Onondaga (tribe)
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- For other uses, see Onondaga.
| Onondaga |
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| Total population |
| Regions with significant populations |
| United States (New York) Canada (Ontario) |
| Languages |
| English, Onondaga |
| Religions |
| Indigenous |
| Related ethnic groups |
| other Iroquoians |
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[1] and other defenses.
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[edit] Onondaga Indian Reservation
The current Onondaga Indian Reservation lies in south-central Onondaga County, just south of the community of Nedrow in the southern part of the Syracuse metropolitan area. It has a land area of 23.965 km² (9.253 sq mi) and a resident population of 1,473 persons as of the 2000 census. About 51.8 percent of these residents were of solely Native American heritage. . .
[edit] Notable Onondaga
[edit] Historic
- Garakontie
- Chief Canasatego delivered an address in 1774 embodying the Native opinion of colonial education in response to an offer from the College of William and Mary to accept Onondaga students.[2]
- Leon Shenandoah
[edit] Modern-day
[edit] 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
[edit] Other spellings encountered
- Onoda'gega
- Onontakeka
- Onondagaono
[edit] See also
[edit] External Links
[edit] References
- Calloway, Colin G. (2004). First Peoples (2nd Ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-39889-1.
- Onondaga Reservation, New York United States Census Bureau
Nations
Seneca · Cayuga · Onondaga · Oneida · Mohawk · Tuscarora
Topics
Economy of the Iroquois · Iroquoian languages · Iroquois mythology · Great Law of Peace · The Great Peacemaker
