Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands

[2] The Northeastern Woodlands is divided into three major areas: the Coastal, Saint Lawrence Lowlands, and Great Lakes-Riverine zones.

The Hopewell culture was defined by its extensive trading system that connected communities throughout the Eastern region, from the Great Lakes to Florida.

[6] The Hopewell culture is also noted for its impressive ceremonial sites, which typically contain a burial mound and geometric earthworks.

[8] Prominent Algonquian tribes included the Abenakis, Mi'kmaq, Penobscot, Pequots, Mohegans, Narragansetts, Pocumtucks, and Wampanoag.

[10] The five nations of the Iroquois League developed a powerful confederacy about the 15th century that controlled territory throughout present-day New York, into Pennsylvania and around the Great Lakes.

The characteristics of the Northeastern woodlands cultural area include the use of wigwams and longhouses for shelter and of wampum as a means of exchange.

The birchbark canoe was first used by the Algonquin Indians and its use later spread to other tribes and to early French explorers, missionaries and fur traders.

However, some settlements could be much bigger, such as Hochelaga (modern-day Montreal), which had a population of several thousand people,[17] and Cahokia, which may have housed 20,000 residents between 1050 and 1150 CE.

Joseph Brant , a Mohawk , depicted in a portrait by Charles Bird King , circa 1835
Three Lenape people, depicted in a painting by George Catlin in the 1860s
Map of North East United States showing Algonquian tribes in the eastern and southern portions and Iroquoian tribes to the western and northern portions.
A map of the Northeastern United States showing the demarcation between Iroquoian (green) and Algonquian (red) Indian tribes in present-day New Jersey , Pennsylvania , and New York state