Who Are the Tuscarora Indians?
The Tuscarora Indians are a tribe of Native Americans traditionally located in New York, North Carolina and Ontario, Canada. The Tuscarora joined the Iroquois League of Nations, “The League of Peace and Power,” in 1722 as the sixth nation in the Iroquois League, which was located in the area that is now New York. Historically, the Tuscarora Indians were made up of three tribes: the Kautanohakau, “People of the Submerged Pine-tree”; the Kauwetseka, which is of indeterminate meaning; and the Tuscarora, “hemp gatherers.” Hemp was used for many purposes by the Tuscarora Indians who lived in the region that would become North Carolina and, consequently, they took the name of “hemp gatherers.” The official Tuscaroran language was Skarure, one of the languages of the northern group of the Iroquoian languages.
