Ononda'gega'

The Ononda'gega', or Onondaga, were the central nation of the five founding Haudenosaunee peoples. Their homeland lay south of Lake Ontario; as Keepers of the Fire they hosted the league council at Onondaga.

Officially neutral at the outbreak of the American Revolution, the Onondaga turned against the Americans after their main village was attacked in 1779. Sullivan's expedition devastated their country; after the harsh winter of 1780, emerging cicadas provided food for survivors. Many moved to British lands on the Grand River, while the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua recognised the homeland rights of those who remained.