The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes , nose and mouth , and through which animals express many of their emotions . The face is crucial for human identity , and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect the psyche adversely.
135-409: A mask is an object normally worn on the face , typically for protection , disguise , performance , or entertainment , and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, as well as in the performing arts and for entertainment. They are usually worn on the face, although they may also be positioned for effect elsewhere on
270-787: A patriarchal society, was the matrilineal kinship system of Iroquois society and the related power of women. The Canadian historian D. Peter MacLeod wrote about the Canadian Iroquois and the French in the time of the Seven Years' War: Most critically, the importance of clan mothers, who possessed considerable economic and political power within Canadian Iroquois communities, was blithely overlooked by patriarchal European scribes. Those references that do exist, show clan mothers meeting in council with their male counterparts to take decisions regarding war and peace and joining in delegations to confront
405-659: A pre-Indo-European language. One German author claims the word "mask" is originally derived from the Spanish más que la cara (literally, "more than the face" or "added face"), which evolved to "máscara", while the Arabic "maskharat" – referring to the buffoonery which is possible only by disguising the face – would be based on these Spanish roots. Other related forms are Hebrew masecha = "mask"; Arabic maskhara مَسْخَرَ = "he ridiculed, he mocked", masakha مَسَخَ = "he transfomed" ( transitive ). The use of masks in rituals or ceremonies
540-679: A Mohawk war party by the shores of what is now called Lake Champlain, and again in June 1610, Champlain fought against the Mohawks. The Iroquois became well known in the southern colonies in the 17th century by this time. After the first English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia (1607), numerous 17th-century accounts describe a powerful people known to the Powhatan Confederacy as the Massawomeck , and to
675-453: A caricature form. By extension, anything which is the forward or world-facing part of a system which has internal structure is considered its "face", like the façade of a building. For example, a public relations or press officer might be called the "face" of the organization he or she represents. "Face" is also used metaphorically in a sociological context to refer to reputation or standing in society, particularly Chinese society, and
810-466: A central feature of Indian dramatic forms, many based on depicting the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana . Countries that have had strong Indian cultural influences – Cambodia , Burma , Indonesia , Thailand , and Lao – have developed the Indian forms, combined with local myths, and developed their own characteristic styles. The masks are usually highly exaggerated and formalised, and share an aesthetic with
945-783: A derogatory name adopted from the traditional enemies of the Haudenosaunee. A less common, older autonym for the confederation is Ongweh’onweh , meaning "original people". Haudenosaunee derives from two phonetically similar but etymologically distinct words in the Seneca language : Hodínöhšö:ni:h , meaning "those of the extended house", and Hodínöhsö:ni:h , meaning "house builders". The name "Haudenosaunee" first appears in English in Lewis Henry Morgan 's work (1851), where he writes it as Ho-dé-no-sau-nee . The spelling "Hotinnonsionni"
1080-658: A distinct language, territory, and function in the League. The League is composed of a Grand Council, an assembly of fifty chiefs or sachems , each representing a clan of a nation. When Europeans first arrived in North America, the Haudenosaunee ( Iroquois League to the French, Five Nations to the British) were based in what is now central and west New York State including the Finger Lakes region, occupying large areas north to
1215-459: A face is not merely a set of facial features, but is rather something meaningful in its form. This is consistent with the Gestalt theory that an image is seen in its entirety, not by its individual parts. According to Gary L. Allen, people adapted to respond more to faces during evolution as the natural result of being a social species. Allen suggests that the purpose of recognizing faces has its roots in
1350-538: A face more easily recognized in association with a pronounced portion of the face of the individual in question—for example, a caricature of Osama bin Laden might focus on his facial hair and nose; a caricature of George W. Bush might enlarge his ears to the size of an elephant's; a caricature of Jay Leno may pronounce his head and chin; and a caricature of Mick Jagger might enlarge his lips. Exaggeration of memorable features helps people to recognize others when presented in
1485-546: A face was found that is approximately 35,000 years old, but it is not clear whether it was intended as a mask. In the Greek bacchanalia and the Dionysus cult, which involved the use of masks, the ordinary controls on behaviour were temporarily suspended, and people cavorted in merry revelry outside their ordinary rank or status. René Guénon claims that in the Roman saturnalia festivals,
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#17328453348411620-458: A great variety of shapes, depending on their precise function. Pueblo craftsmen produced impressive work for masked religious ritual, especially the Hopi and Zuni . The kachinas (gods and spirits) frequently take the form of highly distinctive and elaborate masks that are used in ritual dances. These are usually made of leather with appendages of fur, feathers, or leaves. Some cover the face, some
1755-558: A highly sensitive region of the human body and its expression may change when the brain is stimulated by any of the many human senses , such as touch , temperature , smell , taste , hearing , movement , hunger , or visual stimuli . The face is the feature which best distinguishes a person . Specialized regions of the human brain , such as the fusiform face area (FFA), enable facial recognition; when these are damaged , it may be impossible to recognize faces even of intimate family members. The pattern of specific organs, such as
1890-539: A master carver – frequently it is a tradition that has been passed down within a family through many generations. Such an artist holds a respected position in tribal society because of the work that he or she creates, embodying not only complex craft techniques but also spiritual/social and symbolic knowledge. African masks are also used in the Mas or Masquerade of the Caribbean Carnival . Djolé (also known as Jolé or Yolé)
2025-399: A narrow chin. The raised strip running from both sides of the nose to the ears represent jewellery. Dark black hairstyle, tops the mask off. The whiteness of the face represents the whiteness and beauty of the spirit world. Only men wear the masks and perform the dances with high stilts despite the fact that the masks represent women. One of the most beautiful representations of female beauty is
2160-612: A person's reactions and predict the probability of ensuing behaviors". One study used the Multimodal Emotion Recognition Test to attempt to determine how to measure emotion. This research aimed at using a measuring device to accomplish what many people do every day: read emotion in a face. The muscles of the face play a prominent role in the expression of emotion, and vary among different individuals, giving rise to additional diversity in expression and facial features. People are also relatively good at determining if
2295-485: A protective role to the members of a society who use their powers. Biologist Jeremy Griffith has suggested that ritual masks, as representations of the human face, are extremely revealing of the two fundamental aspects of the human psychological condition: firstly, the repression of a cooperative, instinctive self or soul; and secondly, the extremely angry state of the unjustly condemned conscious thinking egocentric intellect. In parts of Australia, giant totem masks cover
2430-828: A result of the Beaver Wars, they pushed Siouan -speaking tribes out and reserved the territory as a hunting ground by right of conquest . They finally sold to British colonists their remaining claim to the lands south of the Ohio in 1768 at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix . Historian Pekka Hämäläinen writes of the League, "There had never been anything like the Five Nations League in North America. No other Indigenous nation or confederacy had ever reached so far, conducted such an ambitious foreign policy, or commanded such fear and respect. The Five Nations blended diplomacy, intimidation, and violence as
2565-411: A ritual context in that it was performed at religious or rites of passage such as days of naming, circumcisions, and marriages. Over time, some of these contextual ritual enactments became divorced from their religious meaning and they were performed throughout the year. Some 2500 years ago, kings and commoners alike were entertained by dance and mime accompanied by music where the dancers often wore masks,
2700-482: A smile is real or fake. A recent study looked at individuals judging forced and genuine smiles. While young and elderly participants equally could tell the difference for smiling young people, the "older adult participants outperformed young adult participants in distinguishing between posed and spontaneous smiles". This suggests that with experience and age, we become more accurate at perceiving true emotions across various age groups. Gestalt psychologists theorize that
2835-408: A theatre that is essentially visual, rather than verbal, and many of its practitioners have been visual artists. Face The front of the human head is called the face. It includes several distinct areas, of which the main features are: Facial appearance is vital for human recognition and communication . Facial muscles in humans allow expression of emotions . The face is itself
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#17328453348412970-490: A useful basis for categorisation. The image of juxtaposed comedy and tragedy masks are widely used to represent the performing arts, and specifically drama . In many dramatic traditions including the theatre of ancient Greece , the classical noh drama of Japan (14th century to present), the traditional lhamo drama of Tibet , talchum in Korea, and the topeng dance of Indonesia , masks were or are typically worn by all
3105-445: A version of a gene associated with lip thickness – possibly selected for due to adaption to cold climate via fat distribution – introgressed from ancient humans – Denisovans – into the modern humans Native Americans . Another study found look-alike humans ( doppelgängers ) have genetic similarities, sharing genes affecting not only the face but also some phenotypes of physique and behavior . A study identified genes controlling
3240-409: A very old and highly sophisticated and stylized theatrical tradition. Although the roots are in prehistoric myths and cults, they have developed into refined art forms. The oldest masks are the gigaku . The form no longer exists, and was probably a type of dance presentation. The bugaku developed from this – a complex dance-drama that used masks with moveable jaws. The nō or noh mask evolved from
3375-519: A vestige of an earlier era when such dances were enacted as religious rites. According to George Goyan , this practice evoked that of Roman funeral rites where masked actor-dancers represented the deceased with motions and gestures mimicking those of the deceased while singing the praise of their lives (see Masks in Performance above). The oldest representations of masks in Europe are animal masks, such as
3510-620: Is a mask-dance from Temine people in Sierra Leone. Males wear the mask, although it does depict a female. Many African masks represent animals. Some African tribes believe that the animal masks can help them communicate with the spirits who live in forests or open savannas. People of Burkina Faso known as the Bwa and Nuna call to the spirit to stop destruction. The Dogon of Mali have complex religions that also have animal masks. Their three main cults use seventy-eight different types of masks. Most of
3645-404: Is a very ancient human practice across the world, although masks can also be worn for protection, in hunting, in sports, in feasts, or in wars – or simply used as ornamentation. Some ceremonial or decorative masks were not designed to be worn. Although the religious use of masks has waned, masks are used sometimes in drama therapy or psychotherapy. One of the challenges in anthropology is finding
3780-476: Is also attested from later in the nineteenth century. An alternative designation, Ganonsyoni , is occasionally encountered as well, from the Mohawk kanǫhsyǫ́·ni "the extended house", or from a cognate expression in a related Iroquoian language; in earlier sources it is variously spelled "Kanosoni", "akwanoschioni", "Aquanuschioni", "Cannassoone", "Canossoone", "Ke-nunctioni", or "Konossioni". More transparently,
3915-403: Is attested in any Indian language as a name for any Iroquoian group, and the ultimate origin and meaning of the name are unknown." Jesuit priest and missionary Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix wrote in 1744: The name Iroquois is purely French, and is formed from the [Iroquoian-language] term Hiro or Hero , which means I have said —with which these Indians close all their addresses, as
4050-612: Is believed that the use of masks is related to the cult of the ancestors, which considered dancers the interpreters of the gods. Native Indonesian tribes such as Dayak have masked Hudoq dance that represents nature spirits. In Java and Bali , masked dance is commonly called topeng and demonstrated Hindu influences as it often feature epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata . The native story of Panji also popular in topeng masked dance. Indonesian topeng dance styles are widely distributed, such as topeng Bali, Cirebon, Betawi, Malang, Yogyakarta, and Solo. Japanese masks are part of
4185-510: Is believed to have taught man the secrets of agriculture. Although the Dogons and Bamana people both believe the antelope symbolises agriculture, they interpret elements the masks differently. To the Bamana people, swords represent the sprouting of grain. Masks may also indicate a culture's ideal of feminine beauty. The masks of Punu of Gabon have highly arched eyebrows, almost almond-shaped eyes and
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4320-454: Is circa 30,000–40,000 years old. The use of masks is demonstrated graphically at some of these sites. Insofar as masks involved the use of war-paint, leather, vegetative material, or wooden material, such masks failed to be preserved, however, they are visible in paleolithic cave drawings, of which dozens have been preserved. At the neanderthal Roche-Cotard site in France, a flintstone likeness of
4455-434: Is considered a major factor in human well-being and the perception of health in humans. Genes are a major factor in the particular appearance of a person's face with the high similarity of faces of identical twins indicating that most of facial variability is determined genetically. Studies have identified genes and gene regions determining face shape and differences in various facial features. A 2021 study found that
4590-466: Is in Samuel de Champlain 's account of his journey to Tadoussac in 1603. Other early French spellings include "Erocoise", "Hiroquois", "Hyroquoise", "Irecoies", "Iriquois", "Iroquaes", "Irroquois", and "Yroquois", pronounced at the time as [irokwe] or [irokwɛ]. Competing theories have been proposed for this term's origin, but none have gained widespread acceptance. By 1978 Ives Goddard wrote: "No such form
4725-635: Is normally a part of a costume that adorns the whole body and embodies a tradition important to the religious and/or social life of the community as whole or a particular group within the community. Masks are used almost universally and maintain their power and mystery both for their wearers and their audience. The continued popularity of wearing masks at carnival , and for children at parties and for festivals such as Halloween are good examples. Nowadays these are usually mass-produced plastic masks, often associated with popular films , television programmes, or cartoon characters – they are, however, reminders of
4860-404: Is of uncertain origin, perhaps from Arabic maskharah مَسْخَرَۃٌ "buffoon", from the verb sakhira "to ridicule". However, it may also come from Provençal mascarar "to black (the face)" (or the related Catalan mascarar , Old French mascurer ). This in turn is of uncertain origin – perhaps from a Germanic source akin to English "mesh", but perhaps from mask- "black", a borrowing from
4995-652: Is spoken of as a resource which can be won or lost. Because of the association with individuality, the anonymous person is sometimes referred to as "faceless". Iroquois The Iroquois ( / ˈ ɪr ə k w ɔɪ , - k w ɑː / IRR -ə-kwoy, -kwah ), also known as the Five Nations , and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the endonym Haudenosaunee ( / ˌ h oʊ d ɪ n oʊ ˈ ʃ oʊ n i / HOH -din-oh- SHOH -nee ; lit. ' people who are building
5130-508: The duk-duk and tubuan masks of New Guinea are used to enforce social codes by intimidation. They are conical masks, made from cane and leaves. North American indigenous cultures in the Arctic and para-Arctic regions have tended towards simple religious practice but a highly evolved and rich mythology, especially concerning hunting. In some areas, annual shamanic ceremonies involved masked dances and these strongly abstracted masks are arguably
5265-457: The Himalayas , masks functioned above all as mediators of supernatural forces. Yup'ik masks could be small 3-inch (7.6 cm) finger masks, but also 10-kilogram (22 lb) masks hung from the ceiling or carried by several people. Masks have been created with plastic surgery for mutilated soldiers. Masks in various forms – sacred, practical, or playful – have played a crucial historical role in
5400-700: The Idia 's Mask of Benin in present-day Edo State of Nigeria. It is believed to have been commissioned by a king of Benin in memory of his mother. To honor his dead mother, the king wore the mask on his hip during special ceremonies. The Senoufo people of the Ivory Coast represent tranquility by making masks with eyes half-shut and lines drawn near the mouth. The Temne of Sierra Leone use masks with small eyes and mouths to represent humility and humbleness. They represent wisdom by making bulging forehead. Other masks that have exaggerated long faces and broad foreheads symbolize
5535-549: The National Archaeological Museum in Sofia . It is considered to be the mask of a Thracian king, presumably Teres . Masks play a key part within world theatre traditions. They continue to be a vital force within contemporary theatre, and their usage takes a variety of forms and has often developed from, or continues to be part of old, highly sophisticated, stylized theatrical traditions. In many cultural traditions,
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5670-540: The Neutral Nation (1651), Erie Tribe (1657), and Susquehannock (1680). The traditional view is that these wars were a way to control the lucrative fur trade to purchase European goods on which they had become dependent. Starna questions this view. Recent scholarship has elaborated on this view, arguing that the Beaver Wars were an escalation of the Iroquoian tradition of "Mourning Wars". This view suggests that
5805-715: The Ohio Valley . From east to west, the League was composed of the Mohawk , Oneida , Onondaga , Cayuga , and Seneca nations . In about 1722, the Iroquoian -speaking Tuscarora joined the League, having migrated northwards from the Carolinas after a bloody conflict with white settlers. A shared cultural background with the Five Nations of the Iroquois (and a sponsorship from the Oneida) led
5940-691: The Onontio [the Iroquois term for the French governor-general] and the French leadership in Montreal, but only hint at the real influence wielded by these women. Eighteenth-century English historiography focuses on the diplomatic relations with the Iroquois, supplemented by such images as John Verelst 's Four Mohawk Kings , and publications such as the Anglo-Iroquoian treaty proceedings printed by Benjamin Franklin . A persistent 19th and 20th century narrative casts
6075-706: The Petun , Erie, and Susquehannock. Trying to control access to game for the lucrative fur trade, they invaded the Algonquian peoples of the Atlantic coast (the Lenape , or Delaware ), the Anishinaabe of the boreal Canadian Shield region, and not infrequently the English colonies as well. During the Beaver Wars, they were said to have defeated and assimilated the Huron (1649), Petun (1650),
6210-484: The cave paintings of Lascaux in the Dordogne in southern France. Such masks survive in the alpine regions of Austria and Switzerland, and may be connected with hunting or shamanism . Masks are used throughout Europe in modern times, and are frequently integrated into regional folk celebrations and customs. Old masks are preserved and can be seen in museums and other collections, and much research has been undertaken into
6345-459: The corn/beans/squash agricultural complex enabled them to support a large population. They made war primarily against neighboring Algonquian peoples . Muir uses archaeological data to argue that the Iroquois expansion onto Algonquian lands was checked by the Algonquian adoption of agriculture. This enabled them to support their own populations large enough to resist Iroquois conquest. The People of
6480-497: The exposome (such as harmful substances of the general environment, workplace and cosmetics), psychological factors, and behavior (such as smoking, sleep, physical activity and sun damage ). Mechanisms underlying these include changes related to peptides (notably collagen ), inflammation , production of various proteins (notably elastin and other ECM proteins ), the structure of subcutaneous tissue , hormones , fibers (such as elastic fibers or elasticity) and
6615-510: The fusiform gyrus , is activated by faces, and it is activated differently for shy and social people. A study confirmed that "when viewing images of strangers, shy adults exhibited significantly less activation in the fusiform gyri than did social adults". Furthermore, particular areas respond more to a face that is considered attractive, as seen in another study: "Facial beauty evokes a widely distributed neural network involving perceptual, decision-making and reward circuits. In those experiments,
6750-577: The skin barrier . The desire of many to look young for their age and/or attractive has led to the establishment of a large cosmetics industry , which is largely concerned with make-up that is applied on top of the skin (topically) to temporarily change appearance but it or dermatology also develop anti-aging products (and related products and procedures) that in some cases affect underlying biology and are partly applied preventively. Facial traits are also used in biometrics and there have been attempts at reproducible quantifications. Skin health
6885-477: The "parent-infant attraction, a quick and low-effort means by which parents and infants form an internal representation of each other, reducing the likelihood that the parent will abandon his or her offspring because of recognition failure". Allen's work takes a psychological perspective that combines evolutionary theories with Gestalt psychology. Research has indicated that certain areas of the brain respond particularly well to faces. The fusiform face area , within
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#17328453348417020-527: The 19th century. The historiography of the Iroquois peoples is a topic of much debate, especially regarding the American colonial period. French Jesuit accounts of the Iroquois portrayed them as savages lacking government, law, letters, and religion. But the Jesuits made considerable effort to study their languages and cultures, and some came to respect them. A source of confusion for European sources, coming from
7155-472: The Algonquian names for their Iroquois competitors. The Iroquois Confederacy is believed to have been founded by the Great Peacemaker at an unknown date estimated between 1450 and 1660, bringing together five distinct nations in the southern Great Lakes area into "The Great League of Peace". Other research, however, suggests the founding occurred in 1142. Each nation within this Iroquoian confederacy had
7290-607: The Allegheny mountains into present-day Virginia and Kentucky and into the Ohio Valley . The St. Lawrence Iroquoians , Wendat (Huron), Erie , and Susquehannock , all independent peoples known to the European colonists, also spoke Iroquoian languages . They are considered Iroquoian in a larger cultural sense, all being descended from the Proto-Iroquoian people and language. Historically, however, they were competitors and enemies of
7425-775: The Atlantic Ocean; from the St. Lawrence River to the Chesapeake Bay . Michael O. Varhola has argued their success in conquering and subduing surrounding nations had paradoxically weakened a Native response to European growth, thereby becoming victims of their own success. The Five Nations of the League established a trading relationship with the Dutch at Fort Orange (modern Albany, New York), trading furs for European goods, an economic relationship that profoundly changed their way of life and led to much over-hunting of beavers. Between 1665 and 1670,
7560-662: The Confederacy dispute this historical interpretation, regarding the League of the Great Peace as the foundation of their heritage. The Iroquois may be the Kwedech described in the oral legends of the Mi'kmaq nation of Eastern Canada. These legends relate that the Mi'kmaq in the late pre-contact period had gradually driven their enemies – the Kwedech – westward across New Brunswick , and finally out of
7695-580: The Dead developed, despite efforts of the Church to stamp out the indigenous traditions. Masks remain an important feature of popular carnivals and religious dances, such as The Dance of the Moors and Christians . Mexico, in particular, retains a great deal of creativity in the production of masks, encouraged by collectors. Wrestling matches, where it is common for the participants to wear masks , are very popular, and many of
7830-529: The French as the Antouhonoron . They were said to come from the north, beyond the Susquehannock territory. Historians have often identified the Massawomeck / Antouhonoron as the Haudenosaunee. In 1649, an Iroquois war party, consisting mostly of Senecas and Mohawks, destroyed the Huron village of Wendake . In turn, this ultimately resulted in the breakup of the Huron nation. With no northern enemy remaining,
7965-581: The Grand Council, which still exists. The Iroquois Confederacy was the decentralized political and diplomatic entity that emerged in response to European colonization, which was dissolved after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War . Today's Iroquois/Six Nations people do not make any such distinction, use the terms interchangeably, but prefer the name Haudenosaunee Confederacy. After
8100-459: The Great Lakes. Many archaeologists and anthropologists believe that the League was formed about 1450, though arguments have been made for an earlier date. One theory argues that the League formed shortly after a solar eclipse on August 31, 1142, an event thought to be expressed in oral tradition about the League's origins. Some sources link an early origin of the Iroquois confederacy to
8235-782: The Haudenosaunee League. Those on the borders of Haudenosaunee territory in the Great Lakes region competed and warred with the nations of the League. French, Dutch, and English colonists, both in New France (Canada) and what became the Thirteen Colonies , recognized a need to gain favor with the Iroquois people, who occupied a significant portion of lands west of the colonial settlements. Their first relations were for fur trading , which became highly lucrative for both sides. The colonists also sought to establish friendly relations to secure their settlement borders. For nearly 200 years,
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#17328453348418370-566: The Haudenosaunee confederacy is often referred to as the Six Nations (or, for the period before the entry of the Tuscarora in 1722, the Five Nations). The word is Rotinonshón:ni in the Mohawk language . The origins of the name Iroquois are somewhat obscure, although the term has historically been more common among English texts than Haudenosaunee. Its first written appearance as "Irocois"
8505-407: The Iroquoian-speaking Tuscarora people from the southeast were accepted into the confederacy, from which point it was known as the "Six Nations". The Confederacy likely came about between the years 1450 CE and 1660 CE as a result of the Great Law of Peace , said to have been composed by the Deganawidah the Great Peacemaker, Hiawatha , and Jigonsaseh the Mother of Nations. For nearly 200 years,
8640-399: The Iroquois Confederacy nations. In 2010, more than 45,000 enrolled Six Nations people lived in Canada, and over 81,000 in the United States. Haudenosaunee ("People of the Longhouse") is the autonym by which the Six Nations refer to themselves. While its exact etymology is debated, the term Iroquois is of colonial origin. Some scholars of Native American history consider "Iroquois"
8775-453: The Iroquois League. The explorer Robert La Salle in the 17th century identified the Mosopelea as among the Ohio Valley peoples defeated by the Iroquois in the early 1670s. The Erie and peoples of the upper Allegheny valley declined earlier during the Beaver Wars . By 1676 the power of the Susquehannock was broken from the effects of three years of epidemic disease, war with the Iroquois, and frontier battles, as settlers took advantage of
8910-473: The Iroquois as "an expansive military and political power ... [who] subjugated their enemies by violent force and for almost two centuries acted as the fulcrum in the balance of power in colonial North America". Historian Scott Stevens noted that the Iroquois themselves began to influence the writing of their history in the 19th century, including Joseph Brant (Mohawk), and David Cusick (Tuscarora, c. 1780–1840). John Arthur Gibson (Seneca, 1850–1912)
9045-408: The Iroquois established seven villages on the northern shores of Lake Ontario in present-day Ontario , collectively known as the "Iroquois du Nord" villages . The villages were all abandoned by 1701. Over the years 1670–1710, the Five Nations achieved political dominance of much of Virginia west of the Fall Line and extending to the Ohio River valley in present-day West Virginia and Kentucky. As
9180-529: The Iroquois had "such absolute Notions of Liberty that they allow no Kind of Superiority of one over another, and banish all Servitude from their Territories". As raids between the member tribes ended and they directed warfare against competitors, the Iroquois increased in numbers while their rivals declined. The political cohesion of the Iroquois rapidly became one of the strongest forces in 17th- and 18th-century northeastern North America. The League's Council of Fifty ruled on disputes and sought consensus. However,
9315-416: The Iroquois had lost control of considerable territory. Knowledge of Iroquois history stem from Haudenosaunee oral tradition , archaeological evidence, accounts from Jesuit missionaries, and subsequent European historians. Historian Scott Stevens credits the early modern European value of written sources over oral tradition as contributing to a racialized, prejudiced perspective about the Iroquois through
9450-442: The Iroquois launched large-scale attacks against neighboring tribes to avenge or replace the many dead from battles and smallpox epidemics. In 1628, the Mohawk defeated the Mahican to gain a monopoly in the fur trade with the Dutch at Fort Orange (present-day Albany), New Netherland . The Mohawk would not allow northern native peoples to trade with the Dutch. By 1640, there were almost no beavers left on their lands, reducing
9585-402: The Iroquois resisted attacking their own peoples. The Iroquois remained a large politically united Native American polity until the American Revolution , when the League was divided by their conflicting views on how to respond to requests for aid from the British Crown. After their defeat, the British ceded Iroquois territory without consultation, and many Iroquois had to abandon their lands in
9720-501: The Iroquois to middlemen in the fur trade between Indian peoples to the west and north, and Europeans eager for the valuable thick beaver pelts. In 1645, a tentative peace was forged between the Iroquois and the Huron, Algonquin, and French. In 1646, Jesuit missionaries at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons went as envoys to the Mohawk lands to protect the precarious peace. Mohawk attitudes toward
9855-674: The Iroquois turned their forces on the Neutral Nations on the north shore of Lakes Erie and Ontario, the Susquehannocks, their southern neighbor. Then they destroyed other Iroquoian-language tribes, including the Erie , to the west, in 1654, over competition for the fur trade. Then they destroyed the Mohicans . After their victories, they reigned supreme in an area from the Mississippi River to
9990-639: The Iroquois were a powerful factor in North American colonial policy. Alliance with the Iroquois offered political and strategic advantages to the European powers, but the Iroquois preserved considerable independence. Some of their people settled in mission villages along the St. Lawrence River , becoming more closely tied to the French. While they participated in French-led raids on Dutch and English colonial settlements, where some Mohawk and other Iroquois settled, in general
10125-474: The Latins did of old with their dixi —and of Koué , which is a cry sometimes of sadness, when it is prolonged, and sometimes of joy, when it is pronounced shorter. In 1883, Horatio Hale wrote that Charlevoix's etymology was dubious, and that "no other nation or tribe of which we have any knowledge has ever borne a name composed in this whimsical fashion". Hale suggested instead that the term came from Huron , and
10260-457: The League, giving rise to the many historic references to "Five Nations of the Iroquois". With the addition of the southern Tuscarora in the 18th century, these original five tribes still compose the Haudenosaunee in the early 21st century: the Mohawk , Onondaga , Oneida , Cayuga , and Seneca . According to legend, an evil Onondaga chieftain named Tadodaho was the last converted to the ways of peace by The Great Peacemaker and Hiawatha. He
10395-526: The Lower St. Lawrence River region. The Mi'kmaq named the last-conquered land Gespedeg or "last land", from which the French derived Gaspé . The "Kwedech" are generally considered to have been Iroquois, specifically the Mohawk ; their expulsion from Gaspé by the Mi'kmaq has been estimated as occurring c. 1535–1600. Around 1535, Jacques Cartier reported Iroquoian-speaking groups on the Gaspé peninsula and along
10530-554: The Mohawk Valley and elsewhere and relocate to the northern lands retained by the British. The Crown gave them land in compensation for the five million acres they had lost in the south, but it was not equivalent to earlier territory. Modern scholars of the Iroquois distinguish between the League and the Confederacy. According to this interpretation, the Iroquois League refers to the ceremonial and cultural institution embodied in
10665-594: The Six Nations/Haudenosaunee Confederacy were a powerful factor in North American colonial policy, with some scholars arguing for the concept of the Middle Ground, in that European powers were used by the Iroquois just as much as Europeans used them. At its peak around 1700, Iroquois power extended from what is today New York State, north into present-day Ontario and Quebec along the lower Great Lakes – upper St. Lawrence , and south on both sides of
10800-514: The St. Lawrence River, east to Montreal and the Hudson River , and south into what is today northwestern Pennsylvania. At its peak around 1700, Iroquois power extended from what is today New York State, north into present-day Ontario and Quebec along the lower Great Lakes – upper St. Lawrence , and south on both sides of the Allegheny Mountains into present-day Virginia and Kentucky and into
10935-412: The St. Lawrence River. Archeologists and anthropologists have defined the St. Lawrence Iroquoians as a distinct and separate group (and possibly several discrete groups), living in the villages of Hochelaga and others nearby (near present-day Montreal), which had been visited by Cartier. By 1608, when Samuel de Champlain visited the area, that part of the St. Lawrence River valley had no settlements, but
11070-673: The Tuscarora to becoming accepted as the sixth nation in the confederacy in 1722; the Iroquois become known afterwards as the Six Nations. Other independent Iroquoian-speaking peoples, such as the Erie , Susquehannock , Huron (Wendat) and Wyandot , lived at various times along the St. Lawrence River , and around the Great Lakes . In the American Southeast, the Cherokee were an Iroquoian-language people who had migrated to that area centuries before European contact. None of these were part of
11205-640: The Venetian model. During the Reformation, many of these carnival customs began to die out in Protestant regions, although they seem to have survived in Catholic areas despite the opposition of the ecclesiastical authorities. So by the 19th century, the carnivals of the relatively wealthy bourgeois town communities, with elaborate masques and costumes, existed side by side with the ragged and essentially folkloric customs of
11340-480: The adoption of corn as a staple crop. Archaeologist Dean Snow argues that the archaeological evidence does not support a date earlier than 1450. He has said that recent claims for a much earlier date "may be for contemporary political purposes". Other scholars note that anthropological researchers consulted only male informants, thus losing the half of the historical story told in the distinct oral traditions of women. For this reason, origin tales tend to emphasize
11475-600: The arts, particularly in ritual dances, courtly, and theatrical plays. The present uses are as miniature masks for tourist souvenirs, or on mobile phones , where they hang as good-luck talismans. Theatre in the Middle East, as elsewhere, was initially of a ritual nature, dramatising human relationships with nature, the deities, and other human beings. It grew out of sacred rites of myths and legends performed by priests and lay actors at fixed times and often in fixed locations. Folk theatre – mime, mask, puppetry, farce, juggling – had
11610-601: The beginning of the new century, on 19 August 2004, the Bulgarian archaeologist Georgi Kitov discovered a 673 g gold mask in the burial mound "Svetitsata" near Shipka , Central Bulgaria . It is a very fine piece of workmanship made out of massive 23 karat gold. Unlike other masks discovered in the Balkans (of which three are in Republic of Macedonia and two in Greece), it is now kept in
11745-578: The body. There are a wide variety of masks used in Africa. In West Africa, masks are used in masquerades that form part of religious ceremonies enacted to communicate with spirits and ancestors. Examples are the masquerades of the Yoruba , Igbo , and Edo cultures, including Egungun Masquerades and Northern Edo Masquerades . The masks are usually carved with an extraordinary skill and variety by artists who will usually have received their training as an apprentice to
11880-484: The carved images of monstrous heads that dominate the facades of Hindu and Buddhist temples. These faces or Kirtimukhas , 'Visages of Glory', are intended to ward off evil and are associated with the animal world as well as the divine. During ceremonies, these visages are given active form in the great mask dramas of the South and South-eastern Asian region. In Indonesia, the mask dance predates Hindu-Buddhist influences. It
12015-579: The celebrations were demonised and viewed as mere devils , or were subjugated to the Abrahamic God . Many of the masks and characters used in European festivals belong to the contrasting categories of the 'good', or 'idealised beauty', set against the 'ugly' or 'beastly' and grotesque. This is particularly true of the Germanic and Central European festivals. Another common type is the Fool , sometimes considered to be
12150-498: The ceremonies of the Dogon culture are secret, although the antelope dance is shown to non-Dogons. The antelope masks are rough rectangular boxes with several horns coming out of the top. The Dogons are expert agriculturists and the antelope symbolizes a hard-working farmer. Another culture that has a very rich agricultural tradition is the Bamana people of Mali. The antelope (called Chiwara )
12285-404: The circumstances dictated, creating a measured instability that only they could navigate. Their guiding principle was to avoid becoming attached to any single colony, which would restrict their options and risk exposure to external manipulation." Beginning in 1609, the League engaged in the decades-long Beaver Wars against the French, their Huron allies, and other neighboring tribes, including
12420-548: The confederacy did not speak for all five tribes, which continued to act independently and form their own war bands. Around 1678, the council began to exert more power in negotiations with the colonial governments of Pennsylvania and New York, and the Iroquois became very adroit at diplomacy, playing off the French against the British as individual tribes had earlier played the Swedes, Dutch, and English. Iroquoian-language peoples were involved in warfare and trading with nearby members of
12555-866: The day. Distinctive styles of masks began to emerge in pre-Hispanic America about 1200 BC, although there is evidence of far older mask forms. In the Andes , masks were used to dress the faces of the dead. These were originally made of fabric, but later burial masks were sometimes made of beaten copper or gold , and occasionally of clay . For the Aztecs , human skulls were prized as war trophies , and skull masks were not uncommon. Masks were also used as part of court entertainments, possibly combining political with religious significance. In post-colonial Latin America, pre-Columbian traditions merged with Christian rituals, and syncretic masquerades and ceremonies, such as All Souls / Day of
12690-559: The development of understandings about "what it means to be human", because they permit the imaginative experience of "what it is like" to be transformed into a different identity (or to affirm an existing social or spiritual identity). Not all cultures have known the use of masks, but most of them have. Throughout the world, masks are used for their expressive power as a feature of masked performance – both ritually and in various theatre traditions. The ritual and theatrical definitions of mask use frequently overlap and merge but still provide
12825-561: The earlier revels and had become evident by the 15th century in places such as Rome and Venice , where they developed as entertainments to enliven towns and cities. Thus the Maundy Thursday carnival in St. Marks Square in Venice, attended by the Doge and aristocracy, also involved the guilds, including a guild of maskmakers. There is evidence of ' commedia dell'arte '-inspired Venetian masks and by
12960-463: The enduring power of pretense and play and the power and appeal of masks. Ritual masks occur throughout the world, and although they tend to share many characteristics, highly distinctive forms have developed. The function of the masks may be magical or religious; they may appear in rites of passage or as a make-up for a form of theatre. Equally masks may disguise a penitent or preside over important ceremonies; they may help mediate with spirits, or offer
13095-688: The eyes, or of parts of them, is used in biometric identification to uniquely identify individuals. The shape of the face is influenced by the bone-structure of the skull , and each face is unique through the anatomical variation present in the bones of the viscerocranium (and neurocranium ). The bones involved in shaping the face are mainly the maxilla , mandible , nasal bone , zygomatic bone , and frontal bone . Also important are various soft tissues , such as fat , hair and skin (of which color may vary). The face changes over time, and features common in children or babies , such as prominent buccal fat-pads disappear over time, their role in
13230-434: The family or funerals, were carried out at the shrine under the watch of the ancestral masks. At funerals, professional actors would wear these masks to perform deeds of the lives of the ancestors, thus linking the role of mask as a ritual object and in theatre. Masks are a familiar and vivid element in many folk and traditional pageants , ceremonies , rituals , and festivals , and are often of an ancient origin. The mask
13365-695: The forces of darkness and winter, and open the way for the spirits of light and the coming of spring. In Sardinia existed the tradition of Mamuthones e Issohadores of Mamoiada ; Boes e Merdules of Ottana ; Thurpos of Orotelli ; S'Urtzu , Su 'Omadore and Sos Mamutzones of Samugheo . The celebration of Giubiana in Canzo ( Lombardy ) preserves a tradition of masks of anguane , wild man , bear and its hunter, and Giubiana herself, among others. Another tradition of European masks developed, more self-consciously, from court and civic events, or entertainments managed by guilds and co-fraternities. These grew out of
13500-401: The gigaku and bugaku and are acted entirely by men. The masks are worn throughout very long performances and are consequently very light. The nō mask is the supreme achievement of Japanese mask-making. Nō masks represent gods, men, women, madmen and devils, and each category has many sub-divisions. Kyōgen are short farces with their own masks, and accompany the tragic nō plays. Kabuki is
13635-468: The gods, while nuo dance masks protected from bad spirits. Wedding masks were used to pray for good luck and a lasting marriage, and "Swallowing Animal" masks were associated with protecting the home and symbolised the "swallowing" of disaster. Opera masks were used in a basic "common" form of opera performed without a stage or backdrops. These led to colourful facial patterns that we see in today's Peking opera . Masked characters, usually divinities, are
13770-410: The historical origins of masks. Most probably represent nature spirits , and as a result many of the associated customs are seasonal. The original significance would have survived only until the introduction of Christianity , which incorporated many of the customs into its own traditions. In that process their meanings were changed also so, for example, old gods and goddesses originally associated with
13905-566: The indigenous nations sometimes tried to remain neutral in the various colonial frontier wars, some also allied with Europeans, as in the French and Indian War , the North American front of the Seven Years' War. The Six Nations were split in their alliances between the French and British in that war. In Reflections in Bullough's Pond , historian Diana Muir argues that the pre-contact Iroquois were an imperialist, expansionist culture whose cultivation of
14040-739: The infant being to stabilize the cheeks during suckling . While the buccal fat-pads often diminish in size, the prominence of bones increase with age as they grow and develop. Facial shape – such as facial symmetry – is an important determinant of beauty . Visible variable features of the face other than shapes and proportions include color (paleness, sun tan and genetic default pigmentation ), hair (length, color , loss , graying ), wrinkles , facial hair (e.g. beards ), skin sagging, discolorations ( dark spots , freckles and eye circles ), pore -variabilities, skin blemishes ( pimples , scars , burn marks ). Many of these features can also vary over time due to aging , skin care , nutrition,
14175-586: The late 16th century the Venetian Carnival began to reach its peak and eventually lasted a whole 'season' from January until Lent . By the 18th century, it was already a tourist attraction, Goethe saying that he was ugly enough not to need a mask. The carnival was repressed during the Napoleonic Republic, although in the 1980s its costumes and the masks aping the 18th century heyday were revived. It appears other cities in central Europe were influenced by
14310-566: The longhouse ' ) are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of Native Americans and First Nations peoples in northeast North America. They were known by the French during the colonial years as the Iroquois League , and later as the Iroquois Confederacy , while the English simply called them the "Five Nations". The peoples of the Iroquois included (from east to west) the Mohawk , Oneida , Onondaga , Cayuga , and Seneca . After 1722,
14445-505: The masked performer is a central concept and is highly valued. In the western tradition, actors in Ancient Greek theatre wore masks, as they do in traditional Japanese Noh drama. In some Greek masks, the wide and open mouth of the mask contained a brass megaphone enabling the voice of the wearer to be projected into the large auditoria. In medieval Europe, masks were used in mystery and miracle plays to portray allegorical creatures, and
14580-499: The migration of a majority to Canada, the Iroquois remaining in New York were required to live mostly on reservations. In 1784, a total of 6,000 Iroquois faced 240,000 New Yorkers, with land-hungry New Englanders poised to migrate west. "Oneidas alone, who were only 600 strong, owned six million acres, or about 2.4 million hectares. Iroquoia was a land rush waiting to happen." By the War of 1812 ,
14715-551: The most striking artifacts produced in this region. Inuit groups vary widely and share neither a common mythology nor language. Not surprisingly their mask traditions are also often different, although their masks are often made out of driftwood, animal skins, bones, and feathers. In some areas Inuit women use finger masks during storytelling and dancing. Indigenous Pacific Northwest coastal cultural groups generally included highly skilled woodworkers . Their masks were often masterpieces of carving, sometimes with movable jaws, with
14850-615: The ordinary roles were often inverted. Sometimes a slave or a criminal was temporarily granted the insignia and status of royalty, only to be killed after the festival ended. The Carnival of Venice , in which all are equal behind their masks, dates back to 1268 AD. The use of carnivalesque masks in the Jewish Purim festivities probably originated in the late 15th century, although some Jewish authors claim it has always been part of Judaic tradition. The North American Iroquois tribes used masks for healing purposes (see False Face Society ). In
14985-566: The parts sometimes moved by pulling cords, or a mask within a mask to represent a magical transformation. The carving of masks was an important feature of woodcraft, along with many other features that often combined the utilitarian with the symbolic, such as shields , canoes , poles, and houses. Woodland tribes, especially in the northeastern and around the Great Lakes , cross-fertilized culturally with one another. The Iroquois made spectacular wooden ' false face ' masks, used in healing ceremonies and carved from living trees. These masks appear in
15120-480: The peace soured while the Jesuits were traveling, and their warriors attacked the party en route. The missionaries were taken to Ossernenon village, Kanienkeh (Mohawk Nation) (near present-day Auriesville , New York), where the moderate Turtle and Wolf clans recommended setting them free, but angry members of the Bear clan killed Jean de Lalande and Isaac Jogues on October 18, 1646. The Catholic Church has commemorated
15255-504: The perceptual response across FFA and LOC remained present even when subjects were not attending explicitly to facial beauty". Cosmetic surgery can be used to alter the appearance of the facial features. Maxillofacial surgery may also be used in cases of facial trauma , injury to the face and skin diseases. Severely disfigured individuals have recently received full face transplants and partial transplants of skin and muscle tissue. Caricatures often exaggerate facial features to make
15390-534: The performer representing God frequently wore a gold or gilt mask. During the Renaissance , masques and ballet de cour developed – courtly masked entertainments that continued as part of ballet conventions until the late eighteenth century. The masked characters of the Commedia dell'arte included the ancestors of the modern clown. In contemporary western theatre, the mask is often used alongside puppetry to create
15525-435: The performers, with several different types of mask used for different types of character. In Ancient Rome, the word persona meant 'a mask'; it also referred to an individual who had full Roman citizenship . A citizen could demonstrate his or her lineage through imagines – death masks of ancestors. These were wax casts kept in a lararium (the family shrine). Rites of passage, such as initiation of young members of
15660-465: The precise derivation of human culture and early activities, the invention and use of the mask is only one area of unsolved inquiry. The use of masks dates back several millennia. It is conjectured that the first masks may have been used by primitive people to associate the wearer with some kind of unimpeachable authority, such as a deity, or to otherwise lend credence to the person's claim on a given social role. The earliest known anthropomorphic artwork
15795-616: The region. These tribes migrated to regions around the Mississippi River and the Piedmont regions of the east coast. Other Iroquoian-language peoples, including the populous Wyandot (Huron) , with related social organization and cultures, became extinct as tribes as a result of disease and war. They did not join the League when invited and were much reduced after the Beaver Wars and high mortality from Eurasian infectious diseases. While
15930-463: The rural areas. Although these civic masquerades and their masks may have retained elements drawn from popular culture, the survival of carnival in the 19th century was often a consequence of a self-conscious 'folklore' movement that accompanied the rise of nationalism in many European countries. Nowadays, during carnival in the Netherlands masks are often replaced with face paint for more comfort. In
16065-421: The sacred. This is often accomplished by linking the mask to an ancestral presence, and thus bringing the past into the present. As a culture of scattered islands and peninsulars, Melanesian mask forms have developed in a highly diversified fashion, with a great deal of variety in their construction and aesthetic. In Papua New Guinea, six-metre-high totem masks are placed to protect the living from spirits; whereas
16200-492: The second element kwédač , he suggests a relation to kouetakiou , kȣetat-chiȣin , and goéṭètjg – names used by neighboring Algonquian tribes to refer to the Iroquois, Huron, and Laurentian peoples. The Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America attests the origin of Iroquois to Iroqu , Algonquian for "rattlesnake". The French encountered the Algonquian-speaking tribes first, and would have learned
16335-407: The shape of the nose and chin. Biological databases may be used to aggregate and discover associations between facial phenotypes and genes. Faces are essential to expressing emotion , consciously or unconsciously. A frown denotes disapproval; a smile usually means someone is pleased. Being able to read emotion in another's face is "the fundamental basis for empathy and the ability to interpret
16470-538: The soberness of one's duty that comes with power. War masks are also popular. The Grebo of the Ivory Coast and Liberia carve masks with round eyes to represent alertness and anger, with the straight nose to represent unwillingness to retreat. Today, the qualities of African art are beginning to be more understood and appreciated. However, most African masks are now being produced for the tourist trade. Although they often show skilled craftsmanship, they nearly always lack
16605-451: The spiritual character of the traditional tribal masks. The variety and beauty of the masks of Melanesia are almost as highly developed as in Africa. It is a culture where ancestor worship is dominant and religious ceremonies are devoted to ancestors. Inevitably, many of the mask types relate to use in these ceremonies and are linked with the activities of secret societies. The mask is regarded as an instrument of revelation, giving form to
16740-454: The synthesis of the two contrasting types, Handsome and Ugly. Masks also tend to be associated with New Year and Carnival festivals. The debate about the meaning of these and other mask forms continues in Europe, where monsters , bears , wild men , harlequins , hobby horses , and other fanciful characters appear in carnivals throughout the continent. It is generally accepted that the masks, noise, colour, and clamour are meant to drive away
16875-447: The theatre of modern Japan, rooted in the older forms, but in this form masks are replaced by painted faces. Korean masks have a long tradition associated with shamanism and later in ritual dance. Korean masks were used in war, on both soldiers and their horses; ceremonially, for burial rites in jade and bronze and for shamanistic ceremonies to drive away evil spirits; to remember the faces of great historical figures in death masks; and in
17010-726: The two men Deganawidah and Hiawatha , while the woman Jigonsaseh , who plays a prominent role in the female tradition, remains largely unknown. The founders of League are traditionally held to be Dekanawida the Great Peacemaker, Hiawatha, and Jigonhsasee the Mother of Nations, whose home acted as a sort of United Nations. They brought the Peacemaker's Great Law of Peace to the squabbling Iroquoian nations who were fighting, raiding, and feuding with each other and with other tribes, both Algonkian and Iroquoian . Five nations originally joined in
17145-641: The weakened tribe. According to one theory of early Iroquois history, after becoming united in the League, the Iroquois invaded the Ohio River Valley in the territories that would become the eastern Ohio Country down as far as present-day Kentucky to seek additional hunting grounds. They displaced about 1,200 Siouan -speaking tribepeople of the Ohio River valley, such as the Quapaw (Akansea), Ofo ( Mosopelea ), and Tutelo and other closely related tribes out of
17280-445: The wearer's body. In art history , especially sculpture , "mask" is the term for a face without a body that is not modelled in the round (which would make it a "head"), but for example appears in low relief . The word "mask" appeared in English in the 1530s, from Middle French masque "covering to hide or guard the face", derived in turn from Italian maschera , from Medieval Latin masca "mask, specter, nightmare". This word
17415-551: The whole head, and are often highly abstracted forms. Navajo masks appear to be inspired by the Pueblo prototypes. In modern immigrant Euro-American culture, masking is a common feature of Mardi Gras traditions, most notably in New Orleans . Costumes and masks (originally inspired by masquerade balls ) are frequently worn by " krewe "-members on Mardi Gras Day; local laws against using a mask to conceal one's identity are suspended for
17550-582: The wrestlers can be considered folk heroes. For instance, the popular wrestler El Santo continued wearing his mask after retirement, revealed his face briefly only in old age, and was buried wearing his silver mask. In China, masks are thought to have originated in ancient religious ceremonies. Images of people wearing masks have been found in rock paintings along the Yangtze . Later mask forms brings together myths and symbols from shamanism and Buddhism . Shigong dance masks were used in shamanic rituals to thank
17685-472: Was advocated by Gordon M. Day in 1968, elaborating upon Charles Arnaud from 1880. Arnaud had claimed that the word came from Montagnais irnokué , meaning "terrible man", via the reduced form irokue . Day proposed a hypothetical Montagnais phrase irno kwédač , meaning "a man, an Iroquois", as the origin of this term. For the first element irno , Day cites cognates from other attested Montagnais dialects: irinou , iriniȣ , and ilnu ; and for
17820-502: Was an important figure of his generation in recounting versions of Iroquois history in epics on the Peacemaker . Notable women historians among the Iroquois emerged in the following decades, including Laura "Minnie" Kellogg (Oneida, 1880–1949) and Alice Lee Jemison (Seneca, 1901–1964). The Iroquois League was established prior to European contact , with the banding together of five of the many Iroquoian peoples who had emerged south of
17955-467: Was cognate with the Mohawk ierokwa "they who smoke", or Cayuga iakwai "a bear". In 1888, J. N. B. Hewitt expressed doubts that either of those words exist in the respective languages. He preferred the etymology from Montagnais irin "true, real" and ako "snake", plus the French -ois suffix. Later he revised this to Algonquin Iriⁿakhoiw as the origin. A more modern etymology
18090-406: Was controlled by the Mohawk as a hunting ground. The fate of the Iroquoian people that Cartier encountered remains a mystery, and all that can be stated for certain is when Champlain arrived, they were gone. On the Gaspé peninsula, Champlain encountered Algonquian-speaking groups. The precise identity of any of these groups is still debated. On July 29, 1609, Champlain assisted his allies in defeating
18225-504: Was offered the position as the titular chair of the League's Council, representing the unity of all nations of the League. This is said to have occurred at Onondaga Lake near present-day Syracuse, New York . The title Tadodaho is still used for the League's chair, the fiftieth chief who sits with the Onondaga in council. The Iroquois subsequently created a highly egalitarian society. One British colonial administrator declared in 1749 that
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