Hiawatha, hy uh WAH thuh or hee uh WAH thuh, was an Iroquois Indian leader in precolonial America. He probably lived during the 1500's. He helped establish peace among the five major Iroquois tribes: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Cayuga. The five tribes lived in what is now upper New York state and formed an alliance called the Great Peace or Iroquois League.