Lenapehoking (
Beginning in the 17th century, European colonists started settling on traditional Lenape lands. Combined with the concurrent introduction of Eurasian Infection and encroachment from the colonists, the Lenape were severely depopulated and lost control over large portions of Lenapehoking. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the United States government forcibly Indian removal the Lenape to the American Midwest, including the state of Oklahoma.
Lenape nations today control lands within Oklahoma (Delaware Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians), Wisconsin (Stockbridge-Munsee Community), and Ontario (Munsee-Delaware Nation, Moravian of the Thames First Nation, and Delaware of Six Nations).
Meaning
Lenape speakers in Oklahoma called their northeastern homelands translating to: in the land of the Lenape. It was popularized when Nora Thompson Dean shared the term with conservationist Theodore Cornu in 1970, and later with archaeologist Herbert C. Kraft.
This term has gained widespread acceptance and is found widely in recent literature on the Lenape and in New York institutions today as part of land acknowledgement.
Another historical Lenape term for much of the same region is Scheyischbi or Scheyichbi, although this is also often cited as referring specifically to New Jersey.
Range and bounds
At the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Lenape homeland ranged along the Atlantic's coast from western
Connecticut to
Delaware, which generally encompassed the territory adjacent to the
Delaware River and lower
Hudson River river valleys, as well the
mountain chain-and-
barrier ridge dominated territory between them. Relatives of the Algonquian Amerindians whose territories ranged along the entire coast from beyond the Saint Lawrence River in today's
Canada, and the tribes throughout all of New England,
down into northern
South Carolina,
the Delaware Confederation stretched from the southern shores of modern-day Delaware along the Atlantic seaboard into western
Long Island and Connecticut, then extended westwards across the Hudson
water gap into the eastern
Catskills part of the Appalachians range around the headwaters of the Delaware River and along both banks of its basin down to the mouth of the
Lehigh River.
Inland, the tribe had to deal with the fierce and territorial ; the Delawares' territory has generally been plotted with boundaries along mountain chain topped by the between the right bank tributaries of the Delaware River on the east—and on the west and south—the left bank tributaries of the Susquehanna and ; bounds which included the Catskills, parts of Northeastern Pennsylvania through the entire Pocono Mountains along the left bank of the Lehigh River. The Schuylkill River and its mouth in the present-day Philadelphia area or right bank of the Lehigh River were contested hunting grounds, generally shared with the Susquehannock and the occasional visit by a related Potomac tribe when there wasn't active tribal warfare. The greater Philadelphia area was known to host European to Indian contacts from the Dutch Republic contacts with the Susquehanna (1600), English traders (1602), and both tribes with New Netherland traders after 1610.
Along the left bank Delaware valley, the territory extended to all of present-day New Jersey, and the southern counties of New York State, including Rockland, Orange, Westchester, Dutchess and Putnam Counties, Nassau County, and the five boroughs of New York City.
Present day
Several indigenous peoples from diverse tribes, both from the region historically and from elsewhere, live in the Northeast megalopolis or Eastern Seaboard. Many of people from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy moved into the area in the 1920s to 1960s and were employed as skyscraper construction workers (many belonged to the
Mohawk Tribe) and played an important role in building the skyline of
Philadelphia and New York City. In the University City section of West Philadelphia, there has been some political activity by
Urban Indian residents of the area, who adapted the namesake to where they live.
Lenape nations today control lands within Oklahoma (Delaware Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians), Wisconsin (Stockbridge-Munsee Community), and Ontario (Munsee-Delaware Nation, Moravian of the Thames First Nation, and Delaware of Six Nations).
Lenape place names
Lenape place names are used throughout the region. The following are merely examples and the list is by no means exhaustive.
New York
Manhattan
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Manhattan is derived from , a Dutch version of a Lenape place name, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on Henry Hudson's yacht Halve Maen (Half Moon).
[ Full Text of Robert Juet's Journal: From the collections of the New York Historical Society, Second Series, 1841 log book , Newsday. Accessed May 16, 2007.] A 1610 map depicts the name Manahata twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River (later named the North River, and now called the Hudson River). The word Manhattan has been translated as 'island of many hills' from the Lenape language.[ "More on the names behind the roads we ride" , The Record (Bergen County), April 21, 2002. Accessed 2007-10-26. "The origin of Manhattan probably is from the language of the Munsee Indians, according to the Encyclopedia of New York City. It could have come from , meaning 'place of general inebriation', or , meaning 'place where timber is procured for bows and arrows', or , meaning 'island'."] Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman) defined it as: 'place that is an island', from Lenape .[Kraft, Herbert C.; Kraft, John T. (1985). The Indians of Lenapehoking (First ed.). South Orange, NJ: Seton Hall University Press. p. 45. ]
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Sapokanikan – habitation site and cultivated area by the cove on the Hudson River at present day Gansevoort Street, Greenwich Village.
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Nechtanc – habitation site along the East River site of Jacob Van Corlaer's plantation at Corlaer's Hook, near the present location of the Williamsburg Bridge, in the part of the Lower East Side that is near Chinatown.
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Indirectly named after Lenape shell : Pearl Street and Collect Pond
Staten Island
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– name for Staten Island
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– name for Staten Island
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– habitation site and cultivated area along Great Kills Harbor
Brooklyn
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Nyack Tract – habitation in Bay Ridge near the present location of the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge
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Gowanus Canal – originally named by early settlers as "Gowanes Creek" after , sachem of the local Lenape tribe called the Canarsee, who lived and farmed along the shores of the creek.
[The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, " Gowanus Canal History ", accessed May 12, 2004, revised April 2, 2004] Also source of the neighborhood Gowanus and the Heights of Guan.
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– habitation site in present Red Hook
Queens
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Rockaway, evolved from the Lenape word , which apparently referred to 'a sandy place'.
[William Martin Beauchamp: Aboriginal place names of New York (1907); p.179 [4]]
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Maspeth originally Mas-pet were a part of the Rockaway band that lived along Maspeth Creek.
[History of Long island from its discovery and settlement to the present time. Volume 1 By Benjamin Franklin Thompson, Charles Jolly Werner (1918)[5]]
Westchester County
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Ossining – derived from the local tribe, meaning 'stone upon stone', and , also meaning 'stone'.
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Mamaroneck – from Munsee "striped stream/river"
not, as is often incorrectly cited, as "the place where fresh water falls into the sea"
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Tuckahoe
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Armonk
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– name for White Plains which is a direct translation meaning 'the white plains' or 'the white marshes', either referring to the white fog that hangs over the area, or the white balsam trees said to grow there.
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– name for Mount Kisco
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Chappaqua
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Katonah
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Croton
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Crompond
Rockland County
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Monsey – from the name of the Munsees, northern branch of the Lenapes
New Jersey
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Absecon – meaning: 'little water'
[
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Assunpink Creek – meaning: 'Stony Creek'
[ indian.htm ] / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'rocky place that is watery', from Lenape .
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Communipaw (in Bergen-Lafayette, Jersey City) – 'riverside landing place'
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Cushetunk – 'place of hogs'
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Hackensack – 'stream flowing into another on a plain/ in a swamp/ in a lowland'
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Hoboken – 'where pipes are traded' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'tobacco pipe', from Lenape .
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Hohokus – 'red cedars'
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Hopatcong – 'pipe stone' ( 'honey waters of many coves' as early 20th-century boosterism would have it)
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Kittatinny – 'great hill' or 'endless mountain' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'big mountain', from Lenape .
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Mahwah – 'meeting place'
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Manahawkin – 'place where there is good land' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'where the land slopes', from Lenape .
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Manalapan – municipality's name is said to have come from Lenape and is said to mean 'land of good bread'
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Mantoloking – said to be either 'frog ground', 'sandy place' or 'land of sunsets'
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Manasquan – "Man-A-Squaw-Han", meaning 'stream of the island of squaws' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'place to gather grass', from Lenape .
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Mantua – said to have come from the "Munsees", North Jersey Lenapes, but the township is in South Jersey.
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Matawan – 'hill on either side'
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Metuchen – 'dry firewood'
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Minisink Trail – 'from the rocky land', is the old name for the Munsee, and the name of an ancient Lenape trade route that ran along a good part of what is now US Highway 46 in Northern New Jersey
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Musconetcong
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Netcong – Abbreviation of .
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Parsippany – original form was , which means 'the place where the river winds through the valley'
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Passaic – 'valley' or 'river flowing through a valley'
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Peapack – 'place of water roots'
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Raritan River – original form was ; may have meant 'river behind the island' or 'forked river'.
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Scheyichbi – Meaning of name varies.
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Secaucus – 'black snakes'.
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Weehawken – 'place of gulls'.
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Whippany River – meaning from the original , 'place of the arrow wood' or 'place of the willow trees'
[ Reprinted from ]
Pennsylvania
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Catasauqua – 'thirsty ground'
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Catawissa – 'growing fat'
[Nude Walker: A Novel By Bathsheba Monk]
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Chinquapin oak – The name is taken from a small nut-bearing tree or shrub, resembling the American Chestnut.
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Cocalico Creek – 'where the snakes collect in dens to pass the winter'
[Names which the Lenni Lennape Or Delaware Indians Gave to Rivers, Streams ... edited by William Cornelius Reichel]
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Cohocksink Creek – from a Lenape word for 'pine lands'.
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Cohoquinoque Creek – derived from a Lenni-Lenape word for 'the grove of long pine trees'.
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Connoquenessing – 'a long way straight'
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Conococheague Creek – 'water of many turns'
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Conodoguinet Creek – 'a long way with many bends'
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Conshohocken – original form , meaning pleasant valley.
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Hokendauqua Creek – From Lenape words: , or 'land', and , or 'to come for some purpose', Meaning: 'searching for land'
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Kingsessing – 'a place where there is a meadow'
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Kittatinny – 'great mountain' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'big mountain', from Lenape .
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Karakung – 'clay creek'
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Lahaska – derived from meaning 'the place of much writing',
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Lackawanna – 'forks of a stream' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'sandy creek'; 'sandy river', from Lenape .
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Lehigh County – from Lenape word meaning 'at the forks of a path or stream'
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Lycoming – 'great stream'
[History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania ... edited by John Franklin Meginness] (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
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Macungie – derived from , meaning 'bear swamp' or 'feeding place of the Bears'.
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Mahoning Creek – from Lenape word , meaning 'at the mineral lick', referring to a place frequented by deer, elk and other animals.
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Manatawny Creek – 'place where we drank'
[The Centennial Celebration, 1776-1876 at Pottstown, Pa., July 4, 1876 and ... By L. H. Davis]
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Manayunk – 'place where we go to drink'
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Mauch Chunk Creek – from Lenape word , 'at the bear mountain'
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Maxatawny – from Lenape word , 'bear path stream'
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Monocacy River – from Lenape word , 'stream with several large bends'
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Moselem – 'trout stream'
[The Story of Berks County (Pennsylvania) By A. E. Wagner, Francis Wilhauer Balthaser, D. K. Hoch]
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Moshannon Creek – derived from , 'moose stream'
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Moyamensing – place of judgment, located in the south part of Philadelphia
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Muckinipattis Creek – 'deep running water'
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Neshaminy Creek – from Lenape word , 'two streams' or 'double stream'
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Nesquehoning Creek – from Lenape word , 'black mineral lick'
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Nittany – 'single mountain'
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Nockamixon Township – from Lenape word , 'where there are three houses'
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Ockanickon Scout Reservation – named after a Lenape chief who assisted William Penn in the exploration of the Bucks County area.
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Okehocking Historic District – an 18th-century Indian Land Grant by William Penn to the Okehocking band of Lenape in 1703.
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Ontelaunee Creek – little daughter of a great mother
[The New England Magazine, Volume 37]
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Passyunk – a Philadelphia neighborhood and former township named for a Lenape village (compare to Passaic, New Jersey)
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Paxtang – 'where the waters stand'
[History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Volume 1 By Luther Reily Kelker] (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
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Paunacussing Creek – means 'where the powder was given to us'.
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Pennypack Creek – 'downward-flowing water'; a creek in and near Philadelphia.
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Perkasie – derived from , meaning 'where the hickory nuts were cracked'.
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Perkiomen Creek – derived from meaning 'where the cranberries grow'; a creek in central Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
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Pocono Mountains – from Lenape word , 'a stream between mountains'
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Poquessing Creek – 'place of the mice'
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Punxsutawney – meaning 'town of the sandflies' (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
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Saucon Creek – from Lenape word , 'the mouth of a stream'
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Shackamaxon – which means 'place of the council' and is on the site of Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia.
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Skippack – from Lenape word , 'wet land'
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Susquehanna River – from Lenape , 'mile wide, foot deep' (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
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Tamaqua – from Lenape , 'beaver'
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Tatamy – from Lenape name Chief Moses Tatamy who lived in the region and died in 1761
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Tohickon Creek – 'the stream over which we pass by means of a bridge of drift-wood' or simply 'deer-bone–creek'.
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Towamencin – a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, means 'poplar tree'
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Towamensing – 'fording place at the falls'
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Tulpehocken – 'land of turtles', the name of a creek and a SEPTA train station and street in Philadelphia
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Unami Creek – From Lenape word meaning 'person from down river'
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Wallenpaupack - From Lenape name meaning the 'stream of swift and slow water.' Wallenpaupack Creek was dammed in 1928 to create Lake Wallenpaupack
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Wissahickon – 'yellow stream' or 'catfish stream'; a creek in and near Philadelphia.
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Wyomissing – meaning 'the land of flats'; a borough in Berks County Pennsylvania
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Youghiogheny – 'four streams' or 'winding stream' (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
See also
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Turtle Island (Native American folklore)
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Apacheria
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Bergen, New Netherland
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Comancheria
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History of Delaware
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History of New Jersey
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History of New York (state)
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History of New York City
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History of Pennsylvania
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History of Philadelphia
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Huronia (region)
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New Amsterdam
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New Netherland
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New York metropolitan area
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Delaware Valley
Notes
