The Mohawks are the original people from New York State. The Mohawk Tribe was one of the original members of the Iroquois Confederation. Some of the other tribe members in the Confederation were the Seneca, the Oneida the Cayuga, the Onondaga and the Tuscarora. In their own language, the Mohawk people call themselves Kanienkehaka, which means "people of the flint."

The Mohawks use to fight with the other tribes but they decided to have peace and be loyal to each other. That is when they formed the Iroquois Confederacy. Mohawks were now the guardians of the East. Some Mohawk people believe that before they joined the Iroquois Confederacy, their ancestors used to eat enemies they had killed in battle. During war the Mohawk men will shave the sides of their head leaving hair in the middle. That is the hairstyle we call "the Mohawk". The Mohawks also fought on the British side in the American Revolutionary War. The Mohawks also helped the Dutch by giving them beaver skins and furs. The Dutch gave them guns and other weapons as payment.

The Mohawk men were in charge of war, hunting, trading, clearing the fields and teaching their sons the way of the woods. The men would hunt for deer, bear, and fish. The Mohawks would use the deer for different things. The deer skin was good to make warm clothes. The antlers and bones were used for tools. The Mohawk women were in charge of the property, the farming, and the family. The Mohawk women also make the clothes for the family from the animal skins and furs the men came with. The women would grow corn, squash and beans. They also called that the three sisters.

The Mohawks are famous for their masks. They felt this was so important to them that no one from outside the tribe is allowed to see the special masks. Something else Mohawks would make is bead work. They would make wampum out of purple and white shell beads. The designs they would make with the beads sometimes tells a story. The Mohawks made up their own laws and it was written through the patterns of the wampum beads. Mohawks would use the beads as money too.

The Mohawks lived in villages that were made on hilltops. The families would build a longhouse. A longhouse is a long building made out of wood. The longhouse was 100 feet long and could fit 60 people in it. The families don't live there anymore. They only use it for ceremonies.


Some Mohawk people still live in New York but most of them moved to Canada. Not to many Mohawk people speak their own language today. They are farmers and iron workers. A lot of people say that the Mohawks were good construction workers because they had good skills and they weren't afraid of heights. But right now the Mohawk nation in trying to get permission from the government to open a casino at the Monticello Raceway in New York.