French-Iroquois Alliance: What are the Effects?

Historically the French settlers in North America made enemies of the Iroquois Confederacy and aligned with the Huron and other Algonquin tribes to fight their expansion. This in turn made the Iroquois allies of the British.

Is there any way this could have been reversed, where the French would align themselves with the Iroquois against the Hurons and later, the English? And what how would this affect the Anglo-French struggle for control of North America?
 

Winnabago

Banned
Probably a richer New France (due to stronger trade partners and beaver-rich territory), meaning more forts in Iroquois territory, and thus a more difficult French and Indian War, maybe even meaning the American colonists would be desperate enough for protection that they wouldn’t secede from England.
 
The first problem with this is Geography. The French are to the north, next to the Huron. The Iroquois are to the south, next to the Dutch (then the English).

Now, this isn't insurmountable, but the Huron (and Huron related nations further east) really are a better choice for the French in terms of their initial expansion.

Now. Once the French are well established on Lake Ontario and looking to expand into Ohio country, THEN it makes sense to ally with the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois. But why should THEY ally with the French. They did better iOTL, balancing the various European powers, playing them off against each other, then they would have done if they had made fixed alliances.


What would have worked better for the French would have been if they'd treated the Hurons more as equals. Because the French refused to sell guns to the Hurons, and the Dutch DID sell guns to the Iroquois, the latter managed to destroy the former. If the French had sold/provided enough guns early enough, the Hurons might have been able to expand south into OTL's Pennsylvania etc, and give the French access to the Ohio country that way.
 
Historically the French settlers in North America made enemies of the Iroquois Confederacy and aligned with the Huron and other Algonquin tribes to fight their expansion. This in turn made the Iroquois allies of the British.

The Huron were a Iroquois tribe.
 
??? I don't recall ever hearing such a thing in my Canadian history classes, as everything I've ever read stated that the Huron (Algonkian people) were enemies with the Iroquois (relative newcomers).

I learned in Canadian History that the Huron were an Iroquois people separate from the Iroquois Confederacy/Haudenosaunee

wiki
 
No, you're both wrong.

The Huron/Wendat/whatever were an IROQUOIAN people. Not Iroquois. And most certainly not Algonkian of any sort.

There were multiple nations in the area of the Iroquoian language family. Erie/Cat, Neutral/Petun, the various groups that formed the Huron/Wendat alliance, the 5 nations that formed the Longhouse/Haudenosaunee/Iroquois alliance, the Tuscaroa who came up from down south and latter joined the Iroquois, the Iroquoian people who lived at the east end of lake Ontario (often lumped in with the Huron, but not of that alliance). Those are the main ones.

There's also the Cherokee/Tsalagi who speak a related language - that branch is often referred to as southern Iroquoian as opposed to the northern Iroquoian branch that all of the above languages belonged to.

Iroquois =/= Iroquoian
Sioux =/= Siouxan
Algonquin =/= Algonkian

Just like
Roman (i.e. Latin) =/= Romance
German =/= Germanic
 
The French position in North America collapses much sooner as it is the Huron who have the furs needed for trade and they have been rejected as allies.
 
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