Iroquoian First Nations, who inhabited the southernmost area, lived in a fertile land suitable for planting corn, beans and squash. There were nine principal Iroquoian tribes. All of them spoke languages belonging to the Iroquoian language family.
The Huron lived between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay. To the south and west were their allies, the Tobacco Nation (also called the Petun).
Further south still on the Niagara Peninsula lived the Neutral. The villages of the Erie tribe bordered on the southern shoreline of the lake which has their name.
South of Lake Ontario and extending to the upper St. Lawrence River was the land of the Iroquois, a confederacy of five tribes: the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga and the Seneca. In 1722 the Iroquois confederacy was joined by a sixth tribe – the Tuscarora.