Published in the Peterborough Examiner 07/18/2015
About five years ago, Jon Parmenter’s book Edge of the Woods brought greater clarity to Iroquoia, an area of shifting boundaries defined primarily by the Confederacy of the Five Nations. The central metaphor, Edge of the Woods, refers to the Five Nations greeting ceremony in which people were greeted at the edge of their lands, and escorted to the meeting place. Across the period from 1534 to 1701, the area inhabited by the Five Nations shifted considerably. One of the main characteristics of Iroquoia was geographic mobility and migration. Parmenter argues that the Iroquois had covered long distances even before the arrival of Europeans. Parmenter also argues that they controlled the movements of others, those not partnered in the confederacy, through their territories. This allowed them to keep secrets, and also to have access to a wider range of trading opportunities.
By 1600, after various movements through the 16th century, the Iroquois occupied lands that had direct access to the headwaters of five major trading rivers: the St. Lawrence, Delaware, Allegheny, Susquehanna, and the junction of the Mohawk and Hudson. This allowed them to range widely and to have several points for widening trade contacts. There was peaceful movement between the Five Nations, that became most evident in the years before 1600 when the Seneca joined their eastern neighbours to complete the Five Nations. When the direct contact with Europeans began after 1700 the Iroquois had a well-established three-decade rivalry with Wendat and Algonquian nations primarily over trade routes and competing for adoptees to replace those who had died by epidemics or military battles. (17)
With the arrival of Europeans, the Five Nations changed their spatial relationships to include Europeans. With the Dutch on the Hudson in 1613, the Iroquois changed their patterns of mobility and engagement.
In 1602, two Montagnais had accompanied French traders from Tadoussac to France hoping to make an alliance so that French and Algonquins could control the St. Lawrence axis. In 1603, they returned with Champlain and with the French king’s commitment to broker peace between the Algonquians and the Iroquois. This failed but the French were prepared to aid the Algonquians later in driving out the Iroquois enemies. (19)
Champlain returned to the St. Lawrence in 1608, and Québec was founded near where the former Stadacona village had stood. This was a defensive position which Champlain thought would protect a French trade monopoly against Basque, Dutch and French traders not in the monopoly. Champlain agreed to help the Iroquet Algonquins against their Iroquois enemies, apparently at war for a long time because of cruel acts by the Iroquois. The expedition went from Quebec to Lake Champlain via the Richelieu River, and the force included several Montagnais warriors, Ahrendahronons (new members of the Wendat Confederacy), and Iroquoit Algonguins. After the victory over the Mohawks, Champlain hoped to get Native assistance and escorts for exploring the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes, but not before another encounter with Mohawks a year later, in June 1610. After this second victory, Champlain received some assistance from the Alqonquian allies to survey the Ottawa River.
In these same years, the Iroquois world was complicated by the arrival of Dutch in New York, and English in Massachusetts and Virginia. As well, Iroquois groups appearing in the vicinity of the Lachine rapids interfered with French trade with their allies. At the same time, the Dutch were active on the Hudson River, supporting the Mohawks in a foray against the Susquehannocks. Champlain felt obliged to honour his earlier pledge and give military assistance to a third anti-Iroquois expedition in 1615.
Having travelled to Huronia via the Ottawa River, the French River and Lake Huron, Champlain left Cahiagué on September 1. His allies included Ahrendahronon Wendats, Iroquet Algonquins, and several Montagnais warriors. They sent advance reconnaissance canoes; Étienne Brulé accompanied them. The target of this expedition was at the head of Onondaga Lake; Kaneenda, an Onondaga village that Parmenter thinks was either a fishing station or a village of adoptees. The Wendat scouts captured 11 Onondagas on the Oswego River on October 9, and the following day a skirmish with some Onondagas ended the possibility of Champlain’s planned surprise attack.
The Onondagas had erected a 30 foot palisade around the village and were prepared with arrows, stones and water. The three hour battle ended with several wounded Wendats, and a wounded Champlain; the attackers withdrew much against Champlain’s wishes. They left before the Susquehannocks were able to come from the south and flush out the Onondagas. Champlain stayed in the vicinity for nearly a week and heard the Onondaga berate him and his allies. (26-27) During the battle, Champlain had killed a Neutral man who was visiting Kaneenda; this affected French-Neutral relations for 25 years.
Étienne Brûlé claimed to have arrived with Susquehannocks two days after Champlain left. On his return to Huronia he got lost and was captured and tortured by Seneca before being released and led for four days to Lake Ontario. Brûlé promised to work for a treaty between the Iroquois and the French. The Iroquois were annoyed with the French interference in their affairs.
Champlain and his allies returned to Huronia, once again passing through Peterborough county. It seems likely that Champlain rested either near Bridgenorth, where there is a plaque to this effect or near Eel’s Creek.
There are several impressive elements to Parmenter’s discussion of Iroquoia. Over the years from 1534 to 1701, he shows the expansion and contraction of the lands of the Five Nations. This is a particularly important story as the Iroquois occupied at one time or another lands that later defined the American north-east.
His work also suggests that there were several shifting motives behind the Iroquois strategy. Earlier historians and anthropologists looked in terms of economic and political issues related chiefly to the viewpoints of leaders in Europe and in the American colonies. Since the 1960s, historians have looked more widely. Parmenter particularly wanted to identify the Iroquoian perspectives at any given moment. This entailed looking at all possible sources – written, archaeological and oral – as well as the wide range of writings from different areas, and from different disciplines.
The perspectives of Iroquoian men and women, not just at the leadership role, proved very diverse. Clearly, First Nations had their own agendas. Because so much of the documentation includes Europeans and colonists, the agenda had to be weighed against Iroquoian (sometimes just the Mohawk or Seneca) responses. But throughout these years they never doubted that they could maintain their control over their areas; that they could trade without fear in the large part of their trading territory that was controlled by one of the Five Nations.
At the edges of their territories, Parmenter notes that they used considerable formality to escort outsiders from the “edge of the woods” (the source for his book’s title) to the council site. They also led people out of their territory, as noted with Étienne Brûlé. The effect of this formality was that outsiders only knew what their hosts wished for them to know. They valued controlling information.
At the same time, they had interesting methods for gaining information about others. Parmenter claims that the Iroquois mourning wars often yielded prisoners who were adopted by someone within the tribes. This would replenish lost soldiers, and would help to counter the effects of military losses and deaths from epidemics, a few of which are mentioned by Parmenter. As well, having adoptees who had grown up with different language and culture provided an additional source of information, and also possible sources for translating what is said by those negotiating commercial or political arrangements.
The Iroquois League also changed considerably over the nearly two centuries under view. Each nation had specific responsibilities within the Confederacy. For example, the Mohawks were the gateway from the East and the Seneca, from the West, and so they had particular responsibilities related to that. The main council was on Onondaga land. The League predated the arrival of the Europeans, but its character was defined by their arrivals, most particularly after 1600. The Iroquois found many tactics and strategies for meeting the Europeans, for controlling the edges of their territory, and for defining mutual interests.