Everything about Erie Tribe totally explained
The
Erie (also
Erielhonan,
Eriez,
Nation du Chat) were an
Iroquoian pre- and early-historic group of
Native Americans, who lived from western
New York to northern
Ohio on the south shore of
Lake Erie. They were ultimately destroyed by the
Iroquois, who adopted some of the survivors into their own group, these being primarily absorbed into the
Senecas.
The names "Erie" and "Eriez" are shortened forms of "Erielhonan," meaning "long tail." The Erielhonan were also called the "Cat" or the "Raccoon" people. They lived in multi-family
long houses in villages enclosed in
palisades and grew the
"Three Sisters"—
corn,
beans, and
squash—during the warm season. In the winter tribal members lived off the stored crops and animals taken in hunts.
History
In the competition in the
fur trade, the Erie alienated the surrounding tribes by encroaching on their territories. They also angered their eastern neighbors, the League of the Iroquois, by accepting
refugees from
Huron villages that had been destroyed by the Iroquois. Though rumored to use poison tipped arrows, the Erie were disadvantaged in armed conflict by having few
firearms (If the Erie tribe used poison on their arrows, it would make them the only tribe in North America to do so). Beginning in the mid-1650s, the Erie and other tribes were in battle with their enemies, the Iroquois. As a result of this war, the tribe no longer existed as a unit, but dispersed groups survived a few more decades before being absorbed into the Iroquois. Anthropologist Marvin T. Smith (
1987:131–32) has theorized that some Erie fled to
Virginia and then
South Carolina, where they became known as the
Westo. Some were said to flee to
Canada. Members of other tribes claimed later to be descended from refugees of this defunct culture. There are members of the Seneca people in
Oklahoma and
Kansas who claim to be descended from the Erie nation.
The Erie had little contact with Europeans. Only the
Dutch fur traders from
Fort Orange, now
Albany, New York and during the
Beaver Wars, Jesuit missionaries in Canada, made contact. What little is known about them historically is derived from legends,
archaeology, and comparisons with other Iroquoian people.
Further Information
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