| Summary: | A study in the diplomatic evolution of the Iroquois Confederacy’s interactions with neighbouring First Nations and European colonists during the tumultuous period which followed their defeat at Lake Champlain. This project follows their subsequent transformation from a prominent regional force to their sudden collapse as a polity of power, analyzed from an indigenous prospective. Maintaining this position of prominence meant being able to adapt to the ways in which the European presence changed their world, coupled with their ability to manage the difficulties these challenges posed to their cultural and social institutions. Relationships with the Dutch, French and English cast the illusion of strengthening the Confederacy, when in reality they weakened the fundamental structures of Iroquoia needed to maintain the polity – ultimately transforming the once feared Confederacy into a weakened nation forced to sue for peace in order to secure its survival. Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences (Okanagan) History and Sociology, Department of (Okanagan) Unreviewed Undergraduate
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