The Eastern Woodland region stretches from what is now Southern Quebec and Labrador to the Florida Panhandle, and from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean. This area is filled with natural resources such as hardwood forests, wild game and fish both inland and in the coastal areas. The soil is rich in the nutrients that sustained traditional crops like squash, corn and tobacco.

Historically, the most important life giver in this area were the Great Lakes which provided the Woodland Aboriginal peoples with freshwater and a means of travel. The network of rivers originating from the Great Lakes feed both the St. Lawrence and Mississippi Rivers. The network allowed Eastern Woodland peoples to move from village to village and nation to nation, hunting, trading and developing political associations designed to keep the peace.

Complex societies existed in this region long before contact with Europeans. The Mohawks, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga and, later, Tuscarora, formed the Hodenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy; which brought the Six Nations together under one system of government known as the Great Law. Other tribal groups in this area are the Abenaki, Algonquin, Attikamek, Huron-Wendat, Ojibway, Micmac, Malecite, Delaware, Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Seminole.