Irokesenland

Irokesenland
Province of Irokesenland
Joedzjadē kanosēga
Location of Irokesenland
Established	1816
Capital	Bloemendael
Largest City	Bloemendael
Languages	Amerikaens (official) Irokees

Irokesenland (Amerikaens: Irokesenlandt, Irokees: Joedzjadē kanosēga, lit. 'lands characterised by the longhouse') is a province of the Federation of Tussenland. Founded as a Dutch protectorate in 1816, it was inaugurated as a province in 1861.

History

The Hoodenoshieöné

Since medieval times, the Hoodenoshieöné Confederation dominated what is now western New Netherland as well as parts of Meerenland and Irokesenland. The state abided by the Great Constitution, was governed by the Grand Council, an assembly of fifty lords (Irokees: sadjem), and was populated by the Irokees people, divided into five nations and fifty clans. In the early 17th century, they established trade with the Netherlands and France.

Treaty of Perpetual Alliance

In 1658, the Netherlands signed the Treaty of Perpetual Alliance with the Hoodenoshieöné. This treaty stipulated several terms;

• Dutch recognition of Iroquois sovereignty,
• Recognition of a mutually beneficial trade partnership,
• and a 'perpetual' mutual defense treaty.

This treaty also allowed the Dutch West India Company to build forts in Hoodenoshieöné territory. Additionally, the treaty forbade Europeans from permanently settling inside the Confederation.

The Confederation accused the Dutch of not obiding by the treaty during the Quiripi Wars. Despite this initial tension, the Treaty was invoked during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

Wars and expansion

In the late 17th century, the Hoodenoshieöné attacked and pillaged what is now northern Irokesenland, driving the local Ilinieuweck northwest. With the Netherlands' support, the Hoodenoshieöné were able to stop the French from expanding down south during the Beaver Wars. At one point, they came close to sacking the settlement of Montréal. In the 1690s, peace was made with the French. The Hoodenoshieöné victory during the war put the Dutch in a prime position to launch various explorations and expeditions down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and subsequently claim a large portion of North America's interior.

Hoodenoshieöné
Hoodenoshieöné Confederation
1142 - 1816
Location of Hoodenoshieöné
Capital	Onondaga City
Government Type	Directorial federal republic
Languages	Cajuckonoo Onatouwacka Onondaga Mohawk Onjotacka

The Great Migration

By the dawn of the 19th century, the territories of Hoodenoshieöné spanned from Lake Ontario to the confluence point of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Settlers from New Netherland were pouring into the Confederation, despite the treaty back in 1658 forbidding the Dutch from creating new settlements. By 1780, more than half of the Confederation's territories had Dutch settlers illegally living on them.

When New Netherland declared independence from the Dutch in 1796, the new country claimed all territories east of the 82nd meridian west. This claim included substantial parts of the Confederation. The Hoodenoshieöné initially remained neutral, hoping that the Netherlands would intervene. However, the Netherlands was soon occupied by the French during the Augustine Wars and were incapacitated.

New Netherland was no longer subject to the Treaty of Perpetual Alliance and had legal ability to stop paying the land leases. By 1805, the Onatouwacka and Cajuckonoo nations saw it necessary to migrate southwest to present-day central Irokesenland to avoid assimilation and cultural genocide. Tensions between the five different nations increased steadily with each having differing political and economic agendas. During the reign of Marÿn van Beeke, the Onondaga nation even showed interest in formally becoming part of New Netherland, triggering a drastic political decision.

The Protectorate period (1816-1861)

Witn the Netherlands being restored in 1814, the fledgling kingdom still recognized the Treaty of Perpetual Alliance with the Hoodenoshieöné. In 1816, the Irokesenlandt Land Grant Treaty was signed in Fort Hedel between the Dutch West India Company, the Netherlands, and the Cajuckonoo & Onatouwacka. This Treaty gave them the right to rule autonomous lands in present-day southern Irokesenland. The Royal Tussenland Company, in a position of power, proceeded to disenfranchise the Irokees; this included the 1848 Purchase, where a large portion of promised lands were sold to Virginia.

As the 19th century progressed, the Cajuckonoo and Onatouwacka engaged in conflicts with indigenous peoples native to Irokesenland, such as the Sjouwanacki, Tsjickasja, Nieuwkonscka, and the Ockapa. The Irokees soon assimilated many of these peoples. During these wars, the Royal Tussenland Company offered the territory of modern Opdamsland to these displaced tribes.

In 1848, the Dutch sold land west of the Appalachians to the British in an effort to prevent future conflicts. The indigenous southern Irokees peoples who had lived there, namely the Ojateckeronoo (Cherokee), Tsjerohacka (Nottoway), Kouintsjacka (Meherrin), and the Scharoerieacka (Tuscarora), settled in southern Irokesenland.

Formation of the Irokees identity

Over the entire 19th century, the Iroquois society had morphed into something completely different than what they had before the Europeans arrived. The trade and alliance with the Dutch led to heavy intermingling and intermarriages between their societies, and a growing mixed-race population, called the Irokees, was starting gain dominance. The shift towards western cultural styles were catalyzed by the creation of the Irokesenland protectorate. Irokees people adopted many of the cultural practices of the Dutch, such as Christianity, market participation, written constitutions, the gradual shift towards a patrilineal society, and even slavery, but had not abandoned their strong Iroquois identity. The borders within Irokesenland, originally intended as the boundaries between the various Iroquois nations, gradually became nothing more than ordinary administrative divisions as a new Irokees identity grew and tribal divisions were becoming less apparent.

Dominion of Tussenland

By the late 1850s, Irokees nationalism was at a high. The colonial dependence on the Dutch led to desires for self-determination and independence. Irokesenland was not alone in their quest for self-rule. Other colonies of the Dutch, like the Francohponic Meerenland colony in the Great Lakes, also experienced unrest. In 1859, Irokesenland nationalists joined forces with the Francophone Meerenlander rebels in the north. Together, they participated in an insurrection that led to colonial reforms by the Dutch in 1861. In 1861, the four colonies of the Dutch in America, coalesced into what is know known as the Federation of Tussenland, with high degrees of self-rule, butwith the Dutch monarch as its head of state.