History: Iroquois Constitution; Iroquois viewpoint

Here is a useful version of the Constitution of the Five Nations (aka Iroquois Confederacy or League of the Haudenosaunee), with an introduction and some annotation inserted into the text in brackets.

While looking for it, I found this--check it out!--a comprehensive, annotated paper that makes a compelling case for dating in 1142 instead of 1536: A Sign in the Sky: Dating the League of the Haudenosaunee. Along the way, it provides an excellent summary of a Native viewpoint on European incursions along with other aspects of the history of the nations of the Great Lakes and Northeastern regions. Fascinating material--and it's going to come in handy as a summary, I expect.

I bet the main site on which this is posted would also be a great resource--it's called "The Wampum* Chronicles: Mohawk Territory on the Internet," self-described as "dedicated to the study of history, culture, and contemporary issues of the Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) Nation...."

...but I am restraining myself from exploring further, since, of course, I have plenty else to do!

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*I admit I had to look up "wampum." FYI wampum = a type of beadwork that functioned as "a method of recording solemn agreemnts, history, or religious matters." The person in the picture at right is Wolf Clan Mohawk Tiyeeneenhogarow; he is holding a wampum belt whose significance is unknown, but the portrait was painted when he was in London agreeing to fight for the British in the so-called "French and Indian War." Click here for more info on wampum.

Okay okay, back to work. See under "restratining myself from exploring further..."