Five Nations

American  

plural noun

1. a confederacy of Iroquoian Indians: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, and, after the 18th century, the Tuscarora.

---

Five Nations British  

plural noun

1. Also called: Iroquois. (formerly) a confederacy of North American Indian peoples living mainly in and around present-day New York state, consisting of the Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, and Senecas See also Six Nations

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Five Nations

In “Empire and Frontier,” Samuel Marquis focuses on the conflict’s tumultuous consequences for England’s colony of New York, and for its northern neighbors, the Five Nations of the Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

While now eschewing the imperial strife of European colonists, the Five Nations waged their own “mourning wars” against the Catawbas and Cherokees of the south.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

In the “grand settlement” of 1701, the disillusioned Five Nations negotiated treaties with the French and English alike, enacting a policy of wary neutrality that kept them out of subsequent Anglo-French conflicts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

Richard Sharp: Won 14 England caps as fly-half and captained them to the Five Nations title in 1963.

From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2025

Different nations had different numbers of sachems, but the inequality meant little because all decisions had to be unanimous; the Five Nations regarded consensus as a social ideal.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann