Iroquois Confederacy: Relationship with the French and the British

Relationship with the French and the British

Many historians argue that the hostility of the Iroquois toward the French was caused by Samuel Champlain when in 1609 he accompanied a Huron war party armed with French guns into Iroquois territory. In any case, the Iroquois, firm allies of the British, opposed the French at every step until the French lost control of Canada in 1763. The French, partly in the hope of winning over the Iroquois, sent missionaries to them. Isaac Jogues, a notable Jesuit missionary, was killed by the Iroquois as a sorcerer in 1646, but the missionaries were somewhat successful, and a considerable number of the Mohawk withdrew from the confederacy and founded (c.1670) a Catholic settlement. These Catholic Iroquois, called French Mohawks, took the part of the French against their former brethren.

In the early 18th cent. the Five Nations became the Six Nations when the Oneida adopted (c.1722) the remnants of the Tuscarora Confederacy. British settlers had expelled (1711) the Tuscarora from North Carolina, and by 1712 they had moved north. The British, who had used the Six Nations as a buffer against the advance of the French from Canada in the French and Indian Wars, attempted to retain their favor by accrediting various agents, notably Sir William Johnson (Johnson of the Mohawks).

Sections in this article:

Introduction
The Iroquois Today
In the American Revolution
Relationship with the French and the British
Rise to Power
Traditional Culture and Political Organization
Bibliography

See more Encyclopedia articles on: North American indigenous peoples