Kayanerenkó:wa: The Great Law of Peace

Several centuries ago, the five nations that would become the Haudenosaunee—Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca—were locked in generations-long cycles of bloodshed. When they established Kayanerenkó:wa, the Great Law of Peace, they not only resolved intractable conflicts, but also shaped a system of law and government that would maintain peace for generations to come.

This law remains in place today in Haudenosaunee communities: an Indigenous legal system, distinctive, complex, and...