Excerpt From The Article

"While the Iroquois generally fought with their neighbors, the Huron had good relations with many of theirs through a pattern of trade which extended north through the Ottawa and Nipissing to the Ojibwe at Sault Ste. Marie. The rivalry and warfare which existed between the Huron and Iroquois before the arrival of the French was balanced by extensive trade. However, warfare was pervasive enough that it had caused the rival confederations to group their large, fortified villages into compact areas for mutual support. No borders existed in the European sense, with most of the lands in between the relatively compact areas of occupation either being shared or disputed, depending on the circumstances. Lured by the fur trade, the French returned to the St. Lawrence in 1603 and established their first permanent settlement at Tadoussac. The quality of fur obtained from the local Montagnais and the Algonkin through the Ottawa River Valley encouraged the French to push farther west. Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec in 1608 and the following year, through Algonkin traders, he had his first meeting with the Arendaronon of the Huron Confederacy."

By Lee Sultzman
©2000 Jordan S. Dill
Used with permission.

Location

Ouendake or Wendake (called Huronia by the French) was the original homeland of the Huron occupying a fairly compact area of central Ontario between the southern end of Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe. After the dispersal of the Huron by the Iroquois in 1650, one group relocated to Lorette (just north of Quebec) where it has remained ever since. The remaining Huron (merged with Tionontati, and Wenro) spent the next 50 years wandering as refugees through Wisconsin, Minnesota, and upper Michigan. By 1701 they had moved to the Ohio Valley between present-day Detroit and Cleveland where they were known as the Wyandot. They remained there until they were removed to Kansas during the 1840s. Only one group of Wyandot managed to remain in the Great Lakes, when a small band of the Canadian Wyandot in southwest Ontario was given a reserve near Amherstburg. For the Wyandot relocated to Kansas, problems began with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) which opened their lands to white settlement. The majority opted for citizenship and allotment and are currently have state recognition as the Wyandot of Kansas. Most still live in the vicinity of Kansas City, Kansas. The more traditional Wyandot left Kansas for northeast Oklahoma after the Civil War to become the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma.

Population

If combined with populations of the Neutrals, Tionontati, and Wenro, the Huron in 1535 probably numbered somewhere between 30,000 and 45,000. French estimates of the four core tribes of the Huron Confederacy in 1615 varied from 20,000 to 30,000 and 16 to 25 villages. After European contact, the Huron population loss was dramatic. By 1640 epidemic and war had reduced them to less than 10,000. After their dispersal in 1649 by the Iroquois, only 300 Huron were able to relocate safely at Lorette near Quebec. Another 1,000, mixed with Tionontati and Neutrals, escaped to the western Great Lakes to become the Wyandot. The number of Huron adopted into the Iroquois League is uncertain but must have been considerable. In 1736 the population at Lorette had remained near its original 300, while the Wyandot, relocated to the west end of Lake Erie, had increased to near 1,500. By 1908 the Lorette population had risen slowly to 466 but afterwards increased dramatically. In 1994 the Quebec government listed it at 2,650. There were about 100 Wyandot at the Anderdon Reserve (southern Ontario) in 1829, but they have since been absorbed by other native peoples. The United States currently has more than 4,000 Wyandot organized in two main groups: the Wyandot Nation of Kansas; and the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma. Only the Oklahoma Wyandot are federally recognized as a tribe. The Kansas Wyandot, organized in 1959 from the "absentee" or "citizen" Wyandot, are recognized by Kansas and have applied for federal status.

Names

Originally, more than a dozen of the Iroquoian-speaking tribes in southern Ontario referred to themselves collectively as Wendat meaning "villagers." Rendered variously as: Guyandot, Guyandotte, Ouendat, Wyandot, and Wyandotte. The French, however, called the members of a four-tribe confederacy the Huron, a derogatory name derived from their word "hure" meaning rough or ruffian. This has persisted as their usual name in Canada. When they were living in Ohio after 1701, French and Canadians continued to use Huron, but the English and Americans referred to them as Wyandot. Currently, most groups prefer Wyandot rather than Huron. Also called: Aragaritka (Iroquois), Hatindia Sointen (Lorette Huron), Marian (Christian Huron), Oenronroron (Iroquois), Telamatenon (Delaware "coming out of a mountain or cave"), and Thastchetci' (Onondaga).

Language

Iroquoian

Sub-Nations

Arendahronon (rock people); Attignawantan (Attignaouentan, Attignousntan) (bear people); Attigneenongnahac (Attiguenongha) (cord people); and Tahontaenrat (Scanonaerat, Scahentoarrhonon) (deer people). After the inclusion of Wenro (1639) and Algonkin (1644) refugees, the Ataronchronon were considered a fifth member tribe.

Ontario Villages-Missions (before 1649):

Andiata, Angoutenc, Anonatea, Arendaonatia, Arente, Arontaen, Cahiague (St. Jean Baptiste), Carhagouha, Carmaron, Contarea, Ekiodatsaan, Endarahy, Iahenhouton, Ihonatiria (Immaculate Conception 1), Karenhassa, Oeniro, Onentisati, Ossossane (Immaculate Conception 2), Oukhahitoua, Ste. Agnes, Ste. Anne, St. Antoine, Ste. Barbe, Ste. Catherine, Ste. Cecile, St. Charles (2), St. Denys, St. Etienne, St. Francois Xavier, Ste. Genevieve, St. Joachim, St. Louis, St. Martin, Ste. Marie (2), Ste. Terese, Scanonaerat (St. Michel), Teanaustayae (St. Joseph), Teandewiata (Tonache or Teadeouita), Teanhatenaron (St. Ignace), Tondakhra, and Touaguainchain (Ste. Madeleine)

After the dispersal in 1649, the Huron who were not killed or captured divided into two groups. One settled near Quebec. The other moved to the western Great Lakes before settling permanently in Ohio.

Culture

The Huron Confederacy was the first of the great Iroquian confederations in the region, and as such, probably the inspiration for the later formation of the Iroquois League. As early as 1400, the Attignawantan and Attigneenongnahac had entered into an alliance. It is believed that sometime after the formation of the Iroquois League, the Laurentian Iroquois living along the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec, were forced to move west. Two groups of them, the Arendahronon (1560) and the Tahonaenrat (1570) joined the Huron Confederacy. As the most numerous group, the Attignawantan usually dominated the other members. The purpose of the Confederacy was similar to that of the Iroquois League: prevent blood feuds and fighting between its members. With a capital at the village of Ossossane, each tribe sent representatives to a council whose purpose was to resolve internal disputes and decide matters of common concern regarding peace, war, and trade with outsiders. Otherwise each member tribe retained control of its own territory and was free to pursue its separate interests.

In like manner, each of the Huron villages managed its own internal affairs. These villages varied in size, but the larger ones were usually fortified and had populations well over 1,000. Fortification and large size probably resulted from the region's constant warfare, but the densely populated villages and large communal bark-covered longhouses (sometimes 200' long) made the Huron vulnerable to European epidemics. In most ways, the Huron lifestyle closely resembled that of the Iroquois. Beginning around 1100, the Iroquian people in this region began large-scale agriculture. A dramatic increase in population followed which, unfortunately, was accompanied by a similar increase in organized warfare. The Huron diet relied heavily on agriculture (corn at first, with beans, squash, and tobacco added later). It was supplemented by hunting, fishing and gathering. Villages had to be relocated every 20 years or so as the fertility of local soil declined.

Social organization began with extended families and a matrilineal clan system. Rather than the patrilineal descent of Europeans, Huron clan membership was determined by the mother ­ although it was possible to switch clans through adoption. The original Huron clan names have been lost, but they were grouped into three phratries (clan groupings for ceremonial and social purposes) corresponding roughly to names of the member tribes: Bear, Cord, and Rock. After fifty years of wandering to escape the Iroquois, the Tionontati constituted the largest single group of the Wyandot. Two of the three Wyandot phratries (Wolf and Deer) belonged to them. Only the Bear clan of the Turtle phratry was Huron. By 1750 the Wyandot had ten clans in three groups: Turtle (Big Turtle, Hawk, Prairie Turtle, Small Turtle, Prairie Turtle); Deer (Bear, Beaver, Deer, Porcupine, Snake); and Wolf (one clan of the same name). The Wyandot were governed by a council made up of the chiefs of each clan. These were chosen by the clan mothers from the male members of each clan. One member of the council was elected head chief, although by custom, he was usually the chief from either the Bear or Deer clan.

Unlike the Iroquois, the Huron women did not directly own all property. The farmland was owned by the matrilineal clans. Unique to the Huron was the "Feast of the Dead." Held every 10-12 years, the remains of all who had died since the last ceremony were disinterred and re-buried in communal burial pit. Only then were their souls able to go to the "land beyond where the sun sets." Huron justice could be harsh. Convicted murderers were often tied to their victim's corpse and allowed to starve. In later times offenders were shot by firing squad. One critical difference between the Iroquois and Huron was the birchbark canoe. Iroquois constructed their canoes from elm-wood (which made them heavy), and as a result, they usually preferred to travel on foot, but the Huron, surrounded by a network of rivers and lakes, used their canoes to travel great distances and trade their agricultural surplus with other tribes, including the Iroquois.

It was this advantage in transport and trade which first aroused the interest of the French in the Huron. The fur trade, reinforced later by Jesuit missions, blossomed into a political and cultural alliance that endured beyond the defeat and dispersal of the Huron by the Iroquois. The Huron did disappear in 1649, but survived to become the Wyandot. Allied with the Ottawa, they became the "eldest children" of Onontio (French governor of Canada) and the cornerstone of the French alliance with the Great Lakes Algonquin. Within this organization, the Wyandot were regarded as something akin to a "founding father" with important links, through their adopted Huron relatives, to the Iroquois League. Even after the French defeat in 1763, the Wyandot commanded a respect and influence among the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley tribes far greater than the number of their warriors would have suggested.

History

Based on linguistic evidence, it appears that the Iroquian-speaking people Jacques Cartier encountered in 1535 on the St. Lawrence River at Hochelaga (Montreal) were Huron. Sometime after Cartier's last visit in 1541, Hochelaga was abandoned ­ probably due to wars with the Iroquois and Algonquins. Two groups of these so-called Laurentian Iroquois from the St. Lawrence, the Arendahronon and Tahonaenrat, moved west and by 1570 had combined with an older alliance of the Attignawantan and Attigneenongnahac to form the Huron Confederacy. Other Iroquian tribes in the region organized themselves in a similar manner, the most notable example being the Iroquois League in upstate New York. The Huron occupied the area of central Ontario at the south end of Georgian Bay. To the west, in the hills near the southeast end of Lake Huron, were the Tionontati, and southwest between Detroit and Niagara Falls were the Neutrals, another large confederacy so called because they remained neutral in the wars between the Huron and Iroquois.

A relatively small group, the Wenro, lived west of the Iroquois in southwest New York (Jamestown) and protected itself through alliances with the Neutrals to the north, and the Erie whose territory extended inland from the southern shore of Lake Erie near Erie, Pennsylvania westward across northern Ohio. South of the Iroquois along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania were the Susquehannock, a traditional Iroquois enemy. To the east, the Mohawk and Oneida of the Iroquois League faced Algonquins: the Mahican of the Hudson Valley; and the Adirondack, an unidentified Algonquin group who may have been Western Abenaki or the Pequot-Mohegan before they moved to eastern Connecticut. Along the St. Lawrence the Montagnais and Algonkin after 1541 had moved into the territory vacated by the Laurentian Iroquois and were fighting with the Iroquois.

While the Iroquois generally fought with their neighbors, the Huron had good relations with many of theirs through a pattern of trade which extended north through the Ottawa and Nipissing to the Ojibwe at Sault Ste. Marie. The rivalry and warfare which existed between the Huron and Iroquois before the arrival of the French was balanced by extensive trade. However, warfare was pervasive enough that it had caused the rival confederations to group their large, fortified villages into compact areas for mutual support. No borders existed in the European sense, with most of the lands in between the relatively compact areas of occupation either being shared or disputed, depending on the circumstances. Lured by the fur trade, the French returned to the St. Lawrence in 1603 and established their first permanent settlement at Tadoussac. The quality of fur obtained from the local Montagnais and the Algonkin through the Ottawa River Valley encouraged the French to push farther west. Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec in 1608 and the following year, through Algonkin traders, he had his first meeting with the Arendaronon of the Huron Confederacy.

Unfortunately for the French and their hopes for the fur trade, the St. Lawrence west of Quebec was a war zone and had been this way for at least 50 years before their arrival. It was a disputed area claimed by the Iroquois, Huron, Algonkin, and Montagnais. After listening to the complaints of his trading partners against the Iroquois, Champlain decided in July, 1609 to accompany a mixed Algonkin, Montagnais, and Huron war party against the Mohawk. In a battle fought at the north end of Lake Champlain, the Iroquois had their first experience with French firearms, and the French had found themselves a new and dangerous enemy. After this French-assisted victory, the Huron signed their first trade agreement with Champlain. The destruction of a Mohawk fort on the Richelieu River the following year helped drive the Iroquois south and opened the upper St. Lawrence to French trade. The French impression of the Huron was not favorable at first, and with their villages so distant, they were inclined to focus on their trade with the Algonkin. However, this soon changed after Étienne Brulé visited the Huron villages in 1611 and remained through the winter. He learned the Huron not only had better fur than the Algonkin and Iroquois, but access through trade with other tribes to areas of even higher quality. If the French had doubts about siding with the Huron against the Iroquois, they ended right there, and in 1614 a formal treaty of trade and alliance between the French and Huron was signed at Quebec. The following year, Champlain made the long journey to the Huron villages and, while there, joined a Huron-Algonkin attack on Oneida and Onondaga villages to the south in upstate New York. After 1616, the Huron were the middlemen for the French fur trade with the Nipissing, Ottawa, and Algonquins in the western Great Lakes.

The French alliance with the Huron and Algonkin forced the Mohawk to abandon the St. Lawrence Valley in 1610. This setback proved only temporary, since the Mohawk were soon able to trade with the Dutch on the Hudson River. Understanding the advantage in weapons the French trade gave their enemies, the Mohawk jealously guarded their trade with the Dutch. After wars with the Susquehannock (1615) and the Mahican (1624-28), they emerged as the dominant Dutch trade partner. Unfortunately, the Iroquois homeland did not not have many beaver, and in attempting to supply the Dutch, the Iroquois quickly used up what little they had. Dutch attempts to bypass them and gain access to the St. Lawrence trade through the Mahican had only intensified the dilemma and had led to the Mohawk war with the Mahican in 1624. However, their victory over the Mahican had merely eliminated a rival and did not provide them with access to more fur. The Huron homeland had a lot of beaver in the beginning, but it also became exhausted from trade with the French. However, the Huron easily overcame this through trade with tribes to the north and west. Surrounded by enemies, the Iroquois had no such opportunity, and threatened with the loss of their trade position with the Dutch, they desperately needed the Huron to supply them with fur, or at least allow them to hunt outside their homeland. The Huron would not allow either of these things. Their fur went directly to the French, and the Huron were powerful enough to keep Iroquois hunters confined to their own lands.

At this point, the French decision to ally with the Huron appeared to have been correct. History might well have taken a different course except for a war which began in Europe during 1627 between Britain and France. After a British blockade of the St. Lawrence, Quebec surrendered to a fleet commanded by Sir David Kirke in 1629. The Treaty of St. Germaine-en-Laye did not return Quebec to France until 1632. During those three long years, the Iroquois, because of their uninterrupted trade with the Dutch, gained an arms advantage over the Huron and Algonkin. Beginning in 1629, a new round of warfare for fur and territory began which evolved into the Beaver Wars (1630-1700). After the British left, Champlain had to begin anew. Attempting to regain the advantage for his native allies, he began to supply them with firearms and limited supplies of ammunition for "hunting." Dutch and British traders responded with similar weapons for the Iroquois beginning an arms-race. Meanwhile, the Huron took revenge on the man responsible for their problem. Étienne Brulé had betrayed Champlain by guiding the British to Quebec in 1629. Afterwards he found refuge among the Huron until he was killed (and eaten) following an argument in 1632.

French missionary efforts had begun as early as 1615 when Franciscan missionaries were sent into the St. Lawrence Valley. A Recollect priest, Father Joseph Le Caron had accompanied Champlain on his visit to the Huron villages in 1615 and spent the winter with them. However, his attempt in 1623 to establish a mission failed. A more serious effort began with the arrival of the Jesuits in New France during 1625, but the "Blackrobes" first mission in Huronia during 1626 also failed. Further efforts had to await the return of Quebec to France in 1632. The Jesuits returned in force to the Huron during 1634 building their first mission at Ihonatiria. Three years later, their main mission was moved to the Huron capital of Ossossane, followed by a final relocation to Ste. Marie in 1639. Conversions were slow in coming at first, but with the onset of major epidemics in 1635, many Huron turned to Christianity as protection against sickness. In their zeal, priests were not above using their influence to secure special privileges (firearms) for those who accepted baptism. Despite the best intentions of the Jesuits, their success was a disaster for Huron unity. The new religion frequently divided Huron communities into Christian and traditional factions at the very time they needed to unite against the Iroquois. The priests usually would not allow their converts to attend tribal ceremonies, and things finally got so bad that Christian and traditional Huron often refused to join the same war party.

Even worse were a series of devastating epidemics which swept through the Huron villages ­ influenza, measles and smallpox. Between 1635 and 1640, these new diseases killed over half of the Huron. Reduced to less than 10,000, the Huron also lost many of their experienced leaders. All the while, the Jesuits were fighting the French commercial interests to isolate the Huron from the social corruption of the fur trade. The confusion created had the unfortunate effect of making the French government in Quebec act almost as a neutral in the Huron's increasingly serious war with the Iroquois. The tide began to turn after the Seneca inflicted a major defeat on the Huron in the spring of 1635. The Iroquois first isolated the Huron by attacking their allies. Separate Iroquois offensives during 1636 and 1637 drove the Algonkin deep into the upper Ottawa Valley and forced the Montagnais to retreat east towards Quebec. The first victim of the Beaver Wars was the Wenro. Deserted by their Erie and Neutral allies, they were overrun by the Iroquois in 1639. Abandoning their villages, they fled north across the Niagara River into Ontario, where eventually 600 of them found refuge among the Huron.

A major escalation in the level of violence occurred in 1640. Latecomers to the fur trade, British traders from New England attempted to break the Dutch trade monopoly with the Mohawk by offering firearms. To counter this, the Dutch began to supply guns and ammunition to the Iroquois in unlimited quantities. Suddenly much better armed than anyone else (including the French), the Iroquois offensive increased dramatically. The French issued more guns to their allies, but these were generally inferior to Dutch weapons, and at first, given only to Christian converts. The Algonkin and Montagnais were driven completely from the upper St. Lawrence Valley during 1641 by the Mohawk and Oneida, while in the west the Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga concentrated their attacks on the Huron.

With the founding of Montreal at the mouth of the Ottawa River in 1642, the French attempted to move their fur trade closer to the Huron villages but soon found themselves exposed and under attack in this new location. Iroquois war parties moved north into the Ottawa Valley during 1642 and 1643 and attacked Huron canoes carrying furs to Montreal. In the process, the Atonontrataronon (an Algonkin tribe) was forced to abandon the valley and flee west to the Huron. During 1644, the Iroquois captured three large Huron canoe flotillas enroute to Montreal and brought the French fur trade to a complete halt. The French had little choice but to seek peace if they wanted to continue trade, and the Iroquois, who had suffered losses to war and epidemic similar to the Huron, were also willing so they could gain the release of their warriors being held prisoner by the French. A peace treaty signed in 1645 had no lasting effect because it ignored the main problem. The Iroquois expected a resumption of their fur trade with the Huron, but this did not happen. Instead, the Huron continued to trade all their fur to the French.

After two years of trying to resolve this through diplomacy, the Iroquois resorted to total war. While the French remained neutral and tried to abide by the peace treaty, the Iroquois destroyed in 1647 the Arendaronon villages. Very few furs from Huronia reached Montreal that year. In 1648 a 250-man Huron canoe flotilla fought its way past the Iroquois blockade and reached Quebec. During their absence, the Iroquois struck deep into Huronia in July destroying the mission-village at St. Joseph and killing the Jesuit priest. The final blow came in March, 1649. In coordinated winter attacks, 2,000 Mohawk and Seneca warriors slipped silently across the snow and in two hours destroyed the mission-villages of St. Ignace and St. Louis. Hundreds of Huron were killed or captured, while two more Jesuits were tortured to death. In the aftermath, Huron resistance abruptly collapsed. Abandoning their capital at Ossossane, most of them fled.

Only the main Jesuit mission at Ste. Marie remained, and it braced for an attack which never came. Isolated, it was abandoned in May, and its Jesuit, French, and Huron residents made their way by canoe to Christian Island in Georgian Bay. Other Huron joined them, swelling the island's population to over 6,000. During a terrible winter of 1649-50, thousands starved, and in June, the French and Jesuits, accompanied by several hundred of their Huron converts, left for New France. About 300 of these settled just north of Quebec at Ancienne and Jeune Lorette. They were joined by another group from Trois Rivieres in 1654 and have lived there (Wendake) ever since. Through the years afterwards, the Lorette Huron remained loyal French allies and are the only Huron group to have survived the dispersal intact. The other Huron scattered, but the Iroquois were not content to let them go. Down to less than a thousand warriors after their victory, the Iroquois decided to replenish their population by absorbing all of the other Iroquian-speaking tribes.

Some Huron surrendered immediately and, along with the Huron already captured, were adopted, but the Iroquois tracked down the others. The Attignawantan Huron had fled west in 1649 and found a refuge with the Tionontati only to have the Iroquois attack both of them. In December the Iroquois overran the main Tionontati village, killing two more Jesuit missionaries. Only a thousand of the Attignawantan and Tionontati ­ who afterwards would merge to form the Wyandot ­ escaped the onslaught by retreating far to the north where they spent the winter of 1649-50 on Mackinac Island near Sault Ste. Marie (upper Michigan). By 1651 constant threat of attack by the Iroquois forced them even farther west, and they moved to an island in Green Bay (Wisconsin) with the Ottawa (who were also fleeing the Iroquois).

The Tahontaenrat, meanwhile, had retreated into the Neutrals homeland - who true to their name had remained neutral through all of this - and, from here, continued to make war upon the Iroquois. Blaming the Neutrals for permitting this, the Seneca attacked and defeated them in 1651. A few Neutrals and Huron escaped to the west to join their relatives at Green Bay. Most, however, including the Tahontaenrat, surrendered enmass. The Tahontaenrat were adopted by the Seneca, while the captured Arendahronon went to the Onondaga, and the balance of the Attignawantan became part of the Mohawk. However, large groups were able to elude capture and fled south to the Erie, who accepted them, but in a status of servitude which was not much of an improvement over what the Iroquois were offering.

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