The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization

by Richter, Daniel K.

• ISBN13: 9780807820605
• ISBN10: 0807820601
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1992-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

Richter examines a wide range of primary documents to survey the responses of the peoples of the Iroquois League--the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras--to the challenges of the European colonialization of North America. He demonstrates that by the early eighteenth century a series of creative adaptations in politics and diplomacy allowed the peoples of the Longhouse to preserve their cultural autonomy in a land now dominated by foreign powers.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
Illustrations	xv
Introduction	i
The Iroquois in the World on the Turtle's Back	8	(22)
The Great League of Peace and Power	30	(20)
The Great League for War and Survival	50	(25)
The Economic Lifeline to the Dutch	75	(30)
The Ascendancy of the Francophiles	105	(28)
The Revolt of the Anglophiles	133	(29)
The Last of the Beaver Wars	162	(28)
The Political Crisis of the Iroquois Confederacy	190	(24)
The Precarious Settlement Abroad and at Home	214	(22)
The Neutralist Diplomacy of Peace and Balance	236	(19)
The Iroquois in a Euro-American World	255	(26)
Methodological Comments	281	(4)
Abbreviations Used in the Notes	285	(2)
Notes	287	(104)
Select Bibliography	391	(26)
Index	417