tribal confederation · North America and Oceania
Iron Confederacy
Origins
The Cree and the Assiniboine, or Nakoda, had long been allies, and in the 18th century they became the main middlemen between the Hudson's Bay Company posts on Hudson Bay and peoples of the interior. As they moved west onto the plains and took up horses and bison hunting, Saulteaux and later Métis groups joined them in an alliance the Cree call Nehiyaw-Pwat.
Rule and society
The confederacy was a military and trading alliance of independent bands, each led by chiefs chosen for skill and generosity, with no central government. Members shared hunting grounds, intermarried and fought together. Guns from the fur trade gave them an early advantage, and they controlled access to trading posts along the Saskatchewan and Red rivers. Their long war with the Blackfoot Confederacy from the early 19th century ended with defeat at the Belly River in 1870.
Decline and legacy
With the bison vanishing, bands signed Treaty 4 and Treaty 6 with Canada in 1874 and 1876. Some Cree under Big Bear and Poundmaker were drawn into the North-West Rebellion of 1885, after which the alliance broke up under reserve rule.
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Iron Confederacy. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/iron-confederacy
- MLA
- “Iron Confederacy.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/iron-confederacy. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Iron Confederacy.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/iron-confederacy.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Iron Confederacy’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/iron-confederacy (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻