SENECA  , a tribe of

North American Indians of Iroquoian stock . They call themselves Tshoti-nondawaga, " people of the mountain." The French called them Tsonnontouan . Their former range was in western New York state between Seneca lake and the Genesee river . They were one of the Six Nations League of the Iroquois, and eventually became the most important tribe of the league . They were foremost in all the Iroquoian wars, and were the official guardians of the western frontier of the league . On the defeat of the Erie and Neuter tribes they occupied the county west of Lake Erie and south along the Alleghany to Pennsylvania . They fought on the English side in the War of Independence . About 2700 are now on reservations in New York State, while a few are in Oklahoma and on Grand River reservation, Ontario . For Seneca Cosmology see 21st Ann . Report Bureau Amer . Ethnol . (1899-1900) .