According to tradition, the League was formed through the efforts of two men, "Deganawida", sometimes known as the Great Peacemaker, and "Hiawatha". They brought a message, called the Great Law of Peace, to the fighting Iroquoian nations. The nations who joined the League were the Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga and Mohawk. Once they stopped most of their fighting, the Iroquois fast became one of the strongest forces in 17th- and 18th-century northeastern North America.