The Onondaga Nation (; , 'People of the Hills') is a federally recognized nation of Onondaga people in the State of New York. They control the Onondaga Reservation () south of the city of Syracuse.
History In the American Revolutionary War, the Onondaga were at first officially neutral, although individual Onondaga warriors were involved in at least one raid on American settlements. After Americans attacked their main village on April 20, 1779, the Onondaga later sided with the majority of the League and fought against the American colonists in alliance with the British. In 1779, George Washington ordered the termination of the Onondaga people, in an operation known as the Sullivan Expedition, breaking the neutrality agreement and devastating the Onondaga people. When the United States won independence, many Onondaga followed Joseph Brant to Upper Canada, where they were given land by the British Crown at Six Nations.
In the aftermath of the Sullivan Expedition, following the brutal winter of 1780, there was a massive swarm of periodical cicadas, which emerge from underground every seventeen years. The sudden arrival of such a large quantity of the insects provided a source of sustenance for the Onondaga people who were experiencing severe food insecurity following the Sullivan campaigns and the subsequent brutal winter. The seemingly miraculous arrival of the cicadas (specifically, Brood VII also known as the Onondaga brood) is commemorated by the Onondaga as an intervention by the Creator to ensure their survival after such a traumatizing, catastrophic event.
On November 11, 1794, the Onondaga Nation, along with the other Haudenosaunee nations, signed the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States, in which their right to their homeland was acknowledged by the United States in article II of the treaty.
In 1816, 450 Onondaga were living in New York, 210 of whom lived on Buffalo Creek Reservation.
Government The Onondaga Nation is governed by the Onondaga Council, the traditional government of the Onondaga people. Fourteen Onondaga Hoyá·neh (traditional hereditary chiefs) and their Clan Mothers act as leaders, caretakers, and diplomats of the Nation. Unlike many other Haudenosaunee nations, the Onondaga Nation has not adopted a republican form of government.
The Onondaga Nation does not consider itself part of the United States and refuses to participate in the United States Census. The Nation does not pay income, sales, or excise taxes to New York State or to the federal government of the United States, nor does it receive any of the benefits paid for by these taxes.
Land The Onondaga Nation controls the Onondaga Reservation of New York.
On March 11, 2005, the Onondaga Nation in the town of Onondaga, New York, filed a land rights action in federal court, seeking acknowledgment of title to over of ancestral lands centering in Syracuse, New York. They hoped to obtain increased influence over environmental restoration efforts at Onondaga Lake and other EPA Superfund sites in the claimed area. , Syracuse Post Standard, n.d., accessed 11 Nov 2015 The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the Onondagas' claim in 2012, and the Supreme Court in 2013 declined to hear an appeal.
On June 29, 2022, it was announced that 1,023 acres of land were to be returned to the Onondaga Nation. The land transfer took effect on September 30, 2024.AP News Ancestral land returned to Onondaga in upstate New York accessed October 1,2024
Notable people Leon Shenandoah (, 1915–1996), Tadodaho Oren Lyons (, born 1930), traditionalist, orator, artist, and athlete Dinah John (, c. 1774–1883), supercentenarian Sid Hill (), Tadodaho Samuel George (, 'Hononwirehdonh' or 'Great Wolf', 1795–1873), chief from 1850 to 1873 Lyle Thompson (, born 1992), professional lacrosse player Tonya Gonnella Frichner (1947–2015), lawyer and activist Eric Gansworth (born 1965), poet, novelist, and visual artist Alfred Warner Jacques (1949–2023), craftsman of traditional wooden lacrosse sticks, American lacrosse player
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