364 THE SENECA NATION 



When the Seneca Nation was first definitely located it occu- 

 pied the region lying between the Genesee River and Seneca Lake, 

 and there it seems to have been seated for a relatively long time 

 before the opening of its historic period. Whence the nation 

 came and when it first appeared in New York are unknown. 



The name "Seneca" is "the Anglicized form of the Dutch 

 pronunciation of the Mohegan rendering of the Iroquoian ethnic 

 appellative Oneida or strictly, Oneniute 'aka and with a different 

 ethnic suffix Oneniute ron rion meaning 'people of the standing 

 or projecting rock or stone.' (*1) The name "Sennecaas" was 

 applied by the early Dutch cartographers and colonists to four 

 nations, probably to the four "upper Iroquois" including the Sen- 

 ecas, the Cayugas, the Onondagas and the Oneidas, to the last of 

 which only it really belonged. As these nations and their names 

 became better known, the name narrowed down by the elimination 

 of one nation after another until it designated only the farthest 

 nation which has since kept the name. The French colonists 

 called them Sonontouans which was their spelling of the Iroquois 

 name for the nation, Djiionon do wanen aka meaning "People 

 of the Great Mountain." This meaning was kept in the name 

 given them by their Algonkin neighbors, the Delawares, who 

 called them Maschachtinni, or "Great Mountain." 



The Seneca Nation was sedentary and domiciled in long bark 

 houses in permanent villages, and for more than a century it dom- 

 inated all eastern North America, partly by shrewd and farsighted 

 diplomacy, partly through its affiliation with its kindred nations 

 in the confederacy, partly by sheer brute force expressed in its 

 ferocity and cruelty. The legend "Nation Destroyed" which 

 appears on all maps of the 17th century appended to names of 

 Indian tribes attests the policy of the Senecas toward their 

 neighbors. More than any other agency the Seneca nation 

 thwarted the imperial plans of the French in America. A war 

 not of their making caused its downfall and its scattered rem- 

 nants now occupy lands in New York State and Canada. 



The Seneca Occupation of New York. 



The time during which the Seneca Nation inhabited New 

 York may be divided (for historical purposes) into five periods. 



*1 Handbook Am. Ind., Vol. 2, 502. 



