The Iroquois are a historically powerful northeast Native American confederacy made up of several tribes including Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and later Tuscarora.
Think of the Iroquois as a group project team where each member brings unique skills and resources to achieve common goals. Each tribe had its own leadership but worked together for mutual defense and diplomacy.
Iroquois Confederacy (or League): This was a union formed by the five (later six) tribes for mutual benefit and protection. It's one of the oldest political institutions in North America.
Great Law of Peace: The constitution that governed the Iroquois Confederacy. It established democratic principles among these tribes long before such ideas were common in Europe.
Hiawatha: A precolonial Native American leader associated with bringing together the original five nations under the Great Law of Peace into what became known as Iroquois Confederacy or League.
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