Haudenosaunee Settlement Patterns and Subsistence Strategies in the Late-Colonial Period, 1763–1783

This chapter studies Haudenosaunee settlement patterns, subsistence practices, and survivance strategies into the late colonial period. As communities slowly recovered from the impact of imperial warfare between the French and the English, imperial terraforming, and settler expansion after the 1750s, the rapidly growing American colonial population increasingly threatened Haudenosaunee land use practices. Haudenosaunee men and women, however, continued to use their access to new technologies and material goods to sustain and enhance their lives. Men and women also courted, exploited, and manipulated colonial patrons to fulfill the needs and goals of their families and communities. The American Revolution, however, marked a watershed moment as the American military specifically targeted the productive and reproductive labor of women and used warfare to sever the connections of Haudenosaunee men and women from their homelands. Despite the genocidal military campaigns that destroyed every aspect of Haudenosaunee settlement, subsistence, and land use practices, Haudenosaunee survivors returned to their homelands to rebuild their homes, to plant their fields, and to renew their reciprocal relationships with the land.