Authors: Zoe Saadia
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Historical, #United States, #Native American, #Historical Fiction
Around the 12th century the lands of the people known to us
today as Iroquois were torn by ferocious warfare, with every nation fighting
each other, raiding one another’s towns, seeking revenge against offenses,
imaginary or real. Five sister-nations caught in the web of violence and
retaliation, unable to escape the hopeless loop. To settle their differences
and make them talk, someone with courage and unusually broad thinking was
needed. Maybe a prophet. Maybe just an outstanding man. But an outsider, on
that all the versions of the legend agree.
The Great Peacemaker, indeed, according to all sources, came
from across Lake Ontario and the lands of the Huron (Wyandot) people, present
day southeastern Canada, near the Bay of Quinte. For unknown reasons, his own
country folk did not want to listen to his message. However, the people of the
current day's upstate New York turned out to be more open to new ideas.
Most recent studies place the formation of the Great League at
around 1142, basing their conclusion on the oral tradition, archeological
evidence, and specific events such a full solar eclipse that was most clearly
mentioned to occur above a certain area.
The Five Nations’ wise, complicated, incredibly detailed set of
laws survived for centuries, and more than a few scholars agreed that the later
day USA constitution was influenced to this or that degree by the Great Law of
Peace that, needless to say, was very prominent in the area at the times when
the dozen or so English colonies were struggling for their independence.
Benjamin Franklin was the most interested person, closely
acquainted with the ways of the Great League of the Iroquois. Deeply impressed,
he printed many pamphlets, wrote many letters, citing the League’s incredibly
elaborate set of laws. In 1754, on the famous Albany conference, he spoke
openly about creating a union that resembled that of the Iroquois. Thomas
Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington, while being less ardent
supporters of the Five Nations’ model of democracy, were recorded to speak with
admiration about Iroquois’ concepts of liberty and political organization.
In fact, in October 1988, on the occasion of the 200th
anniversary to the signing of the United States Constitution, the US Congress
"…
acknowledged the historical debt which this Republic of the United
States of America owes to the Iroquois Confederacy… for their demonstration of
enlightened, democratic principles of government and their example of a free
association of independent Indian Nations
…"
***
However, at the times that this novel is dealing with, the main
bulk of the work was yet awaiting the Great Peacemaker. To cross the Lake
Ontario was a brave decision. But to convince the five warring nations living
across it to listen to his message and accept the Great Tidings of Peace was an
infinitely more difficult task to accomplish.
The continuation of his story is presented in the second book
of The Peacemaker Series, “
Across the Great Sparkling Water
.”
###
“
Two Rivers
” is
the first book in “
The Peacemaker Series
”
Two Rivers
Across the Great Sparkling Water
The Great Law of Peace
The Peacekeeper
More on the later history of the region, and on certain
characters appearing in these books, can be read in the “
People of the
Longhouse
” Series:
Beyond the Great River
The Foreigners
The Failed Alliance (coming soon)
###
More books by this author include “The Rise of the Aztecs”
series, “The Triple Alliance” and “Pre-Aztec” trilogies and more.