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Hiawatha

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From: Encyclopedia of World Biography
Date: 20040101
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Hiawatha

The Native American honored as a leader of the Iroquois nation in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha" is not an actual person, although Hiawatha (c. 1400) has entered American legend as such. Although the legendary Hiawatha is usually cited as a member of the Mohawk tribe, some Iroquois traditions hold that he belonged to the Onondaga tribe. Given the uncertainty about his tribal affiliation, it has been suggested that the legendary Hiawatha is in fact a composite of several historical personages. The founding of the confederacy and the time of Hiawatha ...

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