The St. Lawrence Iroquoians are dispersed
Plan of Hochelaga, Island of Montréal, Giovanni Battista Ramusio, 1550. Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM166-D4000-3-001
1550 to 1600
Sometime between Jacques Cartier’s third voyage and 1603, the Iroquoian-speaking peoples living in the St. Lawrence valley vanished from the region. No written account of what happened has survived, but the introduction of epidemic diseases from Europe and pressure from neighbouring First Nations may have been contributing factors. Traditional oral history — to some extent buttressed by archaeological discoveries — seems to indicate that some of the survivors relocated to the west, where they were incorporated into the Huron-Wendat Nation.
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