The Beaver Wars (Mohawk: Tsianì kayonkwere), alternatively referred to as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars (French: Guerres franco-iroquoises), constituted a series of intermittent conflicts during the 17th century in North America, primarily in the Saint Lawrence River valley in Canada and the Great Lakes region, involving the Iroquois, the Hurons, northern Algonquians, and their French allies. Click here for a 15-minute presentation on the Beaver Wars on October 3, 2024 by Historical Place.

The Iroquois acquired dominion over  the New England border and the Ohio River Valley territories as hunting grounds beginning about 1670.

French explorer Jacques Cartier (above, left and center) produced the  earliest documented accounts of the Indigenous peoples in America, despite the fact that French  explorers and fisherman had engaged in commerce for lucrative furs in the vicinity of the Saint  Lawrence River estuary a decade earlier.

The Iroquois obliterated numerous confederacies and tribes through military engagement, including the Hurons or Wendat, Erie, Neutral, Wenro, Petun, Susquehannock, Mohican, and northern Algonquins, whom they vanquished and scattered, with some seeking refuge among neighboring groups and others being assimilated, routed, or exterminated.