Economy of the Iroquois

The Haudenosaunee (also known as The Iroquois Confederacy) was formed around the Great Law of Peace Kaianere'kó:wa, a constitution detailing a shared value system. The confederacy was originally composed of five tribes; the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca. The Tuscarora were added as a sixth nation in the early eighteenth century after they migrated from North Carolina. The Huron peoples, located mostly in what is now Canada, were also Iroquoian-speaking and shared some culture, but were never part of the Iroquois. The tribe owned all lands but gave out tracts to the different clans for further distribution among households for cultivation. Those clans that abused their allocated land or otherwise did not take care of it would be warned and eventually punished by the Clan Mothers' Council by having the land redistributed to another clan. Women did all work involving the field, including planting, cultivating and harvesting crops, while men did anything involving the forest, including the manufacture of anything involving wood. The twin gods Sapling (East) and Flint (West) embodied the two complementary roles to support the people.