True name of the Mohawk nation is 'KANIEN’KEHAKE': 'People of the Flint'. The name ‘Mohawk’ was given them by the Algonquin Nation, and it was later picked up by Europeans who found it much easier to spell and pronounce than KANIEN’KEHAKE. The Mohawks were (and still are) part of the Iroquois Confederacy which, according to Iroquois oral tradition was formed some time between 1000 and 1450 AD. Some writers say as late as 1600, but it is agreed that it happened before the arrival of Europeans.
Mohawks today live over the border between northern New York and Southern Canada near the St. Lawrence River. This area has always been their traditional hunting grounds, but the area itself used to be much larger. During the Summer, for example, they used to migrate down to what is now Central New York, an area still called the 'Mohawk Valley'.