n.
North American Indian people, the easternmost group of the Iroquois Confederacy , living in Canada and the U.S. Their language is a member of the Iroquoian language family.
Their name for themselves is Kahniakehake, which means "People of the Flint" and within the confederacy they were considered to be the "Keepers of the Eastern Door." The Mohawk lived near what is now Schenectady, N.Y. They were semisedentary; women practiced corn agriculture, while men hunted during the fall and winter and fished during the summer. Related families lived together in longhouse s. Most Mohawk sided with the British in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, in the latter under Joseph Brant . They number more than 35,000 and have a wide reputation as structural ironworkers; many have been hired in the building of major bridges.