Cayuga

Members of the Iroquois Confederacy who originally lived in the area around Lake Cayuga in what is now central New York state, the Cayuga go by the name Gayogohó:n' ("People of the Great Swamp"). Historically, Cayuga women farmed corn while Cayuga men hunted the region's rich game, waterfowl, and fish (maize). Longhouses with many fireplaces that housed connected families made up villages. Their settlements were located in the areas east of the lake above the marshes south of the Seneca River when they were first seen by the French Jesuit René Ménard in 1656. Around 100 longhouses housed about 1,500 individuals.

The eight exogamous clans were represented on the local Cayuga council, which directed the village heads. The clans were divided into two main moieties, or divisions, which were mostly used for ceremonial purposes like funerals and tournaments. In the past, the Cayuga frequently welcomed new tribes into their villages. They replaced war losses by taking in Huron and Erie captives while residing in a refuge settlement north of Lake Ontario, and in the late 17th century they offered refuge to numerous Siouan- and Algonquian-speaking bands from the nearby south and west. A sizable portion of the Cayuga tribe, which supported the British, migrated to Canada at the start of the American Revolution. The Cayuga Americans who remained in the country after the Revolution sold their New York properties and divided up with other Iroquois tribes in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Ontario. At the start of the twenty-first century, there were over 3,500 Cayuga descendants.