The eastern woodlands were inhabited by two large groups of people, the Iroquois and the Cherokee. The Iroquois were dominating the northern half of the eastern woodlands, while the Cherokee were dominating the southern half of the eastern woodlands.
Out of the two groups, the group that was made up out of five nations were the Iroquois, and they formed the Iroquois League of five (later six) nations in order to keep nice relations between their communities after the European colonialism.