Many American Indian groups in the eastern woodlands spoke one of the Iroquoian languages. All of them lived inland, away from the coast, primarily in the areas we now call New York State and Pennsylvania.
Some lived as far north as what is now Canada. The Iroquois typically lived together in large groups, with anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand people in a village. They lived in large buildings called longhouses, which were owned by the women who lived there. A longhouse was about 20 feet wide and from 50 to 150 feet long, or half the length of a football field. Multiple families shared each longhouse, up to about 20 per building. Surrounding the whole village was a protective palisade, or fence of logs, that stood about 20 feet tall. Outside the palisade but just a short distance from the village, the people raised crops in their fields. A source of water – a river, a stream, a lake, or a pond – was never far away.