Digital painting of an Iroquois village with thatched longhouses, a wooden tower, people, and cornfields in a lush forest under a blue sky.

In the forests of what is now New York and southern Canada, the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) lived among towering trees and winding rivers. Using the tall trees, they built longhouses, large wooden structures that held many families under one roof. They practiced the “Three Sisters” method of farming—corn, beans, and squash—which grew better together than apart. Corn stalks acted as poles for the beans to climb, and the squash leaves shaded the ground to keep it moist. Their government was advanced too: they formed a democratic league—the Iroquois Confederacy—that inspired early American leaders. See more