The Oneida Indians are a Native American tribe with several bands in the US and Canada, and were one of the founders of the Iroquois Confederacy. They were initially neutral in the American Revolutionary War, but ultimately supported the rebels. The New York and Wisconsin bands have sovereignty and operate their own amenities, while Canadian bands operate community centers and parks.
The Oneida Indians are a Native American first nation and tribe with several bands in the United States and Canada and one of the founders of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Oneidas first settled in the Oneida Lake area of modern upstate New York before splitting into a New York, Wisconsin and two additional bands that currently reside in the Canadian province of Ontario. The Oneida Indians in Wisconsin have a reservation of approximately 102 square miles (264 square km) just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin, while the Oneida Indian Nation of New York owns some tribal lands in and around Verona, New York. In Canada, there are Oneida Indians in Southwold and Brantford, Ontario.
First contact between the Oneida Indians and Europeans occurred in the 17th century, but the Iroquois Confederacy had been established much earlier. The confederacy was a political alliance of tribes who agreed to act as one nation in matters of trade and conflict. The Oneidas formed it with the Mohawks, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the Senecas and finally the Tuscaroras. The members of the confederacy were also known as the Haudenosaunee, a name which translates as “people of the longhouse,” because the six tribes lived and acted as one family in the same house. The name Oneida is thought to be a corruption of onayotekaono meaning “people of the standing stone”. The Oneida tribe is divided into the wolf, bear, and tortoise clans, and if an Oneida Indian cannot identify his clan, the wolf clan typically has responsibility for the adoption.
The confederacy initially pursued a policy of neutrality in the American Revolutionary War, but each member tribe ultimately chose to participate in the conflict. The Oneida Indians, probably influenced by a Protestant missionary named Samuel Kirkland, officially decided to support the rebellious settlers, but a minority supported the British. The Oneida were scouts and translators and some even fought as soldiers with the rebels, but the tribe was dwarfed by the conflict. Although initially granted a reservation of 6 million acres (24,281,138 sq km) in 1794, the Oneida Indians were divided into four bands through resettlement efforts and saw their New York holdings reduced to just 32 acres (0.1 square km).
The Oneida gangs of New York and Wisconsin enjoy a degree of sovereignty and economic prosperity. The Wisconsin Tribe operates its own schools, police, housing, farms, food and aged care services, a lottery called the Big Green, and several casinos and resorts near Green Bay, Wisconsin. The New York band offers similar amenities including a health center and tribal court and owns and operates the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York. Canadian bands operate bingo halls, schools, community centers and parks.
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