Hiawatha << hy uh WAH thuh or hee uh WAH thuh >> was an Iroquois leader in precolonial America. He probably lived during the 1500’s. He helped establish peace among the five major Iroquois tribes: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Cayuga. The five tribes lived in what is now upper New York state and formed an alliance called the Great Peace or Iroquois League.
According to legend, Hiawatha fell into great grief and became a cannibal after his five daughters were killed through witchcraft. He was cured by a prophet named Deganawida, who was on a mission to unite the Iroquois. With Hiawatha as the spokesman, the two men went from tribe to tribe, persuading them to make peace.
The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made Hiawatha famous in his poem The Song of Hiawatha (1855). But he confused Hiawatha with the Chippewa, or Ojibwa, culture hero Nanabozho.
