Wenrohronon
Wenrohronon people Wenrohronon | |
|---|---|
| Before 1600–1660 | |
Wenro and neighboring nations in the early 17th century | |
| Capital | Oil Springs (near present-day Cuba, New York) |
| Common languages | Wenro (Iroquoian languages) |
| Religion | Traditional Iroquoian religion |
| Demonym | Wenro |
| History | |
• Established | Before 1600 |
• Disestablished | 1660 |
| Population | |
• 1600 | Unknown (estimated in the low thousands) |
• 1650 | Absorbed into Wyandot and Haudenosaunee peoples |
| Today part of | Descendants among the Haudenosaunee and Wyandotte Nation |
The Wenrohronon or Wenro people were an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, historically from western New York and possibly northern Pennsylvania.
They were defeated by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in two decisive wars between 1638–1639 and 1643. This was likely part of the Iroquois Confederacy campaign against the Neutral people, another Iroquoian-speaking tribe, which lived across the Niagara River. This warfare was part of what was known as the Beaver Wars, as the Iroquois worked to dominate the lucrative fur trade. They used winter attacks, which were not usual among Native Americans, and their campaigns resulted in attrition of both the larger Iroquoian confederacies, as they had against the numerous Wendat.
After defeating the Wendat in 1649, the Iroquois conducted a December 1649 attack against the Tionontati, who fell in 1650–1651. The Iroquois continued to campaign westwards along the north shores of Lake Ontario. As had happened to the Wendat, the sudden and unexpected winter attack led to disorganization and isolation of clan groups, and early losses of key towns by the Neutrals in the 1651–1653 campaign by the warriors of the League of the Iroquois leading to eventual defeat and displacement (flight by whole villages) of first the Tionontati tribes, then the Neutral groups, as had happened to the Wendat.