Onondaga people

For other uses, see Onondaga (disambiguation).
Onondaga
Onoñda’gegá
Todadaho Sid Hill, Traditional Chief of the Onondaga Nation at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Regions with significant populations
 United States (New York)Unknown[1]
 Canada (Ontario and Nunavut)2,894 (2019)[2]
Languages
English, Onondaga, Other Iroquoian languages.
Religion
Longhouse/Gai'hwi:io, Kanoh'hon'io, Kahni'kwi'io, other Indigenous religions, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Seneca Nation, Oneida Nation, Tuscarora Nation, Mohawk Nation, Cayuga Nation, other Iroquoian peoples

The Onondaga people (Onontaerrhonon, Onondaga: Onoñda’gegá’’, "People of the Hills") are one of the five original nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy in the Northeastern Woodlands. Their historical homelands are in and around present-day Onondaga County, New York, south of Lake Ontario.

Being centrally located, they are considered the "Keepers of the Fire" (Kayečisnakwe’nì·yu[3] in Tuscarora) in the figurative longhouse that shelters the Five Nations. The Cayuga and Seneca have territory to their west and the Oneida and Mohawk to their east. For this reason, the League of the Iroquois historically met at the Iroquois government's capital at Onondaga, as the traditional chiefs do today.

In the United States, the home of the Onondaga Nation is the Onondaga Reservation. Onondaga people also live near Brantford, Ontario on Six Nations territory. This reserve used to be Haudenosaunee hunting grounds, but much of the Confederacy relocated there as a result of the American Revolution. Although the British promised the security of Haudenosaunee homelands, the 1783 treaty of Paris ceded the territory over to the United States.[4]

  1. ^ "Onondaga's Say: That's not us in your census (reprint from 2001)". Onondaga Nation. 16 January 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  2. ^ "Registered Population – Onondaga Clear Sky". Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. Government of Canada. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  3. ^ Rudes, B. Tuscarora English Dictionary, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.
  4. ^ Groat, Cody (February 18, 2020). "Six Nations of the Grand River". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2020-12-08.