St. Lawrence Iroquoians
The St. Lawrence Iroquoians were an Iroquoian Indigenous people who existed until about the late 16th century. They concentrated along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec and Ontario, Canada, and in the American states of New York and northernmost Vermont. They spoke Laurentian languages, a branch of the Iroquoian family.
The Pointe-à-Callière Museum estimated their numbers as 120,000 people in 25 nations occupying an area of. However, many scholars believe that this estimate of the number of St. Lawrence Iroquoians and the area they controlled is too expansive. The current archaeological evidence indicates that the largest known village had a population of about 1,000 and their total population was 8,000–10,000. The traditional view is that they disappeared because of late 16th-century warfare by the Mohawk nation of the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois League, which wanted to control trade with Europeans in the valley.
Knowledge about the St. Lawrence Iroquoians has been constructed from the studies of surviving oral accounts of the historical past from the current Native people, writings of the French explorer Jacques Cartier, earlier histories, and anthropologists' and other scholars' work with archaeological and linguistic studies since the 1950s.
Archaeological evidence has established that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians were a people distinct from the other regional Iroquoian peoples, the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat. However, recent archaeological finds suggest distinctly separate groups may have existed among the St. Lawrence Iroquoians as well. The name "St Lawrence Iroquoians" refers to a geographic area in which the inhabitants shared some cultural traits, including a common language, but were not politically united.
The name of the country of Canada is probably derived from the Iroquoian word kanata, which means village or settlement.
Historical issues
For years historians, archeologists and related scholars debated the identity of the Iroquoian cultural group in the St. Lawrence valley which Jacques Cartier and his crew recorded encountering in 1535–36 at the villages of Stadacona and Hochelaga. An increasing amount of archaeological evidence collected since the 1950s has settled some of the debate. Since the 1950s, anthropologists and some historians have used definitive linguistic and archaeological studies to reach consensus that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians were peoples distinct from nations of the Iroquois Confederacy or the Huron. Since the 1990s, they have concluded that there may have been as many as 25 tribes among the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, who numbered anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 people. They lived in the river lowlands and east of the Great Lakes, including in present-day northern New York and Vermont.Before this, some scholars argued that the people were the ancestors or direct relations of historic Iroquoian groups in the greater region, such as the Huron or Mohawk, Onondaga or Oneida of the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee encountered by later explorer Samuel de Champlain. Since the 18th century, several theories have been proposed for the identity of the St. Lawrence River peoples. The issue is important not only for historical understanding but because of Iroquois and other indigenous land claims.
In 1998 James F. Pendergast, a Canadian archeologist, summarized the four major theories with an overview of evidence:
- Huron-Mohawk Option:
- : Several historians combined data from early French reports, vocabulary lists, and oral histories of accounts by Native tribes to theorize the early inhabitants were Iroquoian-speaking Huron or Mohawk, two tribes well known in later colonial history. There has not been sufficient documentation to support this conclusion according to 20th-century standards. In addition, archaeological finds and linguistic studies since the 1950s have discredited this theory.
- Mohawk Identity Option:
- : Based in part on material from the 18th century, Mark Cleland Baker and Lars Sweenburg developed a theory that the Mohawk had migrated and settled in the St. Lawrence River valley before relocating to their historic territory of present-day New York. Pendergast says that attribution of Stadacona or Hochelaga as Mohawk, Onondaga or Oneida has not been supported by the archaeological data.
- : "Since the 1950s a vast accumulation of archaeological material from Ontario, Quebec, Vermont, Pennsylvania and New York State consistently has provided compelling evidence to demonstrate that neither the Mohawk, the Onondaga, nor the Oneida homelands originated in the St Lawrence Valley."
- Laurentian Iroquoian and Laurentian Iroquois Identity: based on language studies, with material added since 1940;
- St. Lawrence Iroquoian and St. Lawrence Iroquois Identity:
As noted, anthropologists and some historians have used definitive linguistic and archaeological studies to reach consensus that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians were a people distinct from nations of the Iroquois Confederacy or the Huron, and likely consisted of numerous groups. Pendergast notes that while Iroquoians and topical academics have mostly reached consensus on this theory, some historians have continued to publish other theories and ignore the archaeological evidence. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians did share many cultural, historical, and linguistic aspects with other Iroquoian groups; for example, their Laurentian languages were part of the Iroquoian family and aspects of culture and societal structure were similar.
The St. Lawrence Iroquoians appear to have disappeared from the St. Lawrence valley some time prior to 1580. Champlain reported no evidence of Native habitation in the valley. By then the Haudenosaunee used it as a hunting ground and avenue for war parties.
As the historian Pendergast argues, the determination of identity for the St. Lawrence Iroquoians is important because, "our understanding of relations between Europeans and Iroquoians during the contact era throughout Iroquoia hinges largely upon the tribe or confederacy to which Stadacona and Hochelaga are attributed."
Culture and subsistence
Prehistoric Iroquoian culture and maize agriculture in Canada is first detected by archaeologists in 500 CE at the Princess Point site in Hamilton, Ontario. Iroquoian culture is detected in the Saguenay River region of Quebec in about 1000 CE. By 1250 or 1300 maize was being grown in what would become the Quebec City area. By about 1300, four distinct subculture areas of St. Lawrence Iroquoian culture existed: Jefferson County, New York with a population of about 2,500; Grenville County, Ontario with a population of 2,500; the Lake St. Francis basin west of Montreal with a population of 1,000; and the Montreal and Quebec city areas with a population of 2,000 to 3,000. There were also settlements in northernmost Vermont and neighboring Ontario near Lake Champlain.Most of the St. Lawrence Iroquoian villages were located in inland locations a few kilometers from the river itself. By the end of the 15th century they were encircled by earthworks and palisades, indicating a need for defense. The villages usually were to in area. Inside the palisades the St. Lawrence people lived in longhouses, typical of other neighboring Iroquoian peoples. The longhouses were to in length and each housed several families. Archaeologists have estimated that villages had an average population of 150-250 people although a few larger villages housed considerably more.
The Iroquoians occupied their villages for ten or more years until their longhouses deteriorated and the fertility of the soil for their crops declined. Then, they built a new village and cleared land for crops, usually only a few miles from their previous home. The frequent changes of location has given problems to archaeologists in estimating the numbers on the St. Lawrence Iroquoian people. Dating techniques may not be precise enough to determine whether villages were occupied simultaneously or sequentially.
In addition to the characteristic villages, the St. Lawrence Iroquoian peoples had "a mixed economy, in which they drew their subsistence from growing maize, squash, and beans, hunting, fishing, and gathering. These nations also had in common a matrilineal, clan-based social organization, and a political system sufficiently structured to permit confederation at times. Most of them engaged in guerrilla warfare, grew and used tobacco, and produced pottery vessels." Some of the oldest Iroquoians artifacts found surrounding what is now Quebec City include copper axe heads from c.1000-400 BCE and terracotta vessels from c.1350-1600. Sunflowers were also grown for their oily seeds. Investigations at several former settlements have indicated that their most important foods were maize and fish. They hunted white-tailed deer and other game.
In 1535, French explorer Jacques Cartier commented on cultural differences between the people of Hochelaga and Stadacona. Cartier described the large and productive maize fields surrounding Hochelaga, and said its inhabitants were sedentary, as compared to the people of Stadacona who were migratory. The Stadaconans were closer to the salt-water resources of the lower St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of St Lawrence and ranged widely in their birch bark canoes in search of marine animals. Moreover, the Quebec area was the most northerly location in northeastern North America in which agriculture was practiced, especially during the cooler temperatures of the Little Ice Age in the 16th century. For Stadaconans, depending on agriculture was a riskier subsistence strategy than for the people of Hochelaga and they probably relied less on agriculture and more on exploitation of sea mammals, fishing, and hunting.
The St. Lawrence Iroquoians were not united politically and villages and cultural groups may have been unfriendly and competitive with each other, as well as being hostile to the neighboring Algonquian peoples and other Iroquoian groups.