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Onondaga people

For other uses, see Onondaga (disambiguation).

The Onondaga (Onöñdaʼgagaʼ or "Hill Place") people are one of the original five
constituent nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy in northeast North
America. Their traditional homeland is in and around present-day Onondaga County, New
York, south of Lake Ontario. They are known as Ganaʼdagwëni:ioʼgeh to the other Iroquois
tribes. Being centrally located, they are considered the "Keepers of the Fire"
(Kayečisnakweʼnì·yuʼ[1] in Tuscarora) in the figurative longhouse that shelters the Five
Nations. The Cayuga and Seneca have territory to their west and the Oneida and Mohawk
to their east. For this reason, the League of the Iroquois historically met at the Iroquois
government's capital at Onondaga, as the traditional chiefs do today.

Contents Onondaga

Regions with significant populations

History Languages

English, Onondaga, Other Iroquoian

According to oral tradition, The Great languages.
Peacemaker approached the Onondaga
Religion
and other tribes to found the
Haudenosaunee.[2] The tradition tells that Longhouse, Handsome Lake, Gai'hwi:io,
at the time the Seneca nation debated Kanoh'hon'io, Kahni'kwi'io, Other
joining the Haudenosaunee based on the Indigenous Religion

Great Peacemaker's teachings, a solar Related ethnic groups

eclipse took place. The most likely eclipse
to be recounted was in 1142AD, which Seneca Nation, Oneida Nation, Tuscarora
Nation, Mohawk Nation, Cayuga Nation,
was visible to the people in the land of
other Iroquoian peoples
the Seneca.[3][4]

This oral tradition is supported by archeological studies. Carbon dating of particular sites
of Onondaga habitation shows dates starting close to 1200AD ± 60 years with growth for
hundreds of years.[5]

In the American Revolutionary War, the Onondaga

were at first officially neutral, although individual
Onondaga warriors were involved in at least one raid
on American settlements. After Americans attacked
on their main village on April 20, 1779, the Onondaga
later sided with the majority of the League and
fought against the American colonists in alliance with
the British. After the United States was accorded
independence, many Onondaga followed Joseph
Brant to Upper Canada, where they were given land
Sketch by Samuel de Champlain of his
by the Crown at Six Nations. attack on an Onondaga village.

On November 11, 1794, the Onondaga Nation, along with the other Haudenosaunee
nations, signed the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States, in which their right to
their homeland was acknowledged by the United States in article II of the treaty.[6]

In 1816, 450 Onondaga were living in New York, 210 of whom lived on Buffalo Creek
Reservation.[7]

Government

The Onondaga in New York have a traditional form of government, with chiefs nominated
by clan mothers, rather than elected.

On March 11, 2005, the Onondaga Nation in the town of Onondaga, New York, filed a land
rights action in federal court, seeking acknowledgment of title to over 3,000 square miles
(7,800 km2) of ancestral lands centering in Syracuse, New York. They hoped to obtain
increased influence over environmental restoration efforts at Onondaga Lake and other
EPA Superfund sites in the claimed area. [8] The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
rejected the Onondagas' claim in 2012, and the Supreme Court in 2013 declined to hear an
appeal.[9]

Notable people

Leon Shenandoah (1915–1996), Tadodaho

Oren Lyons [Lives at Onondaga and holds a Faithkeeper title,

but is Seneca]

Tom Longboat [Six Nations]

Canassatego, Hiawatha, Tadadaho of the Iroquois

Confederacy

Tadodaho Sidney Hill

Samuel George, ("Hononwirehdonh", or "Great Wolf"), (1795–

1873; chief from 1850–1873) Rose Doctor, Onondaga
people Wolf Clan,
Lyle Thompson (professional lacrosse player), (1992-) Clanmother

Gail Tremblay (poet)

Eric Gansworth (poet, novelist and visual artist)

Erik J. Sorensen (chemist)

[10]

Today

Onondaga Nation south of Nedrow, New York outside Syracuse

Onondaga of Ohswegen and Bearfoot Onondaga, both at Six Nations of the Grand River,
Ontario, Canada

Other spellings encountered

Onöñda'gega' Onondaga language

Onontakeka Oneida language

Onondagaono Seneca language

See also

Hiawatha

Onondaga language

HMCS Onondaga (S73) Oberon Class submarine

Sainte-Marie among the Hurons

John Arthur Gibson

Notes

h. ^ Rudes, B. Tuscarora English Dictionary Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999

j. ^ Bruce E. Johansen (2006). The Native Peoples of North America: a History .

Rutgers University Press. pp. 136–138. ISBN 978-0-8135-3899-0.

k. ^ Johansen, Bruce E. (Fall 1995). "Dating the Iroquois Confederacy" (PDF).

Akwesasne Notes New Series. 01 (3/04): 62–3. Retrieved
2010-05-23.[permanent dead link]

m. ^ Johansen, Bruce Elliott; Mann, Barbara Alice (2000). "Ganondagan" . Encyclopedia

of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy). Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 105.
ISBN 978-0-313-30880-2. Retrieved 2010-05-23.

n. ^ Tuck, James A. (1990). Onondaga Iroquois Prehistory: A Study in Settlement

Archaeology (reprint ed.). Syracuse University Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-8156-
2511-7.

o. ^ "1794 Pickering Treaty With the Six Nations" . 1794 Canandaigua Treaty
Commemoration Committee, Inc. Archived from the original on 2006-04-26.
Retrieved 6 September 2016.

p. ^ Hauptman, Laurence (2008). Seven Generations of Iroquois Leadership: The Six

Nations Since 1800. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-3165-1.

q. ^ [1] Archived 2010-12-06 at the Wayback Machine, Syracuse Post Standard, n.d.,
accessed 11 Nov 2015

r. ^ "Supreme Court rejects Onondaga Indian Nation's land claim against New York" .
CNYCentral.com. Retrieved 29 June 2017.

hs. ^ "Current Clan Mothers." Haundenosaunee Confederacy. Retrieved 11 Sept 2012.

Onondaga Reservation, New York United States Census Bureau

External links

Onondaga Nation web page

Last edited 6 months ago by KH-1

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