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The Iron Alliance was also known as the Nehiyaw Pwat, or Plains Cree-Nakota Alliance. Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa (Chippewa), Metis, and Assiniboine (Nakoda or Stoney) peoples formed this ancient polyethnic group. The Nehiyaw Pwat fought with Cuthbert Grant in 1816 at la prayrii di la Goornouyayr (Frog Plain) or the Battle of Seven Oaks.
The Iron Partnership was a political and military alliance between what was known as Canada's Old Northwest and the Northwestern United States. This confederacy was made up of numerous independent bands that banded together to fight shared foes. The Confederacy was made up of branches of the Plains Cree who had arrived in the region in the mid-1700s, the Assiniboine or Nakoda, and their Metis relations who were active in the fur trade.
During the height of the North American fur trade, the Confederacy rose to dominance on the northern Plains by acting as middlemen, controlling the flow of armaments and trade goods to other Indigenous groups, as well as the flow of furs to North West Company, Hudson's Bay Company, and American Fur Company trading posts.
They also had influence over the transportation infrastructure and a large portion of the horse trade. The peoples were also important in the bison hunt and the pemmican trade. After the 1860s, the Confederacy's strength was weakened by the demise of the fur trade and the collapse of the bison herds, and it could no longer operate as a barrier to US and Canadian development.
1816 The Metis of Pembina, White Horse Plains, and Red River had already formed an alliance with the Plains Ojibway prior to 1816. The Iron Alliance was created when these tribes joined forces with the Plains Cree and the Nakoda.
The Iron Partnership was a political and military alliance between what was known as Canada's Old Northwest and the Northwestern United States. This confederacy was made up of numerous independent bands that banded together to fight shared foes. The Confederacy was made up of branches of the Plains Cree who had arrived in the region in the mid-1700s, the Assiniboine or Nakoda, and their Metis relations who were active in the fur trade.
During the height of the North American fur trade, the Confederacy rose to dominance on the northern Plains by acting as middlemen, controlling the flow of armaments and trade goods to other Indigenous groups, as well as the flow of furs to North West Company, Hudson's Bay Company, and American Fur Company trading posts.
They also had influence over the transportation infrastructure and a large portion of the horse trade. The peoples were also important in the bison hunt and the pemmican trade. After the 1860s, the Confederacy's strength was weakened by the demise of the fur trade and the collapse of the bison herds, and it could no longer operate as a barrier to US and Canadian development.
1816 The Metis of Pembina, White Horse Plains, and Red River had already formed an alliance with the Plains Ojibway prior to 1816. The Iron Alliance was created when these tribes joined forces with the Plains Cree and the Nakoda.