Before Columbus discovered America, the Iroquois occupied parts of the territory of the present-day USA: the US states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, the area around the Great Lakes of Ontario and Erie, the banks of the Saint Laurence river. The Iroquois primarily concentrated on cultivating the land. They grew corn, beans, tobacco, sunflowers and pumpkins, and collected wild rice from the Lakes. They also hunted deer, moose, otters and beavers, and used their skins to make clothes. The Iroquoian tribes were united in a confederacy known as the Iroquois League. The League tribes included the Cayuga, Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas and Seneca. The idea of forming this union is ascribed to Deganawidah, a spiritual leader venerated by the Iroquois tribe. Hiawatha, the Onondaga chieftain glorified in Longfellow's poems, was able to unite the tribes.

In 1722, this union was joined by the Tuscarora people from the south. The union of six tribes was quite a considerable force, able to dictate its conditions to the rest of the peoples of the Great Lakes. The Iroquois forced the neighboring tribes to pay them tribute. The Hurons, however, resisted. They warred against the Iroquois, but suffered a defeat. Within the framework of the confederacy each of the tribes was independent, while the questions of union rule were in the hands of the League's council, which consisted of 50 representatives from various tribes. The supervision was also in the hands of two equally powered commanders, though representatives of each tribe had the right to veto their decisions. The Iroquois lived in longhouses. Residents of such a house were the smallest social unit of Iroquoian society. The eldest woman stood at the head of a family living in a longhouse. If the house's representative to the League council died, she would elect a new representative from among the men in the house. Several houses made up a native lineage. Three to eight lineages formed a tribe. A similar structure was peculiar to many North American people, but not many of them succeeded in creating a confederacy like the Iroquois.