The Real History Behind the Mohawk/Mohican Hairstyle

The Mohawk/Mohican is after long, braided hair, perhaps the most frequently portrayed hairstyles for historical Native Americans, but is this accurate? In today's video I explore the history of the Mohawk and Mohican people, as well as another tribe, the Plains-dwelling Pawnee of Dances with Wolves fame, before looking at the naming practice for the hairstyle and why this sometimes differs on both sides of the Atlantic.

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[historywithhilbert]

Hi everyone thanks for watching - let me know what you thought below and whether you saw Mohawk or Mohican to describe this hairstyle! Have polled a few of my (British) friends I found most of them now also say 'Mohawk' - so maybe the distinction isn't as clear cut as I made out in the video.

[Cozy_cozzz]

As someone who is native (Mvskoke and Semvnole) I'm really happy you're touching upon the indigenous history of North America.

[hanni]

I’m kanien’kehaka (mohawk) and from what i was taught our men and women kept their hair long. The men would sometimes cut their hair when they were going to war. More specifically the hair style would usually be the hairstyle we know today as the mohawk.

[MMadesen]

In Germany we call this an "Irokesenschnitt" or short "Iro."
Which obviously translates to Iroquois cut.

[SomasAcademy]

I'm surprised Hilbert would go into the origins of the name "Mohican" but never mention those of the word "Mohawk". That's not actually what the "Mohawk" people call themselves; it's an exonym, either from the Mohican term "Maw Unk Lin" ("bear people") or, more likely, from the Narragansett "Mohowawog" ("flesh-eaters" or "man-eaters") - both rather negative terms. Their own name for themselves is Kanien'keha:ka (Gah-nie-geh-hah-gah), meaning "people of the flint".

[ikefink]

Hi Hilbert, just one correction, the Airborne units of the United States have always been Army units, not Air Force. As a paratrooper I couldn’t let it slide. Great video as usual!

[theowl]

As a native myself, there is a hairstyle that should be mentioned, most Eastern Woodland Indians wore their hair in a "scalplock" the name for the hair described as the Iroquois hairstyle, this was because the eastern woodlands are incredibly dense so close combat was very average and warriors would cut their hair to avoid it getting grabbed, they'd also stylize the hair with dyed dear fur and in some cases dyed porcupine quills, in some cases the hair wasn't completely cut leaving the scalplock with a strip down the front of short hair that'd be stylized with dyed porcupine quills to give the typical "Mohawk" look. This was a warriors hairstyle and was often dressed in many different ways as hair was incredibly sacred and expressions of the person who wore it, meaning no two hairstyles looked the same.

[koloblicin]

here in germany we call that kind of hairstyle "Irokesen-schnitt" oder nur "Irokese"
makes not much more sense than mohawk but hey,
the more you know

[emperorcorning]

This is so neat! I'd love to see even more Native American history from you in the future. Keep up the great work! :)

[Arthur]

In France we call it an Iroquois hairstyle, so closer to the US "mohawk" name. Maybe because the name "Iroquois" was more appealing to us considering its origin.

[micoberss]

In Russia we call that hairstyle Ирокез - IROKEZ.

[wasnt.here.]

Wonder if also had something to do with the fact that the Mohawk territory fell within the United States while the Mohicans were within British Commonwealth territory, namely, Canada.

[CoyoteSlim]

You've made the same mistake twice now (in your Mi'kmaq- Basque video and this one) by stating that Algonquian speaking peoples were in the Wyondotte or Huron confederacy. The Huron/Wendat are people from the same linguistic group as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquioan) who were historically enemies of the Haudenosaunee. I believe you are conflating the Huron/Wendat (or Wyandotte) with the Wabanaki alliance which included the Abnaki, Penobscot, Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, etc of Maine/New Brunswick/Nova Scotia.

[muhammadHassan-kjjy]

Hey Hilbert, just wanted to say that ive been watching you since the pandemic started (a lifetime ago) and im enjoying this new era on your channel that started early last year. I really like how you have designed all the thumbnails in a similar style, so that we can see when this new era started. I also like the new series that you have started with the Yemen and Ukraine situations.
Thanks for everything, Hilbert and be careful outside;)

[shanecarubbi]

Very intriguing video, I'm always a fan for Native American history.

[Butter_Warrior]

Honestly a Mohawk looks like that Greek and Roman hat thingy.

[Jobe-]

So cool how many ways people find to adorn themselves.

[punkykenickie]

I'm in the UK and was once told (by a fellow Brit) that "Mohican" was an offensive term and it should be "Mohawk" though they didn't explain beyond that.

[dannyboy]

Completely forgot about this until you mentioned it, but our family is related to James Fenimore Cooper, the author of The Last of The Mohicans. I personally always called it a mohawk, despite my heritage. Thanks for the interesting video!

[omaolin]

My wife is Native American. I appreciate you making the effort of using the actual names of the tribes versus the names still used by those who conquered them.