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The Seven Nations of The Iroquois Confederacy were a historic confederation of First Nations living in and around the Saint Lawrence River valley beginning in the eighteenth century. They were allied to New France and often included substantial numbers of Roman Catholic converts. During the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), they supported the French against the English. Later, they formed the northern nucleus of the British-led Aboriginal alliance that fought the United States in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. * Mohawk of Akwesasne * Mohawk of Kahnawake * Mohawk and Anishinaabeg (Algonquin and Nipissing) of Kanesetake * Abenaki of Odanak * Abenaki of Becancour (now Wôlinak) * Huron of Jeune-Lorette (now Wendake) * Onondaga of Oswegatchie ==Origins== The Canadian historian Jean-Pierre Sawaya has argued that the federation has existed since the seventeenth century. He does specialized research in the history of Canada's First Nations and the background to their land claims. The Canadian historian John Alexander Dickinson argues that the federation was created during the Seven Years' War, as the British closed in on the territories along the St Lawrence River. Dickinson is a specialist in the history of New France and its relations with the First Nations of the Northeast. There is little first hand evidence to support either view. Dickinson argues that the lack of evidence supports the case for a later date.〔Dickinson (2000), p. 202〕 The Mohawk historian Darren Bonaparte has summarized what is known. After a disastrous war in 1667 when the French attacked Mohawk villages in present-day New York, some Mohawk converted to Christianity and began to relocate to Kahnawake ("near the rapids") on the Saint Lawrence River opposite the small village of Montreal. By its name and location by a rapids, Kahnawake recalled the village ''Caughnawaga'' (in a variant spelling) in the Mohawk homeland. The first village faded as most of its people moved north. The relation between the Mohawk who stayed in New York and those who migrated was, in Bonaparte's words, "as ambiguous as when they were together", in part because they became differentiated by religious practices.〔Bonaparte, "Seven Nations of Canada"〕 A federation of First Nations bands formed in settlements in the St. Lawrence River valley. It included those Abenaki, Algonquin, and Huron who were more accepting of Catholicism. The Abenaki and Algonquin spoke in languages of the major families of Algonquian. The Mohawk and Onondaga were Iroquois, and the Huron spoke another Iroquoian language. The Mohawk of the federation continued to identify as Mohawk, and as relatives of the Mohawk in traditional Iroquois territory.〔 One of the earliest written references to the Seven Nations was made in the mid-18th century. In 1755, Seven Nations fighters and their French allies had prepared an ambush for the British army on the portage between Lake George and the Hudson River. One of the Mohawk from Kahnawake saw that Mohawk were marching with the British. He told them to identify themselves; they replied, they were "Mohawks and Five Nations" (the traditional name for the Iroquois Confederacy). Questioned in turn, the Mohawk with the French said, "()e are the 7 confederate Indian Nations of Canada." This exchange was recorded in a memoranda book by Daniel Claus, who was working as an Indian Agent for William Johnson.〔''Memoranda Book, Claus Family Papers'', National Archives of Canada, cited in MacLeod (1999) p. xi & 71-72. A Mohawk oral tradition about this event was recorded in the ''Journal of Major John Norton''. Norton spoke Mohawk and fought with them in the War of 1812 against the United States. In Norton's version, the reply was, "We are Caghnawagues & other Tribes." Norton, John. ''The Journal of Major John Norton, 1816.'' Carl F. Klinck and JHames Talamn, eds., Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1970. p. 266.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Seven Nations of Canada」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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