The Five Indian Nations of Canada (ePub)

Cadwallader Colden was a figure of notable prominence in colonial America both as a public administrator and as a natural philosopher. Born in Ireland in 1688 and educated in Scotland, where he pursued studies in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Colden later emigrated to the New World, settling in New York. A man of manifold interests, his intellectual pursuits encompassed natural history, botany, and the study of Native American peoples, which is most vividly encapsulated in his seminal work 'The Five Indian Nations of Canada' (1747), where he offers a detailed account of the history, customs, and political configurations of the Iroquois Confederacy. This treatise not only stands as an early substantial record of the Haudenosaunee peoples from a colonial perspective but also reflects the complexities of early American colonial and indigenous relations. Colden's narratives have been pored over by scholars interested in early American history and the Euro-American encounters with Native American societies. His written legacy, while influenced by the Eurocentric and colonialist attitudes of his time, provides a window into the Eighteenth Century frontier societies, and has served as a subject for both historical and literary analysis in the context of early American studies. Known also for his contributions to botany and his correspondence with Benjamin Franklin on scientific matters, Colden's multifaceted intellectual contributions exemplify the Enlightenment spirit in colonial America.