The primary objective of this dissertation is to evaluate the validity of the use of the fur trade premise as an explanation of Iroquois participation in the" Beaver Wars" which occurred from AD 1649 to 1701 in the Midwest and Northeast of North America. The fur trade model and other explanations for Iroquois warfare that have been offered by various scholars are discussed. In evaluating the fur trade premise and other questions of this thesis several multi-volume primary ethnohistoric texts were used as sources of information (eg, the Jesuit Relations, The New York Colonial Documents, and Pennsylvania Colonial Documents). From these primary sources a total of 385 passages that described or reported causes of Iroquois warfare were identified and used to answer the research questions. All incidents of Iroquois warfare found in the utilized texts were documented, ordered chronologically, and mapped so that regional occurrences of warfare could be better visualized and interpreted. No evidence was found to support the premise that Iroquois involvement in the so called" Beaver Wars" was economically motivated.