The Kanienkehá:ka or Mohawk people are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy. They call themselves Kahniakenhaka, “People of the Flint Place.” and are an Iroquoian-speaking indigenous people of North America. They were historically based in the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York; their territory ranged to present-day southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. Their traditional homeland stretched southward of the Mohawk River, eastward to the Green Mountains of Vermont, westward to the border with the Oneida Nations traditional homeland territory, and northward to the St Lawrence River. As original members of the Iroquois League, or Haudenosaunee, the Mohawk were known as the Keepers of the Eastern Door. For hundreds of years, they guarded the Iroquois Confederation against invasion from that direction by tribes from the New England and lower New York areas. Mohawk religion is predominantly Animist. Their current settlements include areas around Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River in Canada and New York. The People of Ka Nee-en Ka received their familiar name, Mohawk, from the neighboring (and competing) People of Muh-heck Heek Ing (whom the Dutch called Mohicans or Mahicans). The Mohicans/Mahicans called them Maw Unk Lin or Bear Place People. The Dutch transcribed this as Mohawk.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 04:44:03 +0000