Engraving of Iroquois Warrior by Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, 1787. The Iroquois are a league of several nations and tribes of indigenous people of North America. By the 16th century or earlier, they came together in an association known today as the Iroquois League (Five Nations) composed of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca nations. After the Tuscarora nation joined the League in 1722, the Iroquois became known as the Six Nations. Scalping is the act of removing another person's scalp or a portion of their scalp, either from a dead body or from a living person. The initial purpose of scalping was to provide a trophy of battle or portable proof of a combatant's prowess in war. Eventually, the act became motivated primarily for financial reasons as people were paid bounties for enemy Native American scalps.