 Wyandot moccasins, ca. 1880, Bata Shoe Museum | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Canada (southern Quebec) | 6,980 (Huron-Wendat First Nation (2021)[1] |
| United States (Oklahoma, Kansas, Michigan) | 6,883, Wyandotte Nation, in OK)[2] |
| Languages | |
| English, French, Wyandot | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, others | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other Iroquoian peoples | |
The Wyandot people (also Wyandotte, Wendat, Waⁿdát, or Huron)[2] are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of the present-day United States and Canada. Their Wyandot language belongs to the Iroquoian language family.
In Canada, the Huron-Wendat Nation has two First Nations reserves at Wendake, Quebec.[3]
In the United States, the Wyandotte Nation is a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Wyandotte, Oklahoma.[4] There are also organizations that self-identify as Wyandot.
The Wendat emerged as a confederacy of five nations in the St. Lawrence River Valley, especially in Southern Ontario,[1] including the north shore of Lake Ontario. Their original homeland extended to Georgian Bay of Lake Huron and Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada and occupied territory around the western part of the lake.
The Wyandotte Nation (the U.S. Tribe) descends from remnants of the Tionontati (or Tobacco/Petun) people, who did not belong to the Wendat (Huron) Confederacy. However, the Wyandotte have connections to the Wendat-Huron through their lineage from the Attignawantan, the founding nation of the Confederacy.[2][5]
After their defeat in 1649 during prolonged warfare with the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee, the surviving members of the confederacy dispersed; some took residence at Quebec with the Jesuits and others were adopted by neighboring nations, such as the Tionontati or Tobacco to become the Wyandot. Afterward, they occupied territory extending into what is now the United States, especially Michigan, and northern Ohio. In the 1830s, they were forced west to Indian Territory (Kansas and finally northeastern Oklahoma) due to U.S. federal removal policies.[6] They are related to other Iroquoian peoples in the region, such as their powerful competitors, the Five Nations of the Iroquois who occupied territory mostly on the south side of Lake Ontario but also had hunting grounds along the St. Lawrence River. They are also related to the neighboring Erie, Neutral Nation, Wenro, Susquehannock, and Tionontate — all speaking varieties of Iroquoian languages, but traditional enemies of the Five Nations of the Iroquois. At various points in history these other nations have also engaged in trade and warfare with one another.[citation needed]
- ^ a b Heidenreich, C.E. "Wendat (Huron)". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
- ^ a b c "History".
- ^ "First Nations Culture Areas Index". Canadian Museum of Civilization.
- ^ "Wyandotte Nation". Southern Plains Tribal Health Board. April 10, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
- ^ "History". "At the Bottom of Lake Huron, an Ancient Mystery Materializes"], Scientific American, June 1, 2021 – see Lake Huron
- ^ The Emigrant Tribes. Wyandot, Delaware & Shawnee. A Chronology. Larry K. Hancks. Kansas City, 1998.