chiefdom · North America and Oceania
Mohawk Nation
Origins
The Mohawk lived in the Mohawk River valley of eastern New York, the easternmost of the five Haudenosaunee nations. Haudenosaunee tradition holds that they were the first nation to accept the Peacemaker's Great Law of Peace, around the mid-15th century, and so hold an elder place in the Iroquois Confederacy.
Rule and society
Nine Mohawk chiefs sat in the Grand Council. Trade with New Netherland at Fort Orange from the 1610s gave the Mohawk firearms and made them leading players in the fur trade and the Beaver Wars. Jesuit missions drew Catholic converts north, among them Kateri Tekakwitha, to Kahnawake near Montreal. In the 18th century Hendrick Theyanoguin, Molly Brant and Joseph Brant built close ties with Britain and the Indian superintendent William Johnson.
To the present
After fighting for Britain in the Revolution, most Mohawk left New York for Grand River and Tyendinaga in Ontario. Mohawk communities today include Akwesasne, Kahnawake and Kanesatake, scene of the 1990 Oka crisis, along with Six Nations and Tyendinaga in Ontario.
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (1)
- Mohawk Nation was part of Iroquois Confederacy1450 CE – 2030 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Mohawk Nation. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mohawk-nation
- MLA
- “Mohawk Nation.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mohawk-nation. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Mohawk Nation.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mohawk-nation.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Mohawk Nation’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mohawk-nation (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻