00:00When we think about the expansion of European powers into North America, we often imagine a simple story of conquest.
00:07But the reality was far more complex, a tangled web of diplomacy, trade, and shifting alliances.
00:14For centuries, treaties were the language spoken between worlds.
00:18Long before the United States even existed, European settlers weren't just marching across the land, they were negotiating for it.
00:25Early on, they encountered powerful and sophisticated political entities, none more influential in the East than the Iroquois Confederacy, or the Haudenosaunee, the people of the Longhouse.
00:38This alliance of six nations, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and later the Tuscarora, was a major political and military force.
00:48They weren't passive participants, they were power brokers.
00:51The great law of peace, their constitution, influenced the diplomatic landscape, and even offered inspiration to the architects of the United States.
01:01Treaties like the two-row wampum of 1613 laid out a vision of two cultures coexisting peacefully, each in their own canoe, traveling down the river of life side by side, never interfering with the other.
01:14It was a powerful symbol of mutual respect and sovereignty.
01:17However, as settler populations grew and the hunger for land intensified, the spirit of these early agreements began to erode, the balance of power shifted dramatically.
01:27European concepts of land ownership, which treated land as a commodity to be bought and sold, clashed with indigenous views of land as a shared, sacred resource.
01:37What started as nation-to-nation diplomacy often devolved into transactions of coercion and misunderstanding.
01:44Treaties were frequently signed under duress or were intentionally misinterpreted.
01:49The very documents meant to ensure peace became instruments of dispossession.
01:54The story of these treaties is a story of broken promises, but it's also a testament to the enduring resilience and sophisticated diplomacy of native nations who fought to protect their people and their way of life.
02:08Understanding this history is crucial.
02:10It's not just a relic of the past, it's the foundation of the relationship between sovereign tribal nations and the United States today.
02:25downside race moves into history.
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