The Northeast encompasses a vast culture area that approximately stretches from the Great Lakes region and south along the northern stretch of the Atlantic coast as far as the Virginia-North Carolina coastal plain. Though characterised by a predominantly woodlands environment, the region contains much cultural diversity. Three major language families are represented there: the Algonquian-speaking nations such as the Delaware, Chippewa (or Ojibwa), Menominee, Shawnee and Illinois; Iroquoian-speaking tribes such as the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Huron; and the Siouan-speaking peoples such as the Winnebago.
Because of such diversity within this so-called culture area, some scholars prefer to classify Indian nations here according to the following scheme:
| Linguistic Group | Major Tribes | Cultural Patterns |
| EASTERN ALGONQUIAN | Micmac Eastern Abenaki Delaware | Concentrated along the coast - the Atlantic provinces of Canada and the United States seaboard to North Carolina. The population dependence on agriculture increased southwards. Political variation varied from northern fishing and hunting groups to rudimentary states in the south. These nations were the first to come into close contact with Europeans and thus experienced the most decimation and dispersal of all the Northeastern tribes. |
| NORTHERN IROQUOIAN | Mohawk Onondaga Oneida Huron Seneca | These groups were concentrated in Southern Ontario, upper New York State and the Saint Lawrence and Susquehanna Valleys. Their livelihoods focussed on intensive horticulture and fishing and they lived in fortified villages. Their kinship systems tended to be matrilineal. Though the Iroquois, for example, managed to maintain their autonomy after the fall of New France, as the centuries have passed, the tribes in this region have also seen their homelands increasingly depleted by non-Indian settlement. |
| CENTRAL ALGONQUIAN | Chippewa (Ojibwa) Menominee Shawnee Illinois | These Great Lakes tribes depended, to varying degrees, on horticulture. Their kinship systems were patrilineal. Through intertribal cooperation, this region became central to efforts to oppose European domination, with the leadership of such men as Pontiac in 1763 and Tecumseh in 1811. |
In the Coastal Zone, the eastern Algonquian-language group, the Micmac probably reached some 20,000 inhabitants, though by 1620, European epidemics had reduced their numbers to around 4000. Calculations of Micmac numbers are difficult because of dispersal across Canada and the United States and because of extensive inter-marriage with the French, however, currently, Canada lists more than 16,000 self-declared Micmac. They live Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
The Micmac were proficient hunters of both land and sea mammals. They also relied on fishing, honing their skills from humped-back, birch bark canoes to which sails were later added in the 1600s. Birch bark was also used to cover their wigwam dwellings. There were two types of wigwams: the smaller, conical shaped variety that housed around 10 people during winter, and the larger, oblong-shaped variety which housed up to 25 people during the warmer season. The semi-nomadic Micmac moved between coastal fishing villages in the summer to inland hunting locations in the winter. During the winter inland hunting seasons, families scattered and only came together into larger communities as the weather warmed and there was maple sap to be gathered in the spring and seafood and fish such as salmon and sturgeon to be persued. Inland hunting began in the autumn and focussed on deer, moose, bear, beaver, caribou and otter hunting. Hunters trudged through the deep snow wearing snowshoes and using sleds and toboggans.
Politically, the Micmac were a loose confederacy made up of patrilineally-descended clans. Each clan had its own symbol and ceremonies and councils. Occasionally the clan councils would gather together, most commonly to assign specific hunting and fishing territories and to wage war.
Their artistic traditions are best exemplified by their elaborate porcupine quillwork, such as quilled boxes and baskets. Birch bark was also used for making tools and clothing. The Micmac are believed to have carried on an elaborate ceremonial and religious life, but unfortunately, little is known of this.
Another eastern Algonquian-speaking group is the Delaware, or Lenni-Lenape. They also dwelled in bark wigwam constructions, which they arranged along the Delaware - the river after which they were named by the Europeans. At their peak, they probably numbered 20,000, but by 1910, their numbers had dwindled to a mere 2000. Today there are almost 16,000 Delaware, most of whom live in Oklahoma and, until 1996, had been considered to be part of the Cherokee nation by the US government. Until European colonisation, the Delaware largely concentrated in the Delaware River Valley and Hudson Valley regions, but subsequent to European arrival on the northeastern shore, they slowly migrated as far south as Oklahoma.
The Delaware seem to have been loosely divided into three groups based largely on geography and dialect. Three matrilineal clans cut across such differences, however: the Turtle, Wolf and Turkey clans. Communal villages were occupied for the summer season, but families split off and inhabited individual family hunting territories during the winter. Dugout rather than birch bark canoes were used, and though hunting and fishing was carried out, farmed produce such as corn, squash, beans, sweet potatoes and tobacco made up the bulk of the Delaware diet. Farmed fields frequently spanned more than 200 acres.
Ceremonial life centred on a dedicated Big House. Priests were divided into two classes: those who interpreted dreams and could divine the future, and those who were healers. The deceased were buried in shallow graves.
The central Algonquian-speaking nations were concentrated in the Great Lakes region of the northeast. This culture area extended west almost to the Mississippi River. The Chippewa, Ojibwa or Anishinabe occupied much of the present-day states of Wisconsin, northeastern Minnesota, parts of North Dakota and Michigan plus the southwestern area of Ontario in Canada. By 1800, there were five divisions of the Ojibwa and they were the largest and possibly most powerful Great Lakes nation.
Ojibwa subsistence is distinguished by the cultivation of wild 'rice'. The rice was not rice, of course, but an aquatic grass that grew in abundance in the countless lakes and streams of the Mississippi headwaters region. The rice was collected in the late summer or early autumn. People worked in groups and certain areas of it were recognised to be the property of certain families. Maple tapping in spring was another communal and tribal activity and was accompanied by social and ceremonial gatherings. In fact, maple sugar was an important feature of numerous Ojibwa ceremonies. Fishing and hunting was also carried out. The poor quality of the soil over much of the region and the short growing season meant that agriculture or crop cultivation was not widespread, especially in the northern woodlands.
The Ojibwa also made maximum use of the abundance of such wild foods as cranberries, gooseberries, blueberries, black and red raspberries, cherries and grapes, hickory, hazel, beech and butternuts, and also wild onions and potatoes that the vast woodland areas seemed to throw their way. In the summer, herbs and medicines were collected and tobacco offered to the spiritual realm and smoked in special pipes. Herbs were also used to lure animals their way: a certain herb would be smoked to attract the deer, for example.
Birch bark dominates Ojibwa material culture. The bark was used to make the canoes that enabled people to gather the rice, to cover their dwellings (generally wigwams) and to make the leak-proof containers needed to collect the maple syrup and water.
Monogamy was also the norm. Social organisation was based on around 20 patrilineal clans, which extended across band lines. Especially pre-European contact, there was little centralised political organisation. Each band had its own hereditary chief or leader. Tribal councils did occur during times of war, however, and after European contact, councils began to unify.
The ceremonies of the Grand Medicine Society have been particularly well documented for the Ojibwa, though they are shared, to a greater or lesser extent, by some other woodlands tribes in the western Great Lakes region. Much attention was poured into correct ethical conduct, the attainment of a long life, the interpretation of dreams and the phenomena of the natural world. As far as ethics were concerned, male members of the Medicine Society were taught to be moderate in speech, quiet in manner and cautious in action. Stealing, lying and alcohol were all banned for members. During the initiation ceremony, members received spiritual powers.
The Iroquois is a major tribe of the northern Iroquoian-speaking nations in the northeast woodland area. They had matrilineal social structures: the women owned all the property as well as determined the kinship lines. The various bands or groups of the Iroquois were composed of three clans: the Turtle, Bear and Wolf. A clan mother headed each clan and all children became members of their mother's clan group.
Iroquois villages tended to be permanent and elaborately fortified, frequently with stockades and moats. A distinctive feature of their culture was the presence of often large and communal longhouses. Depending on their size, longhouses could accommodate between 5 and 20 families and each was divided into family apartments. Towards the end of the 18th century, there was a gradual abandonment of communal longhouses in favour of single family dwellings. The longhouse became the community's council chamber. Today, reservation longhouses tend to be ritual centres for the increasing numbers of Iroquois peoples who seek to follow the traditional ways, as exemplified by Seneca prophet Handsome Lake. Between 1799 and 1815, Handsome Lake urged a return to the ancient annual Iroquoian ceremonies and beliefs, during a time of much social disorganisation.
Meat played a minor role in the Iroquois diet. Agriculture provided the bulk of the diet. Squash, corn and beans were known as deohako or life-sustainers. They were also known as the Three Sisters. Six agricultural festivals were held each year as people gave thanks for their harvests. Women owned and tended the fields, under the supervision of the clan mother. Men left the village in the autumn to hunt and the spring was their fishing season. Otherwise, the men cleared the fields, built the villages and engaged in warfare.
Probably the most distinctive feature of Iroquoian-speaking nations was the political system, which was dominated by the Iroquois League - a political confederacy made up of male leaders of the Seneca, Onondaga, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, and later the Tuscarora Iroquoian nations. The League was founded around the mid- to late 1500s, as a response to intertribal war in the region. It operated under a carefully worked out constitution and all the laws and regulations were transmitted orally from one generation of selected leaders to the next. Leaders or chiefs were males, chosen by the clan mothers, and there was no overall leader - decisions were usually made by unanimous vote of the entire council. One of the nations that made up the League - generally the Onondaga - was the firekeeper and wampum keeper. Wampum belts were belts of polished shell beads that were arranged in motifs symbolic of agreements and treaties made between tribes and with Europeans. Wampum shells were also used as a medium of exchange. The Iroquois League heavily influenced the American Articles of Confederation and Constitution.
© 2002 by Bornali HalderSite, Page and Article © Copyright 2002 by Bornali Halder