page_title: Susquehannock
section_title: Society
hierarchical_section_title: Susquehannock / Society
context_page_description: Susquehannock people, also called the Conestoga by the English, were Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries ranging from its upper reaches in the southern part of what is now New York, through eastern and central Pennsylvania West of the Poconos and the upper Delaware River, with lands extending beyond the mouth of the Susquehanna in Maryland along the west bank of the Potomac at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay. Evidence of their habitation has also been found in northern West Virginia and portions of southwestern Pennsylvania, which could be reached via the gaps of the Allegheny or several counties to the south, via the Cumberland Narrows pass which held the Nemacolin Trail. Both passes abutted their range and could be reached through connecting valleys from the West Branch Susquehanna and their large settlement at Conestoga, Pennsylvania.
context_section_description: The Susquehannock society was a confederacy of up to 20 smaller tribes, who occupied scattered villages along the Susquehanna River. Most Native American Nations of the time and of today had and have clans. The Susquehannock, being Iroquoian most likely had clans as well.  Following the general value of matri-local clan lineage of most Iroquoian peoples, the Susquehannock were likely originally a matri-lineal culture.  This would mean in traditional terms, that the line of descent would be traced through the mother or closest female relative.  The Susquehannock Nation remained independent and not part of any other confederacy into the 1670s. Ultimately, they were not strong enough to withstand the competition from colonists and other Nations in their piece of the so-called Beaver Wars of that century. About 1677 many Susquehannock people, decimated by disease and war, merged with their former enemies and Iroquoian language kin, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Five Nations, who were to the North of the Susquehannock Homeland in what is now called in New York. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy became the successor government to that of the Susquehannock due to the Covenant Chain. This meant that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy now took over the governance of the Susquehannock Homeland.
  Susquehannock people lived in longhouses like the Haudenosaunee did. The Susquehannock villages were palisaded so that enemies could not easily attack the longhouses in the village. Corn was such an important crop that John Campanius Holm actually recorded the Susquehannock word for it. The Susquehannock kept dogs as indicated by the vocabulary that John Companius Holm wrote. Other important animals for the Susquehannock were turkey, deer, bear, beaver, otter, foxes, and elk. As is seen in the depiction of the Susquehannock man above, men went to war with bows and arrows, and war clubs.  The vocabulary is written by John Companius Holmes also includes words specifically meaning "smoking tobacco", as well as the word for "pipe for smoking tobacco" which indicates that tobacco smoking was an important part of Susquehannock life.  The cut of the hair of the Susquehannock man pictured shows a hairstyle similar but different from that of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Nations.
  Travel was both on water and on land. On the water, it was via canoe, and several place names indicate locations where the portage was needed between river or stream sections.  The main thoroughfare would have been what is today called the Susquehanna River. The length and navigability of this river via canoe would have allowed the Susquehannock to be a powerful regional force and to have strong internal trade routes between sub-tribes and clans.  The Susquehanna River is navigable by canoe from near its source in what is now New York to its mouth in the Chesapeake Bay.  The location of the Susquehannock Homeland indicates that the Susquehannock language likely contained words for mountains, river features, land animals, plants, fish, coastal species, as well as for the land that was flat. The Pennsylvania Bison was likely hunted by the Susquehannock since the Pennsylvania Bison was found in the Susquehannock Homeland.  Breaks in the mountain range would have allowed for over-land travel via well-worn trails. Most travel would likely have been inside of the valleys between the ridges. This would have meant that the Susquehannock had access to trade from what is now the Southeast of the United States via the valley systems.  This would mean that the Susquehannock could have traded with the Cherokee directly since the Cherokee were directly South of the Susquehannock Homeland.  The Cherokee are another Iroquoian people and it is possible that the languages were not hard for one or the other Nation to learn.
  Conestoga(Susquehannock) Society would have been impacted and defined by its location. When viewed in a pre-Colonial context, the homelands of the Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy are directly to the North of the Conestoga Homeland. Directly down the Appalachian mountain and
caption: New Sweden - encounter between Swedish colonists and the natives of Delaware
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