Iroquois the decentralized political and diplomatic entity that emerged in response to European colonization. According to that theory, "The League" still exists. The Confederacy dissolved after the defeat of the British and allied Iroquois nations in the American Revolutionary War. Today's Iroquois/Six Nations people do not make any distinction between "The League" and "the Confederacy" and use the terms interchangeably, preferring the name Haudenosaunee Confederacy. After the defeat of the British, they ceded most of the Iroquois territory to the United States, without bringing their allies to the negotiating table. Many of the Iroquois migrated to Canada, forced out of New
Point Iroquois Light the first recorded white men to the area. "From that time, Point Iroquois became a familiar landmark" for French explorers, fur traders and missionaries who followed. Sault Ste. Marie was the first white settlement in what became known as Michigan. In 1853 Congress, which had approved the construction of the first Soo Locks on the St. Mary's River, appropriated $5,000 for the construction of what would be the first lighthouse at Point Iroquois. In 1855-1856 the United States Lighthouse Board implemented this appropriation and built a wood and rubble stone lighthouse at the Point; this aid to navigation commenced operations