Description
The Tuscarora are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands in Canada and the United States. They are an Iroquoian Native American and First Nations people, based in New York and Ontario. Prior to European contact, the Tuscarora lived in the Carolinas along the Roanoke, Neuse, Tar, and Pamlico rivers. Their lands were annexed by English colonists in North Carolina and Virginia. After the Tuscarora War of 1711 to 1713 against English colonists and their Indian allies, most surviving Tuscarora left North Carolina and migrated north to Pennsylvania and New York, over a 90-year period.
Language
Iroquoian
Culture
The Tuscarora depended heavily on cultivating corn (maize); they were also expert hunters. Later they expanded their economy by trading rum to neighbouring Native American groups. The typical Tuscarora dwelling was a round lodge of poles overlaid with bark. Evidence suggests that they were organized in exogamous clans, with the clans grouped into two moieties in each of the three tribes constituting the Tuscarora nation. They were noted for their use of indigenous hemp for fibre and medicine.