane'', a term denoting a person with great supernatural power. A ''arendiwane'' diagnosed diseases by consulting dreams; during or after his dreams, a spirit known as an ''oki'' would visit him in the form of a fire, ghost, or bird (such as a crow or eagle) and explain the cause of the illness and its cure. These medicine men also administered to the dying, interpreting their dreams and visions. The Hurons believed that those who were dying had a special connection to the world of the supernatural and took their dreams and visions very seriously, considering them especially trustworthy sources of information. Requests from the dying were considered "incontestable." Their beliefs surrounding visions and dreams likely carried over when Hurons began converting to Christianity. Several accounts of seventeenth-century Christianized Hurons on their deathbed include visions of Heaven and Jesus Christ, which influenced believers' lives on earth. For example, one account describes a dying woman requesting a bead bracelet from a local missionary named
Jean de Brébeuf Jean de Brébeuf () (25 March 1593 16 March 1649) was a French Jesuit missionary who travelled to New France (Canada) in 1625. There he worked primarily with the Huron for the rest of his life, except for a few years in France from 1629 to 1 ...
, because she had learned in a dying vision that her recently deceased sister had received such a bracelet from him. According to Wyandot mythology, ''Iosheka'' created the first man and woman and taught them many skills, including all their religious ceremonies and rituals, the ability to fight evil spirits, healing, and the use of the sacrament of tobacco.


War

Samuel de Champlain made mortal enemies of the Iroquois when he fought alongside a war party of Hurons and
Algonquins The Algonquin people are an Indigenous people who now live in Eastern Canada and parts of the United States. They speak the Algonquin language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely ...
who demanded that he assist them in their ongoing conflict against their hated enemy. The Iroquois regarded the French as enemies for nearly one hundred years.


See also

*
Kondiaronk Kondiaronk (–1701) (Gaspar Soiaga, Souojas, Sastaretsi), known as ''Le Rat'' (The Rat), was chief of the Native American Wendat people at Michilimackinac in New France. As a result of an Iroquois attack and dispersal of the Hurons in 1649, the ...


Explanatory footnotes

* Wendlas The Wyandot people or Wendat, also called the Hu-ron(on)= Nation and Hu-ron(on) Catti people


Citations


General references

* * * * * * Labelle, Kathryn Magee (2013).
Dispersed but Not Destroyed: A History of the Seventeenth-Century Wendat People
'. UBC Press. * * * *


Further reading

* * * * ;


External links

Official tribal websites
Wyandotte Nation
Wyandotte, Oklahoma
Huron-Wendat Nation
Wendake, Quebec Unrecognized groups
Wyandot Nation of Kansas

Wyandot of Anderdon Nation
Michigan Other

– The earliest and one of the most complete dictionaries of the Huron language
The Huron-Wendat Museum
Wendake, Quebec Wendake () is the current name for two urban reserves, Wendake 7 () and Wendake 7A, () of the Huron-Wendat Nation in the Canadian province of Quebec. They are enclaves entirely surrounded by the La Haute-Saint-Charles borough of Quebec City, w ...

"The Feast of the Dead"
Erik R. Seeman,
Berfrois
', August 2, 2011

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyandot People Great Lakes tribes Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands Iroquoian peoples First Nations in Ontario First Nations in Quebec Native American tribes in Ohio Native American tribes in Oklahoma Native American people in the American Revolution Native American tribes in Michigan Tribal Confederacies of indigenous peoples of North America