Map One - Regional Approach

Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region is thickly forested in the northern areas with species of oak, birch, hemlock, white pine, fir, beech, maple, and spruce. The southern territory consists of mixed deciduous and coniferous forest of oak, hickory, maple, and pine. The entire Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region is dominated by gentle rolling hills, cut by the receding glaciers of the last ice age. The glacial ice ground the sedimentary rock and created several fertile land belts. The five great lakes provide transportation routes that facilitated trade and migration.

The population of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region grew steadily in conjunction with developing agricultural practices and semi-sedentary lifeways. Societies of Iroquians (Huron, Petun, Neutral, Erie, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora); Algonquians (Ojibwa, Odawa, Potawatomi) occupied territories around the Great Lakes.

The semi-nomadic lifeways of the populations were based upon resource availability. Seven to ten years of crop cultivation and gathering practices depleted an area. The Iroquoian village would then move to another location and create a new palisade village. The villages averaged thirty to fifty longhouses of eighteen to forty-one metres in length. Forty members of an extended family occupied one longhouse. The population of a single village could grow as large as 1,500 people. As villages increased in size, smaller hamlets were founded in the surrounding perimeters. These longhouses were constructed of elm bark and attached to wooden frames.

Hunting and fishing practices provided secondary food sources. The best territories were claimed and guarded under territorial leaders. In addition to the deadfall traps and twist-up snares, blowguns and darts for hunting birds and small game were used by the Iroquoians. For them, deer hunting was a largely co-operative activity. As many as several hundred men would drive the animals into a river or a specially-constructed enclosure where they were easily slaughtered.

Agricultural technology developed as the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region societies perfected cultivation practices. Men prepared the fields. Using stone axes, they chopped away underbrush and then burned it to create a nutrient-rich potash fertiliser. Women cultivated fifteen varieties of corn, sixty varieties of beans, six varieties of squash, tobacco, and sunflower seeds, which provided oil. They harvested maple syrup in the spring and collected wild rice in the fall season. During the growing season, the entire band participated in weeding and guarding against birds and pests. The practice of allowing a section of land to remain fallow over a season was not observed, therefore periodic movement was required as soil became less productive. When the soil's nutrients were depleted, the band moved to a new fertile location. Fire-hardened dibble sticks were employed to pierce soil for the planting of seed. They used hoes made from wood and deer hipbones, and brush rakes for weeding and harvesting.

The tasks of Iroquoian men and women were clearly defined. In addition to taking total responsibility for the crops, women gathered firewood, prepared skins, and made clothing. Community women made household utensils such as pottery and baskets, mats of reed, bark and cornhusks. They were also responsible for cooking. A common dish was a thin soup made of corn meal to which pieces of fish, meat, or squash were added. They ground the corn in a hollowed-out tree trunk using a wooden pestle about two metres long.