Accompanying this, the nation is known as the 'elder brothers' and 'keepers of the eastern gate (of the long house)' to the other nations of the confederacy. In their native language, Kanien'kehá:ka (or Kanien'gehaga) means 'People of the Flint'. After the Tuscarora nation joined the League in 1722, the Iroquois became known as the Six Nations.įor hundreds of years, they guarded the Iroquois Confederation against invasion from that direction by tribes from the New England and lower New York areas. The original Iroquois League was often known as the Five Nations, as it was composed of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations.
The Kanien'kehá:ka are one of the five original nations that make up the Haudenosaunee or 'People of the Longhouse' (Iroquois Confederacy), and was originally founded in upstate New York.
