In the eastern woodlands, many native groups spoke one of the Iroquoian languages. They lived inland, away from the coast.
The areas where they lived are mostly what we now call New York and Pennsylvania. Some lived as far north as what is now Canada. The Iroquois lived in big groups. A village had hundreds of people. Some were as big as a thousand people. People lived in big homes called longhouses. The women owned them. A longhouse was about 20 feet wide. It could be from 50 to 150 feet long. That’s half as long as a football field! Up to 20 families lived in a longhouse. A palisade, or big log fence, went around the whole village. It stood about 20 feet tall. Outside it, crops grew in nearby fields. A river, stream, lake, or pond was always nearby.