The Erie Indians were a Native American tribe that lived in the northeastern United States from the 1400s to the 1600s. They spoke an Iroquoian dialect called Wyandot and lived in fort-like communities, farming and hunting. They had limited interaction with Europeans and lacked firearms, making them vulnerable to the Iroquois Confederacy, who ultimately defeated them in a two-year war. The fate of the Erie is debated, with some believing they were wiped out while others think they were assimilated or migrated. They were nicknamed Cat People due to the mountain lions in the area.
The Erie Indians were one of many Native American tribes that lived from the 1400s to the 1600s in what is now the northeastern region of the United States. Unlike many other Native North American tribes, which survived in one form or another, historians believe the Erie were all but destroyed in a long war with the Iroquois Confederacy. The Erie Indians, again unlike many other tribes, had limited interaction with the Europeans who had come to North America and therefore lacked the firearms that enabled the Iroquois to dominate them.
Lake Erie was named after the Erie Indians who lived along its southern shore from Ohio to where Buffalo, New York is today. In terms of language, the Erie spoke an Iroquoian dialect called Wyandot, most commonly associated with the Huron Indians. The Erie lifestyle included both farming and hunting. Living in fort-like communities within a stockade made of logs, the Erie lived in long, rectangular, multi-family houses. They farmed during the warm months, growing mostly squash, beans, and corn, and hunted in the cold months on a diet supplemented by preserving parts of their summer crops.
Information about Erie’s history and traditions comes mostly from what historians have learned from other Indian tribes, as the Erie had almost no direct dealings with the Europeans who began trading in the area in the 1600s. Many tribes in the region they hunted beaver because the animal’s skin had a high commercial value. As the beaver population dwindled, competition for prime hunting ground escalated into conflict. With firearms gained in trade with Europeans, the Iroquois Confederacy decimated the Erie Confederacy in a two-year war in the mid-1600s.
Historians differ as to the fate of the Erie Indians. Some believe the tribe was completely wiped out by the Iroquois. Others argue that the Erie were assimilated into the Huron tribes with whom they shared a similar language and the tribes of the victorious Iroquois. Still others argue that the Erie migrated from the area in multiple directions, with survivors settling in Virginia and Canada.
At their peak, historians estimated Erie to have had about 14,000 people. The name Erie is a shortened version of the word Erielhonan, which translated means long tail and is likely a reference to the mountain lions found in the area. This explains the nickname of the Erie Indians, who were also called Cat People.
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