High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Oneida are a Native American/First Nations people and are one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in the area of upstate New York. The Iroquois call themselves Haudenosaunee ("The people of the longhouses") in reference to their communal lifestyle and the construction of their dwellings. Originally the Oneida inhabited the area that later became central New York, particularly around Oneida Lake and Oneida County.