ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION OF NEW YORK II 
TERRITORIES OF THE ABORIGINAL NATIONS OF 
NEW YORK 
The colonists of New York found its territory occupied by two 
distinct families of Indians having many local divisions but forming 
two great groups as far as land was concerned. From Lake Cham- 
plain on the north a long and narrow triangle would represent the 
homes of the Algonquins, following the valley of the Hudson, reach- 
ing the Delaware on the west and including the New England line 
and all Long Island. All the New England aborigines, those 
farther south and near the sea, with those of Virginia, were of the 
same great family. This line from Lake Champlain to the Dela- 
‘ware crossed the Mohawk above Schenectady, and all west of this, 
with most of Pennsylvania was occupied by Iroquoian nations. 
They differed essentially from the others in language as well as in 
habits. . 
Colonization soon affected the balance of power. Near the coast 
lands were bought and tribes dispossessed. In the interior the Iro- 
quois procured guns, conquered their foes and took their lands. 
Within little more than a quarter of a century all western New York, 
northern Ohio and much of Pennsylvania and Canada were theirs. 
They had changed the map and to show the true aboriginal dis- 
tribution it seems needful to go back to the beginning of the 17th 
century. The territorial bounds given are not claimed to be exact 
in every detail and yet are based on many facts. Field work, early 
maps and travels, topographic features, traditions and relics are 
among these. It must be remembered that a large part of each 
territory was not a home but a hunting ground. 
The Eries on the west may first claim our attention. They are 
variously placed south of Lake Erie and inland, traditionally and 
probably reaching the head waters of the Genesee river. They were 
destroyed in 1654 and many of the survivors were adopted by the 
Iroquois. Their southern and western limits are not shown here. 
North of their territory and east of the Niagara river and Lake 
Erie were the Attiwandaronks or Neutrals, most of whose villages 
were in Canada. As the Iroquois grew in power on the east they 
