The term dates to the War of 1812, when the northern border was in contention between the United States and British forces in Canada.

Its southeastern boundary forms what is known as ski country, as it includes the northernmost area of the Appalachian Mountain foothills.

Even at that time it was a frontier zone, albeit between the Neutral, Erie, and Five Nations Iroquois confederacies, which were located to the west, south, and east respectively.

One of the few well-attested Niagara Iroquoian groups, the Wenro, has never had its homeland concretely located by scholars, though some sites on the south shore of Lake Ontario have been identified with them.

[2] One example, the Kakouagoga or Kahkwa people, are only mentioned in a handful of written sources, but may have had their territory near the modern city of Buffalo.