There were two main language groups of Native Americans in the northeast region: Iroquois and Algonquin. Within those language groups were many individual tribes or nations.

The Algonquin lived in two areas: around the Great Lakes, and near the Atlantic Ocean. The Wampanoag nation were the first tribe that Europeans met when they came to America. Both the Illini and Potawatomi, tribes that lived in Illinois long ago, were part of the Algonquin language group.

In 1570, the League of the Iroquois was formed from five tribes: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. The Tuscarora tribe joined in 1772, and it became the Six Nations. This group of people lived in what is now New York state. The Iroquois call themselves the Hodenosaunee, which means "People of the Longhouse".

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