3. The Beaver Wars resulted from increasing trade between the Iroquois and the Europeans
The arrival of the Europeans in the realm of the Iroquois, then comprised of five tribes, meant war at first, followed by trading relationships. The French to the north, and the Dutch, Swedes, and British to the east of the Iroquois lands established trading posts, creating a great demand for pelts, particularly beaver pelts. In exchange for the commodity, they provided metal tools, pots and pans, cloth for blankets, knives, and in some cases, firearms for the Native leaders. Such items enhanced their prestige within their clans. Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Iroquois were basically Stone Age people. Their weapons were of stone and flint; clubs, spears, arrows, and primitive knives of sharpened flint, or even oyster shells. They happily traded the seemingly endless supply of beaver to the new arrivals in exchange for the goods offered.
By the early 17th century, the beaver in their lands along the St. Lawrence and the Finger Lakes and their tributaries was depleted, and the Iroquois looked west to the Great Lakes and the Ohio country to expand their lands. The alliances between the Iroquois and the British colonies strengthened, as did those of the French and the Huron, Susquehannock, and the Abenaki. The decision to go to war with their neighbors was made by the Great Council of the Iroquois, in a consensus of the gathered sachems. The Beaver Wars led to the near extermination of some tribes, such as the Mohican. It also disrupted the fur trade, and led to the Iroquois extending their lands into the Ohio country, displacing the Shawnee, Huron, Wyandot, and Cherokee. By the early 1700s, hostilities between the Iroquois and other tribes had become traditional.