Tag: Onondaga

The Onondaga (Onöñda’gega’ or the People of the Hills) are one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy. Their traditional homeland is in and around Onondaga County, New York. Known as Gana’dagwëni:io’geh to the other Iroquois tribes, this name allows people to know the difference when talking about Onondaga in Six Nations, Ontario or near Syracuse, New York. Being centrally located, they were considered the “Keepers of the Fire” (Kayečisnakwe’nì·yu’ in Tuscarora) in the figurative longhouse. The Cayuga and Seneca had territory to their west and the Oneida and Mohawk to their east. For this reason, the League of the Iroquois historically met at the Iroquois government’s capital at Onondaga, as indeed the traditional chiefs do today.
An early date for the Onondaga comes from attempting to date an oral tradition related to The Great Peacemaker, a Huron, who approached the Onondaga and others to found the Haudenosaunee. The dates he lived are…