The Iroquois Confederacy was a union of six Native American nations - the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and later the Tuscaroras - located in the northeast United States and New York state. The Confederacy served as a model for the U.S. government and was comprised of nations that subsisted through hunting, gathering, fishing, and farming corn, beans, and squash while using wampum belts to communicate without a written language system.