View source for Wendat Nation

{{Short description|Iroquoian-speaking nation in North America}}
{{Redirect|Huron-Wendat|other Wyandot groups, who have been called Wyandotte, Huron, Wendat and Quendat|Wyandot people#Wyandot groups}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Wendat Nation
| official_name      = {{lang|fr|Nation Wendat}} - Wendake
| government_type    = Wendat Nation Council
| leader_title       = Grand Chief
| leader_name        = Pierre Picard
| leader_title1      = Family Chiefs
| leader_name1       = Dave Laveau, Denis Bastien, Carlo Gros-Louis, René W. Picard, Stéphane Picard, Daniel Sioui, William Romain, Jean-Mathieu Sioui
| website            = https://wendake.ca/
| timezone1          = EDT DST
| population_total   = 4,605
| established_date   = Huron-British Treaty of 1760
| established_title  = Established
| population_as_of   = May 2022
| image_seal         = HuronWendatNationSeal.png
}}

The '''Wendat Nation''' (or '''Huron-Wendat First Nation''') is an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy nation that was established in the 17th century. In the French language, used by most members of the First Nation, they are known as the '''{{lang|fr|Nation Wendat}}'''. The French gave the name {{lang|fr|Huron}} to the Wendat.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=Huron-Wendat |work=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/huron |access-date=May 12, 2022 }}</ref> Wendat (Quendat) was their confederacy name, meaning 'people of the island' or 'dwellers on a peninsula'.<ref name=":02"/>

The nation inhabited the area between [[Lake Simcoe]] and [[Georgian Bay]], historically known as Wendake ([[Huronia (region)|Huronia]]), conquered and devastated in the 17th century [[Beaver Wars]], which prompted the surviving Hurons to move east to Quebec, under French protection.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Huron-Wendats |url=https://www.quebec.ca/en/government/quebec-at-a-glance/first-nations-and-inuit/profile-of-the-nations/huron-wendats |access-date=May 12, 2022 |website=www.quebec.ca |language=en |archive-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206131049/https://www.quebec.ca/en/government/quebec-at-a-glance/first-nations-and-inuit/profile-of-the-nations/huron-wendats }}</ref> It now has two communities and reserves, ''Wendake 7'' and ''Wendake 7A'', at [[Wendake]], Quebec, a municipality now enclosed within [[Quebec City]] in Canada.

The 1760 Huron–British North American Peace Treaty, lost in 1824 but rediscovered in the 1990s, showed that a large chunk of land named {{lang|fr|Seigneurie de [[Sillery, Quebec City|Sillery]]}} (now part of Quebec City) was sold to the Hurons in 1760 by the [[Jesuits]].  Therefore, the Wendats have a [[indigenous land claims in Canada|contemporary claim]] to this valuable land.<ref>[http://www.autochtones.ca/portal/fr/ArticleView.php?article_id=374 "Revendications territoriales de la nation Huronne"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402123537/http://www.autochtones.ca/portal/fr/ArticleView.php?article_id=374 |date=2015-04-02 }}, La Nation des Autochtones, reprint.</ref>

Today, Wendake tourism is the main economic drive, which includes a developed historic sector, a residential district and an industrial zone.<ref name=":1" /> As of April 2022, registered members of the Wendat Nation in Wendake, Quebec consists of 4,578 members.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Branch |first=Government of Canada; Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada; Communications |date=November 14, 2008 |title=First Nation Profiles |url=https://fnp-ppn.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/fnp/Main/Search/FNRegPopulation.aspx?BAND_NUMBER=50&lang=eng |website=[[Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada]] |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=May 12, 2022 }}</ref>

== History ==
In the late 16th century, Wendat Confederacy was formed to defend against their common enemy, which was the Iroquois Confederacy. Wendat Confederacy consisted of four allied nations, including Attinniaoenten (Bear), Atingeennonniahak (Cords), Arendaenronnon (Rock), Atahontaenrat (Deer) and Ataronchronon (Bog). However, the last group Ataronchronon (Bog) may have been a division of the Attinniaoenten (Bear) since they may have not attained full membership.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Huron-Wendat in Wendake |url=https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/story-of_histoire-de-ste-marie-ii/story/huron-wendat-wendake/ |access-date=May 12, 2022 |website=The Story of Ste. Marie II |language=en-US}}</ref>[[File:Groupe Huron-Wendat Wendake 1880.jpg|thumb|Wendat group from Wendake (Lorette) at Spencer Wood, Quebec City, 1880]] Due to diseases introduced by the Europeans and a lack of firearms, in 1648 to 1650, the Wendat Confederacy was defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy. After that, Huron refugees joined with the neighboring Tionontati tribe to form Wyandot, which was a corrupted form of Wendat Confederacy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tionontati {{!}} people {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tionontati |access-date=May 12, 2022 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

August 27, 1999, Wendat Confederacy was reaffirmed by signing a document with their mothers blood: The [[Wyandotte Nation|Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma]] (United States), [[Wyandot Nation of Kansas]] (United States), the [[Wyandot of Anderdon Nation]] (Michigan, United States) and the Huron Wendat of Wendake (Quebec, Canada).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wyandot Nation of Kansas Website |url=https://www.wyandot.org/index_outline.htm |access-date=May 12, 2022 |website=www.wyandot.org}}</ref>

== Demographics ==
Before the 16th century, the Wendat's population was approximately 20,000 to 25,000 people. However, when diseases were brought by the Europeans around 1634 to 1642, particularly measles, influenza and smallpox, their population reduced significantly to about 9,000 people.<ref name=":02"/> Today, as of April 2022, the number of registered members of the Wendat Nation in Wendake, Quebec consists of 4,578 members.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |last=Branch |first=Government of Canada; Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada; Communications |date=2008-11-14 |title=First Nation Profiles |url=https://fnp-ppn.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/fnp/Main/Search/FNRegPopulation.aspx?BAND_NUMBER=50&lang=eng |website=[[Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada]] |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=May 12, 2022 }}</ref>

In the United States, there are around 5,900 people that are identified as [[Wyandot people|Wyandot]] or Wyandotte, currently enrolling as members of the [[List of federally recognized tribes in the United States|federally recognized]] Wyandotte Nation that has a headquarter in [[Wyandotte, Oklahoma]].

=== Language ===
{{Main|Wyandot language}}
Wendat or Huron was the spoken language of the Wendat Nation in Quebec, Canada and some parts of Oklahoma in the United States, and it was traditionally spoken by Wyandot, Wyandotte or Huron people.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wyandot.org/wendat.htm |access-date=May 12, 2022 |website=www.wyandot.org |title=Wendat Dialects and the Development of the Huron Alliance}}</ref> The language was closely related to the Iroquois language.

Wyandot (or sometimes known as Wandat) is considered as a sister language to the Wendat language that was previously used in the Wendat Confederacy. Some linguists saw this as a dialect or a modern form of the Wendat language. It was reported that the language is mostly used in Oklahoma, United States.

Around the second half of the 19th century, Wendat died out because there were no living speakers. However, in the 1970s and 1980s, attempts were being made to revive the dormant language by using historical dictionaries and manuscripts from Recollet and Jesuit missionaries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wendat |url=https://www.cbc.ca/originalvoices/language/wendat/}}</ref> In 2010, the Wendat Community of Quebec and the Wyandot Nation of Oklahoma have been teaching Wendat and Wyandot (the dialect of Wendat) to their community members, respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Deer |first=Ka'nhehsí:io |date=December 21, 2019 |title='It's a big dream but we need dreamers': Reawakening the dormant Wendat language |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/wendat-language-wendake-revitalization-1.5375926}}</ref>

=== Government ===
Village, tribe and confederacy made up the basic level of government system in the Wendat Nation. At the village level, there were several chiefs to represent different clans, and each chief had different status (e.g.: civil or war chief). Most of their status were inherited, but they could fight for that or being appointed by older women of the lineage. The chief organized a council meeting to discuss about current issues within the village, and men and women were welcomed to give opinions. The meeting for the Wendat Confederacy happened once a year.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Lifeways - Wendat |url=http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/groups/lifeways.do?title=Wendat |access-date=May 12, 2022 |website=1704.deerfield.history.museum}}</ref>

Jesuit Father Lallemant, noted of the Wendat in 1644: {{blockquote|"I do not believe that there is any people on earth freer than they, and less able to allow the subjection of their wills to any power whatever – so much so that Fathers here have no control over their children, or Captains over their subjects, or the Laws of the country over any of them, except in so far as each is pleased to submit to them. There is no punishment which is inflicted on the guilty, and no criminal who is not sure that his life and property are in no danger"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graeber |first1=David |last2=Wengrow |first2=David |title=The Dawn of Everything |date=2021 |publisher=Signal |isbn=978-0-241-40245-0 |page=54}}</ref> }}

==== Social organization ====
The Wendats were a matrilineal society in which status and property were inherited through the women's line. Property, clan membership and position could potentially be passed down.<ref name=":4" />

==== Clan system ====
Similar to other Iroquois nations, Wendat society used a matrilineal clan system which has clans named after certain animals. There are eight matrilineal clans: Turtle, Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Deer, Hawk, Porcupine, and Snake. In order to unify, each person in each clan, no matter their nation or village, was seen as related. Thus, people would have to marry a person outside of their clan.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Huron Government and Law {{!}} Native American Netroots |url=http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/1889 |access-date=May 12, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Economy ==
About 70% of the area north and west of Lake Simcoe and south and east of Georgian Bay, where the Wendat nation occupied, was agricultural land. Because of this, most Wendat were farmers, and their economy was based on horticulture by growing maize, beans and squash.
The Huron ([[Wyandotte Nation|Wyandotte]]) lived in [[Ontario]] near the northern limit of where agriculture was feasible and had less fertile soils than many other regions to the south and west. Nevertheless, with [[polyculture]] (practiced predominantly with the [[Three Sisters (agriculture)|Three Sisters]]), they produced surpluses for trading with nearby non-agricultural peoples.<ref name="Hart/Feranec">{{cite journal |last1=Hart |first1=John P. |last2=Feranec |first2=Robert S. |title=Using Maize values to assess soil fertility in fifteenth and sixteenth and Iroquoian agricultural fields |journal=PLOS ONE |date=April 8, 2020 |volume=15 |issue=4 |article-number=e0230952 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0230952 |pmid=32267852 |pmc=7141618 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

As the Iroquois and other Native Americans did not plow their land, a team of scholars (Mt. Pleasant and Burt) concluded that their lands retained more organic matter and thus were higher in yields of maize than early Euro-American farms in North America.<ref name="Mt. Pleasant and Burt">{{cite journal |last1=Mt. Pleasant |first1=Jane |last2=Burt |first2=Robert F. |title=Estimating Productivity of Traditional Iroquoian Cropping Systems from Field Experiments and Historical Literature |journal=Journal of Ethnobiology |date=2010 |volume=30 |issue=1 |page=54 |doi=10.2993/0278-0771-30.1.52 |s2cid=85696505 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Culture ==

=== Housing ===
Similar to other Iroquoian-speaking people, the Huron built in [[Longhouses of the indigenous peoples of North America|longhouses]] that had a rectangular shape with rounded roofs that were covered by bark panels. These houses were built to serve as homes for extended families.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Longhouse {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/longhouse#:~:text=A%20longhouse%20was%20the%20basic,related%20through%20the%20female%20line. |access-date=May 12, 2022 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}}</ref>
[[File:Longhouse_of_huron_wendat.jpg|thumb|Longhouse]]

=== Artifacts ===
Wendat societies were village-based and to support their farming efforts, produced utilitarian ceramics that served functional purposes within their lifestyles, while also featuring aesthetic considerations relating to their design and form.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Grandbois |first=Michèle |url=https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/quebec-city-art-artists/historical-overview/#pre-contact-indigenous-culture-and-the-citys-founding-1608 |title=Quebec City Art & Artists: An Illustrated History |publisher=Art Canada Institute |year=2025 |location=Toronto}}</ref> Traditional crafts of the Wendat community continued in nineteenth century Quebec, despite colonization. The practices included canoe building, embroidery, basketry, and snowshoe making.<ref name=":0" />

=== Clothing ===
Wendat clothing was mostly made from deer and beaver hides.<ref>{{cite web |title=Huron Tribe: Facts, Clothes, Food and History *** |URL=https://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/indian-tribes/huron-tribe.htm |access-date=May 12, 2022 |website=www.warpaths2peacepipes.com}}</ref> Their clothes were very decorative by using porcupine quills, feathers, and wampum, and red was the most favourite colour in their culture.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Ontario Urania Historical Parks Sainte-Marie among the Huron's |URL=http://www.saintemarieamongthehurons.on.ca/sm/en/HistoricalInformation/TheLifeoftheWendat/index.htm#:~:text=Huron%20Wendat%20Clothing,a%20skirt%20for%20the%20loincloth. |access-date=May 12, 2022 |website=www.saintemarieamongthehurons.on.ca}}</ref>

Men wore loincloths and moccasins on their feet, and in the winter, they wore sleeves and a cloak made of fur. On their backs, they wore fire pouches so that they could carry tobacco pipes, charms and personal belongings. Wendat men tended to smoke, so it was common for them to carry a pipe. Women wore the same thing as men, but instead of loincloths, they wore skirts.<ref name=":3" /><gallery>
File:Moccasin.jpg|Embroidered moccasins
</gallery>

=== Media ===

==== Book ====
The book, ''Revisiting 1759'', was written by author Thomas Peace and published by the University of Toronto Press in 2012. In chapter 6, Peace talks about how the Wendat Nation responded to changes that happened during the conquest of Quebec from 1697 to 1791.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Thomas|last=Peace|title=Revisiting 1759|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH |chapter=The Slow Process of Conquest: Huron-Wendat Responses to the Conquest of Quebec, 1697–1791 |doi=10.3138/9781442699151-007 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781442699151-007/pdf}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Wyandot (disambiguation)]]
* [[Wyandotte (disambiguation)]]
* [[Huron (disambiguation)]]
* [[Kondiaronk]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links ==
*[http://www.wendake.ca/ Official site of the Wendat Nation] {{in lang|fr}}

{{First Nations in Quebec}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Huron-Wendat Nation| ]]
[[Category:First Nations governments in Quebec]]
[[Category:History of Quebec City]]