ABSTRACT
The Susquehannocks (Andaste and Minqua) were a large and populous offshoot of the Seneca and Cayuga-Iroquois Indians of western New York State (Fig. 14.1). They inhabited the lower Susquehanna Valley in south-central Pennsylvania from AD 1575 to 1680. For 100 years they were an important factor in the fur trade and a major force in controlling European settlement on the Pennsylvania frontier. The conventional model (Kinsey 1977, p. 102, Kent 1984) of Susquehannock culture history maintains that by 1680 the Susquehannock population was significantly diminished and their culture shattered as a result of prolonged warfare with the Iroquois on their northern boundary for control of the fur trade, incursions by Maryland settlers to the south, and the introduction of new diseases from which they had no natural immunity.
