Colonial British and French American testimonies generally referred to them as the Iroquoian Confederacy, comprised by the nations of Mohawk, Onondaga,
Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora, and considered this grouping as the whole of Iroquoian culture.
Leadership was restricted to a group of 50 sachem chiefs, each representing one clan within a tribe; the Oneida and Mohawk people had nine seats each;
the Onondagas held fourteen; the Cayuga had ten seats; and the Seneca had eight.