The Historiography of New France and the Legacy of Iroquois Internationalism

Abstract

This article examines the French portrayal of Haudenosaunee culture and politics in the historiographic tradition established by the Jesuit writers in seventeenth-century New France. I argue that over the centuries the Haudenosaunee have reframed the portrayal of our culture as hostile to civilization and instead embraced the notion of our ongoing resistance to colonialism and our right to assert and promote our role as spokespeople in indigenous affairs throughout the Americas.