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Mohawk people

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The Mohawk , also known by their own name, Kanien'kehà:ka ( lit.   ' People of the flint ' ), are an Indigenous people of North America and the easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee , or Iroquois Confederacy.

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93-732: Mohawk are an Iroquoian -speaking people with communities in southeastern Canada and northern New York State , primarily around Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River . As one of the five original members of the Iroquois League , the Mohawk are known as the Keepers of the Eastern Door who are the guardians of the Iroquois Confederation against invasions from the east. Today, Mohawk people belong to

186-792: A French derivation of the Algonquian term for the Five Nations, meaning "Big Snakes". The Algonquians and Iroquois were traditional competitors and enemies. In the upper Hudson and Mohawk Valley regions, the Mohawks long had contact with the Algonquian-speaking Mohican people who occupied territory along the Hudson, as well as other Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples to the north around the Great Lakes . The Mohawks had extended their own influence into

279-552: A Mohawk convert to Catholicism. She moved with relatives to Caughnawaga on the north side of the river after her parents' deaths. She was known for her faith and a shrine was built to her in New York. In the late 20th century, she was beatified and was canonized in October 2012 as the first Native American Catholic saint. She is also recognized by the Episcopal and Lutheran churches. After

372-579: A kind. During their alliance, the Mohawks allowed Dutch Protestant missionary Johannes Megapolensis to come into their communities and teach the Christian message. He operated from the Fort Nassau area for about six years, writing a record in 1644 of his observations of the Mohawk, their language (which he learned), and their culture. While he noted their ritual of torture of captives, he recognized that their society had few other killings, especially compared to

465-567: A language family of indigenous peoples of North America . They are known for their general lack of labial consonants . The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking . As of 2020, almost all surviving Iroquoian languages are severely or critically endangered , with some languages having only a few elderly speakers remaining. The two languages with the most speakers, Mohawk (Kenien'kéha) in New York and Canada, and Cherokee in Oklahoma and North Carolina, are spoken by less than 10% of

558-631: A large group of Iroquois out of New York to what became the reserve of the Six Nations of the Grand River , Ontario . Brant continued as a political leader of the Mohawks for the rest of his life. This land extended 100 miles from the head of the Grand River to the head of Lake Erie where it discharges. Another Mohawk war chief, John Deseronto , led a group of Mohawk to the Bay of Quinte . Other Mohawks settled in

651-648: A mission in Ossernenon 9 miles west of present-day Auriesville, New York until 1684, when the Mohawks destroyed it, killing several priests. Over time, some converted Mohawk relocated to Jesuit mission villages established south of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River in the early 1700s: Kahnawake (used to be spelled as Caughnawaga , named for the village of that name in the Mohawk Valley) and Kanesatake . These Mohawk were joined by members of other Indigenous peoples but dominated

744-501: A rise in tribal revenues due to establishment of gaming on certain reserves or reservations, competing leadership, traditional government jurisdiction, issues of taxation, and the Canadian Indian Act , Mohawk communities have been dealing with considerable internal conflict since the late 20th century. The Mohawk language , or its native name, Kanyen'kéha , is a Northern Iroquoian language . Like many Indigenous languages of

837-634: A veteran of the French and Indian War and ally of the rebels, offered his services to the Americans, receiving an officer's commission from the Continental Congress . He led Oneida warriors against the British. During this war, Johannes Tekarihoga was the civil leader of the Mohawk. He died around 1780. Catherine Crogan , a clan mother and wife of Mohawk war chief Joseph Brant , named her brother Henry Crogan as

930-524: Is 1,344,200 square kilometres (518,998.5 sq mi), of which 839,200 km (324,016.9 sq mi) is in Canada and 505,000 km (194,981.6 sq mi) is in the United States. The basin covers parts of Ontario and Quebec in Canada, parts of Minnesota , Wisconsin , Illinois , Indiana , Ohio , Pennsylvania , New York , Vermont , and nearly the entirety of the state of Michigan in

1023-575: Is that country's sixth oldest surviving European place-name. The earliest regular Europeans in the area were the Basques , who came to the St Lawrence Gulf and River in pursuit of whales from the early 16th century. The Basque whalers and fishermen traded with indigenous Americans and set up settlements, leaving vestiges all over the coast of eastern Canada and deep into the St. Lawrence River. Basque commercial and fishing activity reached its peak before

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1116-513: Is the second longest river in Canada. Lake Champlain and the Ottawa , Richelieu , Saint-Maurice , Saint-François , Chaudière and Saguenay rivers drain into the St. Lawrence. The St. Lawrence River is in a seismically active zone where fault reactivation is believed to occur along late Proterozoic to early Paleozoic normal faults related to the opening of the Iapetus Ocean . The faults in

1209-618: The Armada Invencible ' s disaster (1588), when the Basque whaling fleet was confiscated by King Philip II of Spain . Initially, the whaling galleons from Labourd were not affected by the Spanish defeat. Until the early 17th century, the French used the name Rivière du Canada to designate the St. Lawrence upstream to Montreal and the Ottawa River after Montreal. The St. Lawrence River served as

1302-634: The Champlain Sea , due to a rebounding continent from the Last Glacial Maximum , the St. Lawrence River was formed. The Champlain Sea lasted from about 13,000 years ago to about 10,000 years ago and was continuously shrinking during that time, a process that continues today. The head of the St. Lawrence River, near Lake Ontario, is home to the Thousand Islands . Today, the St. Lawrence River begins at

1395-609: The Dutch , who went up the Hudson River and established a trading post in 1614 at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers, and the French, who came south into their territory from New France (present-day Quebec). The Dutch were primarily merchants and the French also conducted fur trading . During this time the Mohawk fought with the Huron in the Beaver Wars for control of the fur trade with

1488-716: The Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean . Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence , traversing Ontario and Quebec in Canada and New York in the United States. A section of the river demarcates the Canada–U.S. border . As the primary drainage outflow of the Great Lakes Basin , the St. Lawrence has the second-highest discharge of any river in North America (after

1581-700: The Gulf of St. Lawrence : Flowing through and adjacent to numerous Indigenous homelands, the river was a primary thoroughfare for many peoples. Beginning in Dawnland at the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the river borders Mi'kma'ki in the South (what is today known as the Canadian Maritimes ), and Nitassinan in the North, the national territory of the Innu people . On the south shore beyond

1674-447: The Hudson River . The Accommodation with ten passengers made her maiden voyage from Montreal to Quebec City in 66 hours, for 30 of which she was at anchor. She had a keel of 75 feet, and a length overall of 85 feet. The cost of a ticket was eight dollars upstream, and nine dollars down. She had berths that year for twenty passengers. Within a decade, daily service was available in the hotly-contested Montreal-Quebec route. Because of

1767-828: The Mi'kmaw district of Gespe'gewa'ki , the river passes Wolastokuk (the Maliseet homeland), Pαnawαhpskewahki (the Penobscot homeland), and Ndakinna (the Abenaki homeland). Continuing, the river passes through the former country of the St. Lawrence Iroquois and then three of the six homelands of the Haudenosaunee : the Mohawk or Kanienʼkehá꞉ka , the Oneida or Onyota'a:ka , and the Onondaga or Onöñda’gaga’ . In

1860-554: The Mississippi River ) and the 16th-highest in the world. The estuary of St. Lawrence is often cited by scientists as the largest in the world. Significant natural landmarks of the river and estuary include the 1,864 river islands of the Thousand Islands , the endangered whales of Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park , and the limestone monoliths of the Mingan Archipelago . Long a transportation route to Indigenous peoples ,

1953-593: The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne , Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation , Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke , Mohawks of Kanesatake , Six Nations of the Grand River , and Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe , a federally recognized tribe in the United States. At the time of European contact, Mohawk people were based in the valley of the Mohawk River in present-day upstate New York, west of the Hudson River . Their territory ranged north to

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2046-580: The Oka Crisis blockades in 1990 and the Caledonia Ontario, Douglas Creek occupation of a construction site in summer of 2006. On May 13, 1974, at 4:00 a.m, Mohawks from the Kahnawake and Akwesasne reservations repossessed traditional Mohawk land near Old Forge, New York, occupying Moss Lake, an abandoned girls camp. The New York state government attempted to shut the operation down, but after negotiation,

2139-567: The St. Lawrence River Valley, which they maintained for hunting grounds. The Mohawk likely defeated the St. Lawrence Iroquoians in the 16th century, and kept control of their territory. In addition to hunting and fishing for centuries the Mohawks cultivated productive maize fields on the fertile floodplains along the Mohawk River, west of the Pine Bush . On June 28, 1609, a band of Hurons led Samuel De Champlain and his crew into Mohawk country,

2232-684: The St. Lawrence River , southern Quebec and eastern Ontario ; south to greater New Jersey and into Pennsylvania; eastward to the Green Mountains of Vermont ; and westward to the border with the Iroquoian Oneida Nation 's traditional homeland territory. Members of the Kanienʼkehá:ka people now live in settlements in northern New York State and southeastern Canada. Many Kanienʼkehá:ka communities have two sets of chiefs, who are in some sense competing governmental rivals. One group are

2325-670: The Thousand Islands chain near Alexandria Bay, New York and Kingston, Ontario ; the Hochelaga Archipelago , including the Island of Montreal and Île Jésus ( Laval ); the Lake St. Pierre Archipelago (classified a biosphere world reserve by the UNESCO in 2000) and the smaller Mingan Archipelago . Other islands include Île d'Orléans near Quebec City and Anticosti Island north of the Gaspé . It

2418-608: The United States District Court for the Western District of New York . The main structures of social organization are the clans ( ken'tara'okòn:'a ). The number of clans vary among the Haudenosaunee; the Mohawk have three: Bear ( Ohkwa:ri ), Turtle ( A'nó:wara ), and Wolf ( Okwaho ). Clans are nominally the descendants of a single female ancestor, with women possessing the leadership role. Each member of

2511-618: The University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario started offering a credit course in Mohawk; the classes are to be given at Renison University College in collaboration with the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre, St. Paul's University College . St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River ( French : Fleuve Saint-Laurent ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting

2604-646: The War of 1812 . In 1971, the Mohawk Warrior Society , also Rotisken’rakéhte in the Mohawk language, was founded in Kahnawake . The duties of the Warrior Society are to use roadblocks, evictions, and occupations to gain rights for their people, and these tactics are also used among the warriors to protect the environment from pollution. The notable movements started by the Mohawk Warrior Society have been

2697-635: The World Trade Center buildings that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks , helped rescue people from the burning towers in 2001, and helped dismantle the remains of the building afterwards. Approximately 200 Mohawk ironworkers (out of 2,000 total ironworkers at the site) participated in rebuilding the One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. They typically drive the 360 miles from

2790-607: The conflict , trying to suppress the Native Americans in the region. The Mohawk also attacked other members of the Pequot confederacy, in a war that lasted until 1671. In 1666, the French attacked the Mohawk in the central New York area, burning the three Mohawk villages south of the river and their stored food supply. One of the conditions of the peace was that the Mohawk accept Jesuit missionaries. Beginning in 1669, missionaries attempted to convert Mohawks to Christianity, operating

2883-497: The 16th century, French explorers visited what is now Canada and gave the river names such as the Grand fleuve de Hochelaga and the Grande rivière du Canada , where fleuve and rivière are two French words ( fleuve being a river that flows into the sea). The river's present name has been used since 1604 when it was recorded on a map by Samuel de Champlain Champlain opted for the names Grande riviere de sainct Laurens and Fleuve sainct Laurens in his writings, supplanting

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2976-439: The 1930s to the 1970s on special labor contracts as specialists and participated in building the Empire State Building . The construction companies found that the Mohawk ironworkers did not fear heights or dangerous conditions. Their contracts offered lower than average wages to the First Nations people and limited labor union membership. About 10% of all ironworkers in the New York area are Mohawks, down from about 15% earlier in

3069-404: The 20th century. The work and home life of Mohawk ironworkers was documented in Don Owen 's 1965 National Film Board of Canada documentary High Steel . The Mohawk community that formed in a compact area of Brooklyn , which they called "Little Caughnawaga", after their homeland, is documented in Reaghan Tarbell's Little Caughnawaga: To Brooklyn and Back , shown on PBS in 2008. This community

3162-402: The Akwesasne Reservation in Franklin County under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). According to the terms of the 1993 compact, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, the New York State Police and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Gaming Commission were vested with gaming oversight. Law enforcement responsibilities fell under the state police, with some law enforcement matters left to

3255-642: The American South. They are believed to have spoken an Iroquoian language but documentation is lacking. Attempts to link the Iroquoian, Siouan , and Caddoan languages in a Macro-Siouan family are suggestive but remain unproven ( Mithun 1999 :305). As of 2012, a program in Iroquois linguistics at Syracuse University , the Certificate in Iroquois Linguistics for Language Learners , is designed for students and language teachers working in language revitalization . Six Nations Polytechnic in Ohsweken, Ontario offers Ogwehoweh language Diploma and Degree Programs in Mohawk or Cayuga . Starting in September 2017,

3348-444: The Americas , Mohawk is a polysynthetic language. Written in the Roman alphabet, its orthography was standardized in 1993 at the Mohawk Language Standardization Conference. In the Mohawk language, the Mohawk people call themselves the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka ("people of the flint"). The Mohawk became wealthy traders as other nations in their confederacy needed their flint for tool making. Their Algonquian -speaking neighbors (and competitors),

3441-425: The Appalachian division at all. The source of the North River in the Mesabi Range in Minnesota (Seven Beaver Lake) is considered to be the source of the St. Lawrence River. Because it crosses so many lakes, the water system frequently changes its name. From source to mouth, the names are: The St. Lawrence River also passes through Lake Saint-Louis and Lake Saint-Pierre in Quebec. The St. Lawrence River and

3534-413: The British Crown), Conrad Weiser (on behalf of the colony of Pennsylvania ), and Hendrick Theyanoguin (for the Mohawk). Johnson called the Albany Congress in June 1754, to discuss with the Iroquois chiefs repair of the damaged diplomatic relationship between the British and the Mohawk, along with securing their cooperation and support in fighting the French, in engagements in North America. During

3627-442: The British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, built his first house on the north bank of the Mohawk River almost opposite Warrensbush and established the settlement of Johnstown . The Mohawk were among the four Iroquois people that allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War . They had a long trading relationship with the British and hoped to gain support to prohibit colonists from encroaching into their territory in

3720-401: The British ceded their claim to land in the colonies, and the Americans forced their allies, the Mohawks and others, to give up their territories in New York. Most of the Mohawks migrated to Canada, where the Crown gave them some land in compensation. The Mohawks at the Upper Castle fled to Fort Niagara , while most of those at the Lower Castle went to villages near Montreal . Joseph Brant led

3813-406: The Conestoga Confederacy and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy were defeated and scattered, migrating to form new tribes or adopted into others. The Iroquoian peoples had a practice of adopting valiant enemies into the tribe; they also adopted captive women and children to replace members who had died. The group known as the Meherrin were neighbors to the Tuscarora and the Nottoway ( Binford 1967 ) in

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3906-405: The Dept. of Interior taking other land into trust for federally recognized 'tribes', which would establish the land as sovereign Native American territory, on which they might establish new gaming facilities. The other suit contends that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act violates the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as it is applied in the State of New York. In 2010 it was pending in

3999-403: The Dutch later established settlements in present-day Schenectady and Schoharie , further west in the Mohawk Valley, merchants in Fort Nassau continued to control the fur trading. Schenectady was established essentially as a farming settlement, where the Dutch took over some of the former Mohawk maize fields in the floodplain along the river. Through trading, the Mohawk and Dutch became allies of

4092-413: The English governor of Connecticut, John Winthrop , as proof of his death. In the winter of 1651, the Mohawk attacked on the southeast and overwhelmed the Algonquian in the coastal areas. They took between 500 and 600 captives. In 1664, the Pequot of New England killed a Mohawk ambassador, starting a war that resulted in the destruction of the Pequot, as the English and their allies in New England entered

4185-405: The Europeans. Their Jesuit missionaries were active among First Nations and Native Americans, seeking converts to Catholicism . In 1614, the Dutch opened a trading post at Fort Nassau , New Netherland . The Dutch initially traded for furs with the local Mohican, who occupied the territory along the Hudson River. Following a raid in 1626 when the Mohawks resettled along the south side of

4278-467: The Interior disapproved this action although the Mohawks gained Governor Eliot Spitzer 's concurrence, subject to the negotiation and approval of either an amendment to the current compact or a new compact. Interior rejected the Mohawks' application to take this land into trust. In the early 21st century, two legal cases were pending that related to Native American gambling and land claims in New York. The State of New York has expressed similar objections to

4371-409: The Kahnawake reserve on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec to work the week in lower Manhattan and then return on the weekend to be with their families. A selection of portraits of these Mohawk ironworkers were featured in an online photo essay for Time Magazine in September 2012. Both the elected chiefs and the Warrior Society have encouraged gambling as a means of ensuring tribal self-sufficiency on

4464-505: The Mohawk River, in 1628, they mounted an attack against the Mohican, pushing them back to the area of present-day Connecticut . The Mohawks gained a near-monopoly in the fur trade with the Dutch by prohibiting the nearby Algonquian-speaking peoples to the north or east to trade with them but did not entirely control this. European contact resulted in a devastating smallpox epidemic among the Mohawk in 1635; this reduced their population by 63%, from 7,740 to 2,830, as they had no immunity to

4557-429: The Mohawk Valley. Joseph Brant acted as a war chief and successfully led raids against British and ethnic German colonists in the Mohawk Valley, who had been given land by the British administration near the rapids at present-day Little Falls, New York . A few prominent Mohawk, such as the sachem Little Abraham (Tyorhansera) at Fort Hunter, remained neutral throughout the war. Joseph Louis Cook (Akiatonharónkwen),

4650-411: The Mohawk barricade after landing on a beach. They met the Mohawks at the barricade; 200 warriors advanced behind four chiefs. They were equally astonished to see each other— De Champlain surprised at their stature, confidence, and dress; the Mohawks surprised by De Champlain's steel cuirass and helmet. One of the chiefs raised his bow at Champlain and the Indians. Champlain fired three shots that pierced

4743-411: The Mohawk chiefs' wooden armor, killing them instantly. The Mohawks stood in shock until they started flinging arrows at the crowd. A brawl began and the Mohawks fell back seeing the damage this new technology dealt on their chiefs and warriors. This was the first contact the Mohawks had with Europeans . This incident also sparked the Beaver Wars . In the seventeenth century, the Mohawk encountered both

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4836-460: The Mohawk in the New York colony. Many were baptized with English surnames, while others were given both first and surnames in English. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the Mohawk and Abenaki First Nations in New England were involved in raids conducted by the French and English against each other's settlements during Queen Anne's War and other conflicts. They conducted a growing trade in captives, holding them for ransom. Neither of

4929-468: The Mohawk made peace for a time with the French, who were trying to keep a piece of the fur trade. During the Pequot War (1634–1638), the Pequot and other Algonquian Indians of coastal New England sought an alliance with the Mohawks against English colonists of that region. Disrupted by their losses to smallpox, the Mohawks refused the alliance. They killed the Pequot sachem Sassacus who had come to them for refuge, and returned part of his remains to

5022-484: The Mohawks being completely unaware of this situation. De Champlain made it clear he wanted to strike the Mohawks down after their raids on the neighboring nations. On July 29, 1609, hundreds of Hurons and many of De Champlain's French crew fell back from the mission, daunted by what lay ahead. Sixty Huron Indians, De Champlain, and two Frenchmen saw some Mohawks in a lake near Ticonderoga ; the Mohawks spotted them as well. De Champlain and his crew fell back, then advanced to

5115-444: The Netherlands of that period. The trading relations between the Mohawk and Dutch helped them maintain peace even during the periods of Kieft's War and the Esopus Wars , when the Dutch fought localized battles with other native peoples. In addition, Dutch trade partners equipped the Mohawk with guns to fight against other First Nations who were allied with the French , including the Ojibwe , Huron-Wendat , and Algonquin . In 1645,

5208-436: The St. Lawrence River has played a key role in the history of Canada and in the development of cities such as Montreal and Quebec City . The river remains an important shipping route as the backbone of the St. Lawrence Seaway , a lock and canal system that enables world marine traffic to access the inland ports of the Great Lakes Waterway . The river has been called a variety of names by local First Nations . Beginning in

5301-406: The St. Lawrence River includes: Large marine mammals travel in all the seas of the earth, the research and observations of these giants concern fishermen and shipping industry , exercise a fascination and a keen interest for laymen and, subjects of endless studies for scientists from Quebec, Canada and around the world. Thirteen species of cetaceans frequent the waters of the estuary and

5394-424: The St. Lawrence to attack the city from the west, which they successfully did at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham . The river was used again by the British to defeat the French siege of Quebec under the Chevalier de Lévis in 1760. In 1809, the first steamboat to ply its trade on the St. Lawrence was built and operated by John Molson and associates, a scant two years after Fulton's steam-powered navigation of

5487-488: The Town of Palatine in Montgomery County, New York which they named Kanatsiohareke . It marked a return to their ancestral land. Mohawks came from Kahnawake and other reserves to work in the construction industry in New York City in the early through the mid-20th century. They had also worked in construction in Quebec. The men were ironworkers who helped build bridges and skyscrapers, and who were called skywalkers because of their seeming fearlessness. They worked from

5580-554: The United States). The Seaway (including the Welland Canal ) now permits ocean-going vessels to pass all the way to Lake Superior . During the Second World War , the Battle of the St. Lawrence involved submarine and anti-submarine actions throughout the lower St. Lawrence River and the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence , Strait of Belle Isle and Cabot Strait from May to October 1942, September 1943, and again in October and November 1944. During this time, German U-boats sank several merchant marine ships and three Canadian warships. In

5673-523: The United States. The average discharge below the Saguenay River is 16,800 cubic metres per second (590,000 cu ft/s). At Quebec City, it is 12,101 m /s (427,300 cu ft/s). The average discharge at the river's source, the outflow of Lake Ontario, is 7,410 m /s (262,000 cu ft/s). The St. Lawrence River includes Lake Saint Francis at Salaberry-de-Valleyfield , Lake Saint-Louis south of Montreal and Lake Saint Pierre east of Montreal. It encompasses four archipelagoes :

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5766-412: The area are rift -related and comprise the Saint Lawrence rift system . According to the United States Geological Survey, the St. Lawrence Valley is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division, containing the Champlain section. However, in Canada, where most of the valley is, it is instead considered part of a distinct St. Lawrence Lowlands physiographic division, and not part of

5859-415: The areas. For instance, Johannes Megapolensis , a Dutch minister, recorded the spelling of the same three villages as Asserué, Banagiro, and Thenondiogo. Late 20th-century archeological studies have determined that Ossernenon was located about 9 miles west of the current city of Auriesville; the two were mistakenly conflated by a tradition that developed in the late 19th century in the Catholic Church. While

5952-473: The colonial governments generally negotiated for common captives, and it was up to local European communities to raise funds to ransom their residents. In some cases, French and Abenaki raiders transported captives from New England to Montreal and the Mohawk mission villages. The Mohawk at Kahnawake adopted numerous young women and children to add to their own members, having suffered losses to disease and warfare. For instance, among them were numerous survivors of

6045-418: The community. As required by IGRA, the compact was approved by the United States Department of the Interior before it took effect. There were several extensions and amendments to this compact, but not all of them were approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior . On June 12, 2003, the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the lower courts' rulings that Governor Cuomo exceeded his authority by entering into

6138-431: The compact absent legislative authorization and declared the compact void  On October 19, 2004, Governor George Pataki signed a bill passed by the State Legislature that ratified the compact as being nunc pro tunc , with some additional minor changes. In 2008 the Mohawk Nation was working to obtain approval to own and operate a casino in Sullivan County, New York , at Monticello Raceway . The U.S. Department of

6231-424: The earlier names. In contemporary French, the name is rendered as the fleuve Saint-Laurent . The name Saint-Laurent (Saint Lawrence) was originally applied to the eponymous bay by Jacques Cartier upon his arrival into the region on the 10th of August feast day for Saint Lawrence in 1535. Indigenous people use the following names: In winter, the St. Lawrence River begins producing ice in December, with

6324-416: The early 17th century, the Huron-Wendat Nation migrated from their original country of Huronia to what is now known as Nionwentsïo centred around Wendake . Nionwentsïo occupies both the north and south shores of the river, overlapping with Nitassinan and the more western Wabanaki or Dawnland countries. Adjacent on the north shore is the Atikamekw territorial homeland of Nitaskinan and, upstream,

6417-413: The eastern end of Lake Erie placed them between the larger confederations. To the east of the Wenro, beyond the Genesee Gorge , were the lands of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. To the southeast, beyond the headwaters of the Allegheny River , lay the Conestoga (Susquehannock). The Conestoga Confederacy and Erie were militarily powerful and respected by neighboring tribes. By 1660 all of these peoples but

6510-448: The elected chiefs have tended to be associated (though in a much looser and general way) with democratic , legislative and Canadian governmental values. On October 15, 1993, Governor Mario Cuomo entered into the "Tribal-State Compact Between the St. Regis Mohawk First Nation and the State of New York". The compact allowed the Indigenous people to conduct gambling, including games such as baccarat , blackjack , craps and roulette , on

6603-427: The fall of New Netherland to England in 1664, the Mohawk in New York traded with the English and sometimes acted as their allies. During King Philip's War , Metacom , sachem of the warring Wampanoag Pokanoket , decided to winter with his warriors near Albany in 1675. Encouraged by the English, the Mohawk attacked and killed all but 40 of the 400 Pokanoket. From the 1690s, Protestant missionaries sought to convert

6696-575: The farthest headwater to the mouth and 1,197 km (743.8 mi) from the outflow of Lake Ontario. These numbers include the estuary; without the estuary, the length from Lake Ontario is c. 500 km (c. 300 mi). The farthest headwater is the North River in the Mesabi Range at Hibbing , Minnesota. Its drainage area, which includes the Great Lakes, the world's largest system of freshwater lakes,

6789-458: The formation of ice cubes between Montreal and Quebec City . The prevailing winds and currents push this ice towards the estuary, and it reaches the east of Les Méchins at the end of December. Ice covers the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence in January and February. Ice helps navigation by preventing the formation of waves, and therefore spray, and prevents the icing of ships. With the draining of

6882-466: The further reaches of Anishinaabewaki, specifically the homelands of the Algonquin and Mississauga Nations. The Norse explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the 11th century and were followed by fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century European mariners, such as John Cabot , and the brothers Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real . The first European explorer known to have sailed up the St. Lawrence River itself

6975-543: The hereditary chiefs ( royaner ), nominated by Clan Mother matriarchs in the traditional Mohawk fashion. Mohawks of most of the reserves have established constitutions with elected chiefs and councilors, with whom the Canadian and U.S. governments usually prefer to deal exclusively. The self-governing communities are listed below, grouped by broad geographical cluster, with notes on the character of community governance found in each. Given increased activism for land claims,

7068-489: The largest tributaries of the Great Lakes . The St. Lawrence River tributaries are listed upstream from the mouth. The major tributaries of the inter-lake sections are also shown, as well as the major rivers that flow into the Great Lakes. Great Lakes tributaries are listed in alphabetical order. The list includes all tributaries with a drainage area of at least 1,000 square kilometres and an average flow of more than 10 cubic metres per second. tributary The diversity of

7161-509: The main route for European exploration of the North American interior, first pioneered by French explorer Samuel de Champlain . Control of the river was crucial to British strategy to capture New France in the Seven Years' War . Having captured Louisbourg in 1758, the British sailed up to Quebec the following year thanks to charts drawn up by James Cook . British troops were ferried via

7254-545: The more than 100 captives taken in the Deerfield raid in western Massachusetts. The minister of Deerfield was ransomed and returned to Massachusetts, but his daughter was adopted by a Mohawk family and ultimately assimilated and married a Mohawk man. During the era of the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years' War ), Anglo-Mohawk partnership relations were maintained by men such as Sir William Johnson in New York (for

7347-468: The new Tekarihoga. In retaliation for Brant's raids in the valley, the rebel colonists organized Sullivan's Expedition . It conducted extensive raids against other Iroquois settlements in central and western New York, destroying 40 villages, crops, and winter stores. Many Mohawk and other Iroquois migrated to Canada for refuge near Fort Niagara , struggling to survive the winter. After the American victory,

7440-445: The new disease. By 1642 they had regrouped from four into three villages, recorded by Catholic missionary priest Isaac Jogues in 1642 as Ossernenon , Andagaron , and Tionontoguen , all along the south side of the Mohawk River from east to west. These were recorded by speakers of other languages with different spellings, and historians have struggled to reconcile various accounts, as well as to align them with archeological studies of

7533-488: The outflow of Lake Ontario and flows adjacent to Gananoque , Brockville , Morristown , Ogdensburg , Massena , Cornwall , Montreal , Trois-Rivières , and Quebec City before draining into the Gulf of St. Lawrence , often given as the largest estuary in the world. The estuary begins at the eastern tip of Île d'Orléans , just downstream from Quebec City. The river becomes tidal around Quebec City. The St. Lawrence River runs 3,058 kilometres (1,900  mi ) from

7626-521: The people of Muh-heck Haeek Ing ("food area place"), the Mohicans , referred to the people of Ka-nee-en Ka as Maw Unk Lin , meaning "bear people". The Dutch heard and wrote this term as Mohawk , and also referred to the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka as Egil or Maqua . The French colonists adapted these latter terms as Aignier and Maqui , respectively. They also referred to the people by the generic Iroquois ,

7719-508: The populations of their nations. † — language extinct/dormant Evidence is emerging that what has been called the Laurentian language appears to be more than one dialect or language. Ethnographic and linguistic field work with the Wyandot tribal elders ( Barbeau 1960 ) yielded enough documentation for scholars to characterize and classify the Huron and Petun languages. The languages of

7812-549: The same clan, across all the Six Nations, is considered a relative. Traditionally, marriages between people of the same clan are forbidden. Children belong to their mother's clan. Traditional Mohawk religion is mostly Animist . "Much of the religion is based on a primordial conflict between good and evil." Many Mohawks continue to follow the Longhouse Religion . Iroquoian languages The Iroquoian languages are

7905-692: The second and third quarters of the 18th century, most of the Mohawks in the Province of New York lived along the Mohawk River at Canajoharie . A few lived at Schoharie , and the rest lived about 30 miles downstream at the Tionondorage Castle, also called Fort Hunter . These two major settlements were traditionally called the Upper Castle and the Lower Castle. The Lower Castle was almost contiguous with Sir Peter Warren 's Warrensbush. Sir William Johnson ,

7998-421: The settlements by number. Many converted to Roman Catholicism. In the 1740s, Mohawk and French set up another village upriver, which is known as Akwesasne . Today a Mohawk reserve, it spans the St. Lawrence River and present-day international boundaries to New York, United States, where it is known as the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation . Kateri Tekakwitha , born at Ossernenon in the late 1650s, has become noted as

8091-541: The state offered the Mohawk some land in Miner Lake, where they have since settled. The Mohawks have organized for more sovereignty at their reserves in Canada, pressing for authority over their people and lands. Tensions with the Quebec Provincial and national governments have been strained during certain protests, such as the Oka Crisis in 1990. In 1993, a group of Akwesasne Mohawks purchased 322 acres of land in

8184-620: The tribes that constituted the tiny Wenrohronon , the powerful Conestoga Confederacy and the confederations of the Neutral Nation and the Erie Nation are very poorly documented in print. The Huron ( Wyandot people ) referred to the Neutral people as Atiwandaronk, meaning 'they who understand the language'. The Wenro and Neutral are historically grouped together, and geographically the Wenro's range on

8277-483: The various reserves or Indian reservations. Traditional chiefs have tended to oppose gaming on moral grounds and out of fear of corruption and organized crime. Such disputes have also been associated with religious divisions: the traditional chiefs are often associated with the Longhouse tradition, practicing consensus-democratic values, while the Warrior Society has attacked that religion and asserted independence. Meanwhile,

8370-449: The vicinity of Montreal and upriver, joining the established communities (now reserves) at Kahnawake , Kanesatake , and Akwesasne . On November 11, 1794, representatives of the Mohawk (along with the other Iroquois nations) signed the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States, which allowed them to own land there. The Mohawks fought as allies of the British against the United States in

8463-462: The virtually impassable Lachine Rapids , the St. Lawrence was once continuously navigable only as far as Montreal. Opened in 1825, the Lachine Canal was the first to allow ships to pass the rapids. An extensive system of canals and locks, known as the St. Lawrence Seaway , was officially opened on 26 June 1959 by Elizabeth II (representing Canada) and President Dwight D. Eisenhower (representing

8556-415: Was Jacques Cartier . At that time, the land along the river described as "about two leagues, a mountain as tall as a heap of wheat" was inhabited by the St. Lawrence Iroquoians . During Cartier's second voyage in 1535, because Cartier arrived in the estuary on Saint Lawrence 's feast day 10 August, he named it the Gulf of Saint Lawrence . The St. Lawrence River is today partly within the U.S. and as such

8649-769: Was most active from the 1920s to the 1960s. The families accompanied the men, who were mostly from Kahnawake ; together they would return to Kahnawake during the summers. Tarbell is from Kahnawake and was working as a film curator at the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian , located in the former Custom House in Lower Manhattan . Since the mid-20th century, Mohawks have also formed their own construction companies. Others returned to New York projects. Mohawk skywalkers had built

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