From Frontier to Border Along the Iroquois Southern Door

Abstract

________________________________________________________________The Upper Susquehanna drainage in New York assumed increasingly greater prominence as a borderland during the eighteenth century. Contrary to the idea that geopolitical boundaries were Colonial impositions, the creation of this borderland ensued from long-term strategies on the part of Native American as well as Euro-American powers. Reacting to Colonial encroachments from south and east, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) populated the valley with multi-ethnic towns consisting of both refugee tribes from the Atlantic seaboard and Iroquois representatives. These actions created a distinctive zone of creolized communities, and reflected the Haudenosaunee ability to play off English notions of demarcating the landscape. ________________________________________________________________Resumen: La cuenca alta del Susquehanna, en Nueva York, asumió una prominencia progresiva como frontera en el siglo XVIII. En contra de la idea de que las fronteras biopolíticas fueron imposiciones coloniales la creació n de esta frontera fue resultado de estrategias de largo plazo de los nativos y de los poderes euro-americanos. Los Haudenosaunee (Iroqueses) reaccionaron a la presió n colonial desde el sur y el oriente y poblaron el valle con aldeas multi-étnicas compuestas de tribus refugiadas de la costa Atlántica y representantes Iroqueses. Estas acciones crearon una zona distintiva de comunidades criollizadas y reflejaron la habilidad de los Haudenosaunee para jugar con las nociones inglesas de demarcació n del paisaje. ________________________________________________________________Résumé: Au 18ème siècle, le drainage du Haut Susquehanna à New York assuma un rô le frontalier accru. La création de cette bordure faisait partie d'une stratégie à long terme initiés par des Natifs américains et des Euroaméricains et non pas, contrairement à ce que l'on pensait à l'origine, d'une imposition géopolitique des colonialistes. Les Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), voyant leur territoire au Sud et à l'Est empiété par les colonialistes, peuplèrent la vallée en créant des villes multiethniques composées de

Native American geography shaped historical fire frequency in forests of eighteenth-century Pennsylvania, USA

“…We created a “mean distance to Native American towns 1701–1750” predictor. We first digitized towns in PA 45 , portions of New York 53 – 55 , and Maryland 56 , 57 . We also recorded approximate years of town settlement.…”

Incorporation and Colonization: Postcolumbian Iroquois Satellite Communities and Processes of Indigenous Autonomy

“…These more distant satellite settlements have previously been characterized as providing bases for fur hunting (Konrad 1981), means to secure contested territories (Cobb 2008), ways to diversify the Iroquois agricultural base (Antici 2007), and “havens” for refugees (Hauptman 1980). Although all of these descriptions appear to be valid for at least some of the settlements, I also think it is fair to characterize all of them collectively as colonies.…”

“…Closer to the homeland core, Iroquois allies from the southeast—including Tuscaroras, Nanticokes, Conoys, Tutelos, and Saponis—founded regional satellites in what is now New York's southern tier at Chuggnuts, Coreogonel, Oquaga, Otsiningo, Owego, and Unadilla in the early 18th century (Baugher 2007; Cobb 2008). This appears to have continued the 17th‐century practice of provisionally incorporating large groups of outsiders at independent settlements, but these satellites were located at greater distances from Haudenosauneee core towns than had been the case in the past.…”