Tuscarora << tuhs kuh RAWR uh >> are a Native American people in northeastern New York and Canada. They originally lived in what is now North Carolina. In 1712, following warfare with European colonists, most Tuscarora moved to New York and Canada. In 1722, they joined the Iroquois League, a confederation of tribes that still occupy most of New York state. The other tribes included the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. The league became known as the Six Nations.
The Tuscarora called themselves Skarureh, which means Shirt-Wearing People. The name refers to the long shirts worn by men of the tribe. The Tuscarora grew beans, corn, and squash. These crops were so important that they were referred to as the Three Sisters. They also gathered food from wild plants. They fished, and they hunted deer and other animals. The Tuscarora lived in villages of large, rectangular longhouses. Each longhouse held several related families belonging to a single clan. The longhouse is also a symbol of the Great Law of the Iroquois, where the sky is considered the roof of the longhouse, and the floor is the Earth.
Like other Six Nations tribes, the Tuscarora made purple and white shell beads called wampum. Wampum belts incorporated records and stories into their designs.
The Tuscarora and Oneida sided with the colonists during the American Revolution (1775-1783). The other tribes took the British side. After independence, some Tuscarora joined other Six Nation people in Canada. They felt that America had forgotten their service and friendship during the American Revolution. In 1803, the United States government made a treaty with the Tuscarora for a reservation (land set aside for a tribe by treaty) near Niagara Falls in New York. Tuscarora also share a reserve with other Six Nations Indians in Ontario. Some Tuscarora remain in North Carolina today.
See also Iroquois.
