<p>I know it kind of suck, but just to let you know it is my first and I need some help with it. Please do not hold back on the criticism.</p>
<pre><code> The Iroquois reputation
It has always been thought that the settlement of Quebec was allies with all of their neighboring Indian tribes. However, Quebec actually had a terrible relationship with the Iroquois. Throughout the 1600s, these savage Indians destroyed hundreds of villages, terrorized many innocent people, and even wiped out a group of Indians from the face of history. Tribes who are allies with Quebec abhor the Iroquois because they are a belligerent Indian tribe that strives for total dominance in Canada.
During the 1600s of North American history, the Hurons were attacked by the ruthless Iroquois countless times. From 1642 to 1649, several of their villages were destroyedleaving hundreds of Hurons killed and thousands left as captives.(*) In his book The Huron Indians , Martin Schwabacher describes how after 1642 the Iroquois began making direct assaults on Huron villages. The attacks, Schwabacher explains, were to completely destroy the Hurons:
The Iroquois launched a devastating attack that crushed the Huron confederacy once and for all. Armed with guns they had acquired from the Dutch, large groups of Iroquois warriors began destroying entire shelter in neighboring villages, but soon there was no place left to go. By the end of 1649, those who had not died from war, salvation, or disease were forced to leave Huronia and search for a new place to live. The Huron Confederacy was no more. (8)
Another example of the Iroquois furry and strength is the battle of Lake Champlain. It was fought by the Algonquin, Montagnais, and the French Canadians in 1609. The leader of the French Canadians, Samuel De Champlain, explains in great detail what happened during the battle:
When it was evening, we embarked in our canoes to continue our course; and, was we advanced very quietly and without making any noise, we met on the 29th of the month the Iroquois, about ten oclock at evening, at the extremity of a cape which extends into the lake on the western bank. They had come to fight. We both began to utter loud cries, all getting their arms in readiness. We withdrew out on the water, and the Iroquois went on shore, where they drew up all their canoes close toe each other and began to fell trees with poor axes, which they acquire in war sometimes, using others of stone. Thus they barricaded themselves very well. (7)
Some experts have argued that the Iroquois sought to expand their territory by monopolizing the fur trade. As Thomas Wessel, a renown writer of American history, points out, the Iroquois were bent on expanding their territory by using the fur trade as an excuse: Perhaps the Iroquois were simply bent on acquiring additional hunting grounds of their own or maybe they wished to establish themselves as masters of the northern fur trade. The latter explanation seems more plausible when later events are noted. Since agriculture played a central role in the Hurons’ trade, it might also explain the Iroquois determination to eliminate the agricultural tribes no longer under Huron dominance and protection.(5)
Although the Iroquois appear to be ruthless group of Indians, they negotiated peace with the French settlers of Quebec. However, their arrival to Montreal was a bit unwelcoming for the sake of the French. As a personal account stated, A few days later the whole country between the St. Lawrence and the Richelieu swarmed with a savage host, who demanded immediate audience with the governor, and haughtily dictated peace to the weak and terrified inhabitants.
While Quebec and their allies continue to hate the Iroquois, our understanding of the this will no doubt not change. They have proven to be the most hostile league of Indians in colonial America. They sought out to control most of the Canada and its infamous fur trade. And many wars were initiated by them several times to make this occur.
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