Before the intrusion of the White Man, the people of the five tribes or nations (later, six) which comprised the League of the Iroquois controlled much of the lands in the vicinity of Lake Ontario. Sometime in the sixteenth century, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas founded a lasting confederation which later became an example for the federal Constitution and which persists to the present day. In 1722, the five were joined by the Tuscaroras from the south and became then known as the Six Nations.
