Onondaga (tribe)
| Onondaga | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total population | ||||||
| unknown | ||||||
| Regions with significant populations | ||||||
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| Languages | ||||||
| English, Onondaga | ||||||
| Religions | ||||||
| Indigenous | ||||||
| Related ethnic groups | ||||||
| other Iroquoian peoples |
The Onondaga (Onundagaono or the People of the Hills) are one of the original five constituent tribes of the Iroquois (Hodenosaunee) Confederacy. Their traditional homeland is in and around Onondaga County, New York. Being centrally located, they were the keepers of the fire in the figurative longhouse, with the Cayuga and Seneca to their west and the Oneida and Mohawk to their east. For this reason, the League of the Iroquois historically met at Onondaga, as indeed the traditional chiefs do today.
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. The Onondaga later sided with the majority of the League and fought against the United States in alliance with the British Crown, after an American attack on their main village on April 20, 1779. Many Onondaga therefore followed Joseph Brant to Six Nations, Ontario after the United States was accorded independence. Those remaining in New York are under the government of traditional chiefs nominated by clan mothers, rather than elected.
On November 11, 1794, the Onondaga Nation, along with the other Haudenosaunee nations, signed the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States.
On March 11, 2005, the Onondaga Nation of Nedrow, New York, filed a land rights action in federal court, seeking acknowledgement of title to over 3,000 square miles of ancestral lands centering in Syracuse, New York. In doing so they hope to obtain increased influence over environmental restoration efforts at Onondaga Lake and other EPA Superfund sites in the claimed area. This lawsuit is facing a motion to dismiss based on the precedent established in the Cayuga nation's land claim and other defenses.
Onondaga Lake
thumb|250 px|Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake is northwest of the city of Syracuse, New York and south of Lake Ontario. Water outflows from the lake to Lake Ontario through the Oswego River. Around 1450 or possibly earlier, Onondaga Lake was the site of the founding of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. According to legend, at this spot the warlike Onondaga chief Tadodaho was persuaded by Hiawatha and Deganawidah (the Peacemaker) to accept the Great Law of Peace. Historically, the lake and the surrounding area was a site of salt springs and later salt mining.
Notable Onondaga
Modern-day
- Oren Lyons
Onondaga bands today
- Onondaga Nation in Nedrow, New York outside Syracuse
- Onondaga Clear Sky and Bearfoot Onondaga, both at Six Nations of the Grand River
Other spellings encountered
- Onoda'gega
- Onontakeka
- Onondagaono
See also
- Onondaga language
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Calloway, Colin G. 2004. First Peoples. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-39889-1.
- Onondaga Reservation, New York United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 11, 2007.
External links
- Onondaga Nation web page. Retrieved November 11, 2007.
| Iroquois Confederacy | |
|---|---|
| Nations | Cayuga · Mohawk · Oneida · Onondaga · Seneca · Tuscarora |
| Topics | Economy · Languages · Mythology · Great Law of Peace · The Great Peacemaker |
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