Native American culture of the Northeast

Geographic and temporal setting: the Hopewellian period

The geographic area of the Native American Northeast extended from the province of Quebec, through the Ohio River Valley, and down to the North Carolina coast. The landscape is dominated by the Appalachian Mountains, which include rolling hills and prominent peaks

They mostly started settling here during the Hopewellian period from 200 BCE to 500 CE, due to the temperate climate, accessible waterways, and good farming conditions. Most notable groups were the Algonquians, Iroquois, Susquehannocks, Mohicans, and Hurons

Common food practices: shift towards three-sister farming

This period included the cultural shift from hunting and gathering to budding agricultural systems. Native Americans are estimated to have started farming squash in Illinois as early as 5000 BCE. Corn farming spread through trading networks to the Ohio River Valley from the Southwest by 350 BCE. They soon began to plant and grow beans

The corn, squash, and beans became known as the sacred “three sisters,” a term coined by the Iroquois. These three crops would only thrive if planted close together, and would fail if seperated

Algonquians retained hunting and gathering as a source of food while beginning to farm. Women gathered berries and cultivated the corn, while men would hunt and sometimes aid in farming. The tribes living near rivers would fish salmon and collect shellfish. Iroquois and Hurons made intricate pottery to store the surplus. They also wove baskets to aid in the farming process

Societal structure: villages and communities

The “three sisters” quickly became cash crops, a crop that was high in demand by Native Americans on the Plains and West Coasts who were eager to trade. When they gave the food, they would receive large shells, pearls, copper, and silver. Depending on their area’s niche good, they would trade food and commodities with other Northeastern people. Susquehannocks traded wampum beads for nets and furs from the Hurons

Native Americans in the Northeast generally lived in villages with a few hundred residents. Hochelaga, modern-day Montreal, was inhabited by several thousand people and surrounded by extensive cornfields. Men planted and harvested, while women worked in the home, took care of the children, and process the crops

Hopewellian began the tradition of mound-building. Native Americans along the Ohio River Valley, built mounds in the earth, which served as burial and ceremonial purposes. Large mounds and animal-shaped earthworks still existed throughout this area today

Social and religious norms: establishing alliances and democratic principles

As this region became more agricultural, the region became more urbanized. In today’s society, we view agricultural areas as less densely-populated, but farming for them required people to live together in fortified villages to protect their harvests. Many people lived in longhouses, dwellings up to 100 feet in length. ALgonquians, who farmed yet also hunted and fished, “commuted” from less permanent villages of wigwams. Groups with farming and thereby trading success, intertribal violence intensified

Trade competition led to ongoing conflict between the Iroquois and Algonquians. Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas established the Iroquois League, or the Great League of Peace between 1100 and 1400 CE. Iroquoians met for about a year to devise a solution to this cyclic pattern of violence and retribution between tribes

The Iroquois League devised a system in which each member group could maintain a level of autonomy over local affairs, but the League would unite over trade policies and diplomacy issues. They put forth republican principles, and a dual system of federalism, or balancing local and national powers, for the first time in North America. People now argue that the Iroquois League was the first American democracy established at least four hundred years earlier than the US Constitution of 1787