Iroquois in ancient times, settling in the backcountry of the Southeast United States, including what is now Tennessee. In 2010, more than 45,000 enrolled Six Nations people lived in Canada, and about 80,000 in the United States. The most common name for the confederacy, Iroquois, is of somewhat obscure origin. The first time it appears in writing is in the account of Samuel de Champlain of his journey to Tadoussac in 1603, where it occurs as "Irocois". Other spellings appearing in the earliest sources include "Erocoise", "Hiroquois", "Hyroquoise", "Irecoies", "Iriquois", "Iroquaes", "Irroquois", and "Yroquois", as the French transliterated the term into
Iroquois designation, Ganonsyoni, is occasionally encountered as well. This term derives from the Mohawk "kanǫhsyǫ́·ni" ("the extended house"), or from a cognate expression in a related Iroquoian language, and is frequently encountered in earlier sources variously spelled "Kanosoni", "akwanoschioni", "Aquanuschioni", "Cannassoone", "Canossoone", "Ke-nunctioni", or "Konossioni". More transparently, the Iroquois confederacy is also often referred to simply as the Six Nations (or, for the period before the entry of the Tuscarora in 1722, the Five Nations). The word is Rotinonsionni in the Mohawk language. The Iroquois Confederacy is believed to have been founded by the Peacemaker in 1142, bringing together five distinct