Ruben Fernandez 11/10/08 The Iroquois The original homeland of the Iroquois was in upstate New York between the Adirondack Mountains and Niagara Falls. Through conquest and migration, they gained control of most of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. Their empire extended west from the north shore of Chesapeake Bay through Kentucky to the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; then north following the Illinois River to the south end of Lake Michigan; east across all of lower Michigan, southern Ontario and adjacent parts of southwestern Quebec; and finally south through northern New England west of the Connecticut River through the Hudson and upper Delaware Valleys across Pennsylvania back to the Chesapeake. The Iroquois did not, physically occupy this vast area but remained in their upstate New York villages. The name Iroquois was given by their enemy tribe, in Huron it means “Black Snakes”, it also has other several meaning depending which tribal name then: “Real adders”, “The killer people”. They call themselves “The Haudenosaunee”, meaning, People of the Longhouse in reference to the dwelling they use to live in. The myth of creation of the Iroquois talks about a pregnant woman who fall from the sky and was carried to the back of a turtle by two birds. The woman gave birth to a girl who later became pregnant of twin by the West Win, one of the twins desperate for coming out of his mother force himself out of his mother armpit and as a result kill his mother. The two brother started a competition about who can create the best and most beautiful things, the right handed was better than the left hander, he always create the most beautiful and more useful stuff. That define the moment of duality in our world, while one create the day the other create the night and so on. After some time of creating animals, rivers etc. the right handed brother created the Indians and the left handed created the white man. As every battle has to finish with...