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Turtle Island (North America)

Turtle Island is a term used by several Northeastern Woodland Native American tribes, especially the

Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy, for the continent of North America.[1]

Lenape

The Lenape myth of the "Great Turtle" was first recorded between 1678 and 1680 by Jasper Danckaerts. The myth is

shared by other Northeastern Woodlands tribes, notably the Iroquois.[2]

Iroquois

According to Iroquois oral history, Sky Woman fell down to the earth when it was covered with water. Various

animals tried to swim to the bottom of the ocean to bring back dirt to create land. Muskrat succeeded in gathering

dirt, which was placed on the back of a turtle, which grew into the land known today as North America.[3][4]

In the

Seneca language, the mythical turtle is called Hah-nu-nah,[5]

while the name for an everyday turtle is ha-no-wa.[6]

Anishnaabe

The term originates mainly from oral tradition, in the tale of the westward travel of the Anishinabe tribe on the land

known as Turtle Island, as recorded also in the birch bark scrolls.[7]

Indigenous rights activism and environmentalism

The name Turtle Island is used today by many Native tribes, Native rights activists, and environmental activists,

especially since the 1970s when the term came into wider usage. In a later essay, published in  At Home on the

 Earth,[8]

Gary Snyder claimed this title as a term referring to North America that synthesizes both indigenous and

colonizer cultures by translating the indigenous name into the colonizer's languages (the Spanish "Isla Tortuga"

being proposed as a name as well). Snyder argues that understanding North America under the name of Turtle Island

will help shift conceptions of the continent.

Influence

The term has been used by writers and musicians, as well as others. Notable uses include Gary Snyder's Turtle

 Island , winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the Turtle Island Quartet, a modern-day jazz string quartet, and

soyfoods and Tofurky manufacturer Turtle Island Foods.

Notes

[1][1] Johansen and Mann 319

[2] Why the World is on the Back of a Turtle (http:/   /  www.  jstor. org/  pss/  2800081) - Miller, Jay; Man, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great

Britain and Ireland, New Series, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Jun., 1974), pp. 306 – 308, including further references within the cited text)

[3][3] Converse and Parker 3

[4][4] Johansen and Mann 90

[5][5] Converse and Parker 33

[6][6] Converse and Parker 31

[7] The Ojibwe Peoples and Their Culture (http:/   /  www. real-dream-catchers.  com/  Ojibwe_culture_and_language/ 

Ojibwe_people_and_their_culture.  htm)

[8][8] Barnhill, David Landis (ed. and introd.). 1999. At Home on the Earth: Becoming Native to Our Place: A Multicultural Anthology. (pp.

297-306). Berkeley: University of California Press, xiv, 327 pp.

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Turtle Island (North America) 2

References

• Converse, Harriet Maxwell and Arthur Caswell Parker. Myth and Legends of the New York State Iroquois. (http:/   / 

books. google.com/  books?id=S6y6uxjhf60C& pg=PA31& dq=Turtle+ Island+ Iroquois& hl=en&

ei=-ou9TYqXF4bmsQPitpXSBQ& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=10&

ved=0CG4Q6AEwCTgK#v=onepage& q=Turtle Island& f=false) Albany: New York State Museum, 1906.

• Johansen, Bruce Elliott and Barbara Alice Mann, eds. Encyclopedia of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois

Confederacy) (http:/   /  books.google. com/  books?id=zibNDBchPkMC& pg=PA319& dq="Turtle+ Island"+

Iroquois& hl=en& ei=8469TZLkDYe-sAO8qKXXBQ& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=4&

ved=0CEYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage& q="Turtle Island" Iroquois& f=false) Westpoint, CT: Greenwood Press,

2000. ISBN 0-313-30880-2.

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Article Sources and Contributors 3

Article Sources and ContributorsTurtle Island (North America)  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=573193606 Contributors: Alan Liefting, Bellerophon5685, Boing! said Zebedee, Christhi, Daemonrulez,

Diego2008, Djembayz, Ecritoire, EvergreenFir, Favonian, Guy1890, IronChris, Jacob's Remnant, Keraunos, MBisanz, Mercurywoodrose, Pinethicket, Purslane, Qureus1, Scott Sanchez,

SimonRaven, Skyorndoff, Sunray, TreasuryTag, Turtle Island Indigenous Education, Twas Now, Uyvsdi, 17 anonymous edits

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