Eriez
From Freepedia
The Eriez Indians were a group of Native Americans, related to the Iroquois, who lived pre-historically from western New York to northern Ohio on the south shore of Lake Erie. They were ultimately destroyed by the Iroquois, who adopted some of the survivors into their own group, these being primarily absorbed into the Senecas.
The name is a shortening of "Erielhonan," meaning "long tail." The Eriez were also called the "Cat" or the "Racoon" people. They lived in multi-family long houses in villages enclosed in palisades and grew the Three Sisters - corn, beans, and squash during the warm season. In the winter tribal members lived off the stored crops and animals slaughtered in the hunt.
Contents |
Fur trade and Beaver Wars
In the competition in the fur trade, the Eriez alienated the surrounding tribes by encroaching on their territories. They also angered their eastern neighbors, the League of the Iroquois, by accepting refugees from Huron villages that had been destroyed by the Iroquois. Though rumored to use poison tipped arrows, the Eriez were disadvantaged in armed conflict by having few firearms (If the Eriez used poison on their arrows, it would make them they only tribe in North America to do so). Commencing during the mid-1650s, the Eriez were in battle with their enemies, the Iroquois. As a result of this war, known as the Beaver Wars, the tribe no longer existed as a unit, but dispersed groups survived a few more decades before being absorbed into the Iroquois. It is said that some Eriez fled to the Carolinas. Members of other tribes also claimed later to be descended from refugees of this defunct culture. There are also members of the Seneca people in Oklahoma who still claim to be descended from the Eriez nation.
European contact
The Eriez had little contact with Europeans. Only the Dutch fur traders from Fort Orange, now Albany, New York and during the Beaver Wars, Jesuit Missionaries in Canada, made contact. What little we know about them historically is derived from legends, archaeology, and comparisons with other Iroquoian people.
See also
External links
- Eriez indians
- Quebec History source
- Geneaology source and history
- Encylopedia of North American Indians
