| Year |
History |
| 1100 |
Approximate beginning of longhouse construction |
| 1300's |
Introduction of cultivation of corn |
| 1450-75 |
Formation of Onondaga tribe |
| 1535 |
Iroquois met by Cartier |
| 1542 |
Iroquois met by Cartier on second voyage; Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Mohawk at war; tribes killed 35 of Cartier crew |
| 1570 |
Approximate date of the confederation of the Iroquois League with the arrival of "Peacemaker" Deganawida with concurrence of Mohawk war chief Hiawatha (some say as early as A. D. 900); Iroquois drove the Algonquian tribes from the Adirondack Mountains and the upper St. Lawrence River |
| 1603 |
Champlain cemented alliances with Huron and Algonquian tribes against Iroquois; the five tribes had confederated |
| 1606 |
Mohawk attacked Pocomtuc |
| 1609 |
French reached the vicinity of Montreal where the Algonkin and Montagnias were being harrrassed by the Mohawk; Champlain routed a party of Mohawk on behalf of the Huron, Montagnais, and Algonkin |
| 1610 |
Mohawk driven from the St. Lawrence River; Dutch traders arrived in the Hudson Valley of New York but the Mahicans blocked access to the Dutch traders unless a tribute was paid |
| 1615 |
French participated in an attack on the Onondaga with the Huron |
| 1617 |
Mohawk and Mahican fighting forced closure of Ft. Nassau near present Albany |
| 1624 |
Dutch built Fort Orange closer to the Mohawk; war broke out between Mohawk and Mahican and their Abenaki and Pocomtuc allies |
| 1626 |
Dutch joined a Mahican war party losing several |
| 1628 |
Mohawk defeated Mahican and forced them east of the Hudson River, Dutch accepted the Mohawk as their major trading partner; Mahican forced to pay tribute to Mohawk; Iroquois began to dominate trade on the St. Lawrence River; Tionontati, Ottawa, and Neutral acquired guns from the French and expanded their beaver trapping into lower Michigan and Ohio Valley territories of Algonquian and Siouan tribes |
| 1629 |
Beginning of Beaver Wars; Mohawk continued attacks on Abenaki and Pennacook; English privateers under Sir David Kirke captured Quebec; Mohawk destroyed Montagnais village at Trois Rivieres and continued routing Montagnais and Algonkin |
| 1632 |
Quebec restored to France by Treaty of St. Germaine en Laye; Iroquois exhausted beaver in their territories and began to range into neighboring territories |
| 1633 |
Iroquois attempts to negotiate with Huron for expanded hunting territories failed and a all out war broke out between the two nations; Iroquois outnumbered more than two to one advanced into Huron territories |
| 1634 |
Mohawk smallpox epidemic |
| 1635 |
Seneca handed Huron a major defeat |
| 1636 |
Iroquois offensive drove Algonkin deep into upper Ottawa Valley |
| 1637 |
Smallpox among Huron resulted in 50% depopulation and left them vulnerable to the Iroquois |
| 1638 |
Swedes established a colony on the lower Delaware, began to sell arms to Iroquois enemies the Susquehannock |
| 1639 |
Overran small Iroquoian tribe, the Wenro |
| 1640 |
New England traders tried to break Dutch monopoly by supplying arms to the Iroquois; French missionaries began to visit Iroquois |
| 1641 |
Dutch began supplying the Iroquois with all the arms they needed |
| 1642 |
French established Montreal but Iroquois easily attacked Huron trying to transport furs to the new site; Abenaki allied with the Mohawk; Mohawk and Mahican began demanding tributes from the Wappinger and Munsee Delaware on the lower Hudson River forcing the Wappinger to remove to Manhattan Island; French Jesuit mission St. Marie established among Mohawk |
| 1643 |
Surviving Wenro took refuge with Huron and Neutrals |
| 1644 |
Iroquois captured three Huron flotillas attempting to deliver furs to Montreal and drove Algonkin further north |
| 1645 |
Combined Mohawk, Abenaki, Mahican force attacked main Algonkin village at Sillery, Quebec; Mohawk and Mahican came to the aid of the Dutch in war with the Munsee Delaware and Wappinger ultimately killed more than 1,600; temporary treaty with French; mission St. Marie destroyed by Mohawk |
| 1647 |
War began anew with Huron over violations of French treaty; Iroquois destroyed Huron villages cutting off access to Montreal; beginning of Mohawk/Oneida war with Abenaki |
| 1648 |
A 250 man Huron flotilla fought its way through to Montreal but Iroquois attacked and destroyed Huron village of St. Joseph and torturing and killing its Jesuit missionary St. Jean de Brebeuf |
| 1649 |
Dutch supplied more arms to the Iroquois; 2,000 Mohawk and Seneca destroyed Huron villages of St. Ignace and St. Louis and tortured and killed their missionaries and capturing or killing hundreds of Hurons with the survivors scattering and fleeing to be later captured and killed; Iroquois down to 1,000 warriors began a massive adoption program |
| 1650 |
Iroquois overran main Tionontati village which had taken in Huron refugees, fewer than 1,000 escaped; Tahonaenrat Huron took refuge among Neutrals who heretofore had been Neutral in the Iroquois/Huron wars |
| 1651 |
Combined Huron and Tionontati merged to form Wyandot and took temporary refuge at Mackinac Island but were soon forced to remove further west to Green Bay where they were once again overran by the Iroquois, survivors fled to Ojibwa (about 8,000 Tionontati and 10,000 Huron had been killed in the conflicts); Mohawk and Oneida attacked Susquehannock; Neutrals fort fell to Seneca with about 9,000 being killed; some Huron surrendered and were incorporated into the Seneca but others and the surviving Neutrals fled south to take refuge among the Erie |
| 1653 |
Iroquois/Erie peace conference erupted into violence; Iroquois made peace with French before attacking Erie; Iroquois/Eire three year war began; Iroquois attacked Ottawa forcing them west to Wisconsin and upper Michigan |
| 1654 |
Jesuit mission established among Onondaga due to wishes of Christian adoptees |
| 1655 |
Seneca attacked Illinois forcing them west of the Mississippi; war stalemate resulted in peace between Mohawk/Oneida and Susquehannock; Dutch took over Swedish settlements; Susquehannock war began with Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga; Susquehannock allied in war with Shawnee, Delaware, Nanticoke, Conoy, Saponi, and Tutelo |
| 1656 |
Surviving Erie adopted into the Iroquois (about 18,000 Erie killed in the conflicts) |
| 1660 |
Mohawk killed hundreds of Munsee Delaware in Esopus Valley War ultimately subjugating tribe; war with French and British supported Abenaki, Pocomtuc, Pennacook, and Montagnais in which Mohawk ultimately prevailed; Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga attacked Delaware and Shawnee separately and soon began fighting the Cherokee and Catawba |
| 1661 |
Susquehannock smallpox epidemic leaving only 300 warriors |
| 1662 |
Iroquois inflicted severe losses in conflict with the Mahican forcing them to abandon most of the Hudson Valley |
| 1664 |
British seized New York from the Dutch |
| 1665 |
French Crown took formal possession of New France, 1,200 man French regiment set out to attack Iroquois but got lost in the woods |
| 1666 |
French regiment destroyed two Mohawk villages; Mowhawk asked the British for help, British agreed subject to Mahican and Abenaki peace, Abenaki refused; Mohawk attacked Pennacook while Abenaki were attacking a Mohawk village; another French attack resulted in an ambush by the Mohawk |
| 1667 |
| French/Iroquois peace treaty: |
|
Establishment of a Christian settlement of Mohawk and Oneida |
|
Potawatomi, Sauk, Fox, Mascouten had fled from lower Michigan to Wisconsin |
|
Kickapoo and Miami had been forced from Ohio and Indiana to Wisconsin |
|
Shawnee had been forced from Ohio and Indiana to scatter to Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania |
|
Dhegiha Sioux (Osage, Kansa, Ponca, Omaha, and Quapaw) abandoned the lower Wabash Valley and moved west to the Missouri River though the Quapaw went further south |
|
Ottawa had left their original location on the islands of Lake Huron and moved west to upper Michigan |
|
Southern bands of the Ojibwa had been forced north to the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie |
|
Numerous other tribes had vanished and are only remembered by name |
|
|
| 1668 |
Mohawk drove Pennacook east across New Hampshire to take refuge with the Abenaki |
| 1669 |
Abenaki and Mahican retaliated against the Mohawk but were ambushed on return trip taking severe losses |
| 1672 |
Mahican surrendered |
| 1675 |
Susquehannock surrendereed |
| 1676 |
Iroquois interceded into King Philip's War forcing the Wampanoag to remove to Massachusetts and the Abenaki and Pennacook to retreat to northern Maine and Canada and into an alliance with the French; Caughnawaga grew so rapidly part of the population moved across the St. Lawrence to start a second village at Kanesatake |
| 1677 |
Iroquois established Covenant Clan of tribes subjugated by the Iroquois with the Mahican the first member |
| 1679 |
Iroquois smallpox epidemic, 10% losses |
| 1680 |
An Illinois killed a Seneca sachem at a Ottawa village restarting the Beaver Wars; the Seneca wiped out three Illinois bands; Christian Mohawk warriors were living near the French at Caughnawaga rather than in the Mohawk homeland |
| 1682 |
Maryland made peace with the Iroquois League; Iroquois conducted raids against the Saponi and Tutelo in Virginia |
| 1684 |
Huge Iroquois war party defeated by Algonquian tribes at Fort St. Louis, turning point in Beaver Wars though French retaliation raid failed miserably, French signed treaty with Iroquois ceding most of Illinois |
| 1685 |
Iroquois defeated the Nanticoke and Conoy and forced them into the Covenant Clan |
| 1687 |
Algonquian alliance (Ojibwa, Ottawa, Wyandot, Sauk, Fox, Miami, Mascouten, Winnebago, Menominee, and Illinois) began offensive against Iroquois; French attacked Seneca and Onondaga village in New York |
| 1689 |
Massive Iroquois raid against the French at Lachine, after which the Caughnawaga Mohawk entered the war as French allies |
| 1690 |
Iroquois smallpox epidemic |
| 1694 |
Iroquois overtures for peace with French ignored |
| 1696 |
Iroquois had abandoned most of their holdings except eastern Ohio, northern Pennsylvania, and their New York homeland |
| 1697 |
Treaty of Ryswick ended the war between Britain and France; Iroquois League placed under the protection of the British against Iroquois wishes |
| 1701 |
End of Beaver Wars, peace signed with French and their Indian allies; Iroquois remained neutral in Queen Anne's War between British and French |
| 1712 |
Iroquois joined by part of the Tuscarora |
| 1714 |
Iroquois war parties went south to punish the Catawba for helping the British against the Tuscarora |
| 1717 |
Ottawa began to trade with the Iroquois and the British |
| 1720 |
Lake of the Two Mountains mission was built for the Iroquois of the Mountain who would become the modern Mohawk community of Oka |
| 1722 |
Iroquois joined by part of the Tuscarora who became a sixth but non-voting member of the League |
| 1727 |
Iroquois allowed the British in to build Fort Oswego in their homeland to shorten the travel distance for the Great Lakes tribes soon capturing 80% of the beaver market |
| 1730 |
Iroquois adoptees established as Mingo |
| 1737 |
Iroquois gave away Covenant Clan Delaware and Shawnee Pennsylvania lands in Walking Purchase |
| 1744 |
Outbreak of King George's War between Britain and France, League remained neutral except for Mohawk who supported the British; Pennsylvania and Virginia claimed Ohio as a result of the Treaty of Lancaster |
| 1747 |
Virginia chartered Ohio Company began settlements in area of Pittsburg |
| 1748 |
Oswegatchie and the La Presentation mission (Ogdensburg, New York) established for the Onondaga, Oneida, and Cayuga |
| 1752 |
Iroquois signed Logstown Treaty with British ceding Ohio |
| 1755 |
Inexperienced Major George Washington capture and confession started French and Indian War; Iroquois wanting British assistance against the French ceded much of Pennsylvania except for lands reserved for Covenant Clan; Seneca war party en route to attack Catawba killed by Virginia militia; Seneca, Cayuga, and Onomdaga allied with French, the Mohawk and Oneida allied with the British due to influence of trusted Irishman William Johnson; Mohawk chief Hendrick leading 200 warriors killed in battle against French at Crown Point on Lake Champlain; the Caughnawaga were also there with the French, but when they saw Mohawk fighting for the English, they suddenly retired and sat out the fight; 13 year old Mohawk Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) distinguished in battle, later knighted in England |
| 1756 |
St. Regis mission established among the Mohawk at Caughnawaga |
| 1759 |
Mohawk also accompanied William Johnson in the capture of Fort Niagara |
| 1763 |
The Covenant Clan had been joined by Shawnee, Miami, Delaware, Conestoga (Susquehannock), Nanticoke, Saponi, Tutelo, Munsee Delaware, Mahican, Conoy, Cherokee Creek, Choctaw, Catawba, and Chickasaw though Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, Catawba, and Choctaw refused to submit to Iroquois authority; Seneca joined Pontiac Rebellion and laid siege to Fort Niagara but Niagara held; White settlement took Abenaki lands as well Caughnawaga lands around Lake Champlain; Proclamation of 1763 attempted to protect Caughnawaga lands |
| 1768 |
Remaining tribes of Pennsylvania Covenant Chain crowded out by White settler and removed to Iroquois homeland in New York; Treaty of Fort Stanwix between the Iroquois and the British on behalf of Ohio tribes and colonists respectively ceded much of western Pennsylvania and the the entire Ohio Valley |
| 1774 |
Lord Dunmore's War, aided the Shawnee against the British |
| 1776 |
The Iroquois League decided to be neutral in the Revolutionary War; Joseph Brant defied the Iroquois council and led his warriors north to stop the American attempt to capture Canada |
| 1777 |
The Seneca and Cayuga joined most of the Mohawk against Americans; the Oneida and Onondaga supported the Americans; the Onondaga dowsed the council fire and the Iroquois League was ended; Oneida warriors with the Americans and Mohawk and Seneca warriors with the British fought and killed each other as American and British forces met at the Battle of Oriskany; Oneida served as scouts in the American victory over Burgoyne at Saratoga and brought food to feed to Washington's starving army at Valley Forge |
| 1778 |
The the British and Iroquois launched a series of raids against the frontier that put the Americans on the defensive in New York and Pennsylvania; Joseph Brant led the Cherry Valley massacre; he followed this with a raid on the settlement at Minisink Island on the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey which left several farms in flames and ambushed the American militia upon his retreat; later the Americans destroyed Brant's villages at Unadilla and Oquaga on the Susquehanna |
| 1779 |
George Washington sent three converging armies to destroy the Iroquois homeland led by generals Sullivan and Clinton and Col. Brodhead; the Americans won the second Battle of Oriskany defeating Brant and capturing the Iroquois capital; Brant war party attacked the Oneida villages killing hundreds in this Iroquois civil war, and the Oneida fled to the Americans at Schenectady; Brant blocked an attempt by the Seneca Red Jacket to make peace with the Americans, and the Iroquois continued to attack the frontier in support of the British |
| 1781 |
Brant ambushed a group of Pennsylvania militia near the mouth of the Miami River; Brant tried to ambush George Rogers Clark on the Ohio River, but Clark avoided this and reached safety at Fort Nelson (Louisville, Kentucky) |
| 1783 |
Brant's final foray into the Mohawk Valley was stopped at Johnstown; Joseph Brant crossed into Canada and settled along the Grand River in southern Ontario with almost 2,000 mostly Mohawk and Cayuga followers, though followers included a few Delaware Munsee, Saponi, Nanticoke, and Tutelo; a second group of Iroquois settled at Tyendenaga on the north shore of Lake Ontario just west of Kingston, Ontario |
| 1784 |
Treaty of Fort Stanwix ceded large tracts of Iroquois land |
| 1785 |
Oneida signed a treaty with New York governor George Clinton ceding most of their original 6 million acres in exchange for a smaller reservation |
| 1794 |
United States signed the Canandaigua (Pickering) Treaty to establish definite boundaries for Iroquois |
| 1796 |
The Caughnawaga signed a treaty with the United States at New York City on behalf of the Seven Nations of Canada relinquishing their claims to land in New York with the exception of 36 square miles on the New York-Quebec border which was preserved as the St. Regis Reservation |
| 1797 |
Seneca surrendered a large tract at Big Tree; Brant ceded the Mohawk lands in New York in a treaty signed at Albany |
| 1799 |
Seneca Handsome Lake (Ganiodayo) had a spiritual vision which not only changed his life but the Iroquois history preaching the "Kaiwicyoch" (Good Message) and founded the Longhouse religion - a blend of the traditional Iroquois values and Christianity |
| 1803 |
Canadian Iroquois no longer participated in Iroquois council |
| 1807 |
Cayuga had sold the last of their New York lands |
| 1822 |
The Onondaga sold much of their reservation to New York; the Oneida had disagreements over Quaker missions versus traditional religion, they sold their land and half agreed to relocate to Wisconsin, Christian Stockbridge and Brotherton went with them |
| 1838 |
More than 600 Oneida were living near Green Bay; Treaty of Buffalo Creek (Treaty with the New York Indians) signed where the Iroquois agreed to move to southeastern Kansas as a result of the Removal Act never went into effect; Wisconsin recognized the Wisconsin Oneida |
| 1839 |
Oneida purchased land near London, Ontario |
| 1846 |
210 New York Seneca had moved to Kansas; different groups Seneca of Sandusky merged to form the modern Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma |
| 1877 |
The Canadian government established a reserve for the Iroquois band of Chief Michel Calihoo near Villeneuve |
| 1886 |
Mohawk iron working tradition began |
| 1907 |
33 Mohawk ironworkers killed in bridge collapse across St. Lawrence River |
| 1924 |
Canada imposed an election system on the Six Nations |
