The Wendat (also called Huron) are indigenous peoples of North America, known in their native language as the Wendat. Modern Wyandots and Hurons emerged in the 17th century from the remnants of two earlier groups, the Huron Confederacy and the Petun. They were located in what is now the Canadian province of Ontario before being decimated by disease and dispersed by war. Wyandots and Hurons today live in various locations in Canada and the United States.
Welcome to CWAnswers
CWAnswers is your guide to the sprawling world wide web. The directory aims to provide a useful guide made by users. You can share your knowledge as well - simply sign up and edit your first entry. For questions just contact the team at support - at - cwanswers.com.
Weblinks for Huron
Top 10 for Huron
Things about Huron you find nowhere else.
Select content modules
The Wendat (also called Huron) are indigenous peoples of North America, known in their native language as the Wendat. Modern Wyandots and Hurons emerged in the 17th century from the remnants of two earlier groups, the Huron Confederacy and the Petun. They were located in what is now the Canadian province of Ontario before being decimated by disease and dispersed by war. Wyandots and Hurons today live in various locations in Canada and the United States.
Names and organization
In the early seventeenth century, the people known as Hurons by the French called themselves the Wendat, which means "Dwellers of the Peninsula" or "Islanders". The Wendat homeland was bordered on three sides by the waters of Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe.Trigger, Children of Aataentsic, 27. Early French explorers called these natives the Huron, either from the French huron ("ruffian", "rustic"), or from hure ("boar's head"). According to tradition, French sailors thought that the bristly hairstyle of Wendat men resembled that of a boar.
The Wendat were not a tribe, but a confederacy of four or more tribes with a mutually intelligible language.Dickason, "Huron/Wyandot", 263–65. According to tradition, this Wendat (or Huron) Confederacy was initiated by the Attignawantans (People of the Bear) and the Attigneenongnahacs (Cord), who confederated in the 15th century. They were joined by the Arendarhonons (People of the Rock) about 1590, and the Tahontaenrats (People of the Deer) around 1610. A fifth group, the Ataronchronons (People of the Marshes or Bog), may not have attained full membership in the confederacy, and may have been a division of the Attignawantan.Trigger, Children of Aataentsic, 30.
The largest Wendat settlement, and capital of the confederacy, was located at Ossossane, near modern-day Elmvale, Ontario. Their traditional territory was known as Wendake.
Closely related to the people of the Huron Confederacy were a group known to the French as the Petuns (Tobacco People), who lived further south. The Petun comprised two groups: the Deer and the Wolves. What the Petun called themselves is not known. Considering that they formed the nucleus of the tribe later known as the Wyandot, they too may have called themselves Wendat.
Culture
Hurons, like other Iroquoian people, were farmers who supplemented their diet with hunting and fishing. Corn was the mainstay of their diet, which was supplemented primarily by fish, although some venison and other meats were eaten during the hunting seasons. Women did most of the agricultural work, although men helped to clear the fields. This was usually done by slashing and burning. Men did most of the fishing and hunting, and constructed the houses, canoes, and tools. Each family owned a plot of land which they farmed; this land reverted to the common property of the tribe when the family no longer used it.
