shows the vast historic range of the bison in North America. It includes the southwestern HALF of New York State. It covers the territory of 5 of the 6 Iroquois nations as they were defined in a 1720 map I found. Only the Mohawk nation appeared to lie outside the range.
Yes, the Iroquois did live in what was once buffalo country. However, I have some doubts that the Super Chief creators knew this, and were instead thinking of the Plains. I certainly did not know it until looking it up. I knew the bison extended into Ohio, but not as far east as New York State.
I know buffalo used to roam across much of the United States. Nevertheless, about half of New York and all of eastern Canada lie outside the buffalo's historic range. That means the Iroquois were on the outskirts of the buffalo's range at best.
More important, I've never heard of the buffalo playing any part in woodland cultures such as the Iroquois'. Not to mention the central role denoted by having their "super-chief" wear a buffalo mask. So the concept is still terribly wrong. But I'll change the posting to say "most buffalo" rather than "the buffalo."
3 comments:
concerning The "buffalo mask is terribly wrong because the buffalo lived far from Iroquois territory. It's also weird if you think about it"
I figured I'd check this one.
The map here:
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/elkisland/natcul/natcul1biii_E.asp
shows the vast historic range of the bison in North America. It includes the southwestern HALF of New York State. It covers the territory of 5 of the 6 Iroquois nations as they were defined in a 1720 map I found. Only the Mohawk nation appeared to lie outside the range.
Yes, the Iroquois did live in what was once buffalo country. However, I have some doubts that the Super Chief creators knew this, and were instead thinking of the Plains. I certainly did not know it until looking it up. I knew the bison extended into Ohio, but not as far east as New York State.
I know buffalo used to roam across much of the United States. Nevertheless, about half of New York and all of eastern Canada lie outside the buffalo's historic range. That means the Iroquois were on the outskirts of the buffalo's range at best.
More important, I've never heard of the buffalo playing any part in woodland cultures such as the Iroquois'. Not to mention the central role denoted by having their "super-chief" wear a buffalo mask. So the concept is still terribly wrong. But I'll change the posting to say "most buffalo" rather than "the buffalo."
I was surprised to find only one picture of Super-Chief on Google. Lots of trains and cars, but no superheroes.
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