Lenapehoking

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Coord Template:Infobox country Template:Infobox ethnonym Lenapehoking (Template:Langx<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) is widely translated as 'homelands of the Lenape', which in the 16th and 17th centuries, ranged along the Eastern seaboard from western Connecticut to Delaware, and encompassed the territory adjacent to the Delaware and lower Hudson river valleys, and the territory between them.

Beginning in the 17th century, European colonists started settling in Lenapehoking. Combined with the concurrent introduction of Eurasian infectious diseases and encroachment from the colonists, the Lenape were severely depopulated and lost control over large portions of their country. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the United States government forcibly removed the Lenape to the American Midwest, including the state of Oklahoma.<ref name="AmHeritageBk">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

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).

Etymology

The name of the Lenape country, Lënapehòkink, can be broken down into three parts. The first is the name of the nation itself: Lënape, which means "real person" or "original person",<ref>"Online Etymology Dictionary." Retrieved October 10, 2019.</ref> a construction seen in the national endonym of their relatives, the Anishinaabeg. The second element, hòki, originates from the Proto-Algonquian word *axskiy,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> meaning "land", relating it to the aski in Nitaskinan, the assi in Nitassinan, Ojibwemowin's aki, and the Istchee in Eeyou Istchee.Template:NoteTag Finally, the last element, -nk, is the locative suffix.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lënapehòkink thus translates to "in the land of the Lenape", a word popularized when Nora Thompson Dean shared the term with conservationist Theodore Cornu in 1970, and later with archaeologist Herbert C. Kraft.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This term has since 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.

Territorial extent

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 and lower Hudson river valleys, as well the hill-and-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,<ref name="AmHeritageBk"/> down into northern South Carolina,<ref name="AmHeritageBk"/> the Delaware ConfederationTemplate:Efn 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 Susquehannocks; the Delawares' territory has generally been plotted with boundariesTemplate:Efn along mountain ridgesTemplate:Efn topped by the drainage divides 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 Lehigh Rivers; 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 traders 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.Template:Efn

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 Nation) 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 Template:Transliteration 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

Lenape sites in Lower Manhattan

• Manhattan is derived from Template:Transliteration, 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).<ref>Full Text of Robert Juet's Journal: From the collections of the New York Historical Society, Second Series, 1841 log book Template:Webarchive, Newsday. Accessed May 16, 2007.</ref> 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.<ref name="Mannahatta">Template:Cite web</ref> The Encyclopedia of New York City offers other derivations, including from the Munsee dialect of Lenape: Template:Transliteration ('place of general inebriation'), Template:Transliteration ('place where timber is procured for bows and arrows'), or Template:Transliteration ('island').<ref>"More on the names behind the roads we ride" Template:Webarchive, 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 Template:Transliteration, meaning 'place of general inebriation', or Template:Transliteration, meaning 'place where timber is procured for bows and arrows', or Template:Transliteration, meaning 'island'."</ref> Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman) defined it as: 'place that is an island', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45">Kraft, Herbert C.; Kraft, John T. (1985). The Indians of Lenapehoking (First ed.). South Orange, NJ: Seton Hall University Press. p. 45. Template:ISBN</ref>
• Sapohanikan – habitation site and cultivated area by the cove on the Hudson River at present day Gansevoort Street, Greenwich Village.
• 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.
• Indirectly named after Lenape shell middens: Pearl Street and Collect Pond

Staten Island

• Template:Transliteration – name for Staten Island
• Template:Transliteration – name for Staten Island
• Template:Transliteration – habitation site and cultivated area along Great Kills Harbor

Brooklyn

• [[Nyack Tract|Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration]] – habitation in Bay Ridge near the present location of the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge
• Gowanus Canal – originally named by early settlers as "Gowanes Creek" after Template:Transliteration, sachem of the local Lenape tribe called the Canarsee, who lived and farmed along the shores of the creek.<ref name="dredgers">The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, "Gowanus Canal History Template:Webarchive", accessed May 12, 2004, revised April 2, 2004</ref> Also source of the neighborhood Gowanus and the Heights of Guan.
• Template:Transliteration – habitation site in present Red Hook

Queens

• Rockaway, evolved from the Lenape word Template:Transliteration, which apparently referred to 'a sandy place'.<ref>William Martin Beauchamp: Aboriginal place names of New York (1907); p.179 [1]</ref>
• Maspeth originally Mas-pet were a part of the Rockaway band that lived along Maspeth Creek.<ref>History of Long island from its discovery and settlement to the present time. Volume 1 By Benjamin Franklin Thompson, Charles Jolly Werner (1918)[2]</ref>

Westchester County

• Ossining – derived from the local Template:Transliteration tribe, meaning 'stone upon stone', and Template:Transliteration, also meaning 'stone'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Mamaroneck – from Munsee "striped stream/river";<ref>https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mamaroneck#cite_ref-1 Template:User-generated source</ref> not, as is often incorrectly cited, as "the place where fresh water falls into the sea"
• Tuckahoe
• Armonk
• Template:Transliteration – 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.
• Template:Transliteration – name for Mount Kisco
• Chappaqua
• Katonah
• Croton
• Crompond

Rockland County

• Monsey – from the name of the Munsees, northern branch of the Lenapes

New Jersey

• Absecon – meaning: 'little water'<ref>https://www.atlantic-county.org/history/absecon-island.asp</ref>
• Assunpink Creek – meaning: 'Stony Creek'<ref name="Indian">indian.htm Template:Webarchive</ref> / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'rocky place that is watery', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Communipaw (in Bergen-Lafayette, Jersey City) – 'riverside landing place'<ref name="Indian" />
• Cushetunk – 'place of hogs'<ref name="Indian" />
• Hackensack – 'stream flowing into another on a plain/ in a swamp/ in a lowland'<ref name="Indian" /> / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'place of sharp ground', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Hoboken – 'where pipes are traded' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'tobacco pipe', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Hohokus – 'red cedars'<ref name="Indian" />
• Hopatcong – 'pipe stone' (Template:Em 'honey waters of many coves' as early 20th-century boosters would have it)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Kittatinny – 'great hill' or 'endless mountain' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'big mountain', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Mahwah – 'meeting place'
• Manahawkin – 'place where there is good land' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'where the land slopes', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Manalapan – municipality's name is said to have come from Lenape and is said to mean 'land of good bread'
• Mantoloking – said to be either 'frog ground', 'sandy place' or 'land of sunsets'
• Manasquan – "Man-A-Squaw-Han", meaning 'stream of the island of squaws' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'place to gather grass', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Mantua – said to have come from the "Munsees", North Jersey Lenapes, but the township is in South Jersey.<ref name="Indian" />
• Matawan – 'hill on either side'<ref name="Indian" />
• Metuchen – 'dry firewood'<ref name="Indian" />
• Minisink – '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
• Musconetcong
• Netcong – Abbreviation of Template:Transliteration.
• Parsippany – original form was Template:Transliteration, which means 'the place where the river winds through the valley'<ref name="Indian" />
• Passaic – 'valley' or 'river flowing through a valley'<ref name="Indian" /> / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'valley', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Peapack – 'place of water roots'<ref name="Indian" />
• Raritan – original form was Template:Transliteration; may have meant 'river behind the island' or 'forked river'.<ref name="Indian" />
• Scheyichbi – Meaning of name varies.<ref name="Indian" /> notes two possible meanings: the land that the Lenapes called their country, or 'land of the shell money' (Template:Transliteration).<ref name="Indian" />
• Secaucus – 'black snakes'.<ref name="Indian" />
• Weehawken – 'place of gulls'.<ref name="Indian" />
• Whippany – meaning from the original Template:Transliteration, 'place of the arrow wood' or 'place of the willow trees'<ref name="Fariello 2004">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link Reprinted from Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Cheslow 1999">Template:Cite web</ref>

Pennsylvania

• Aquashicola Creek – derived from the Lenape, meaning 'where we fish with the bushnet'.<ref>The origin of certain place names in the United States By Henry Gannett</ref>
• Cacoosing Creek – derived from the Lenape word Template:Transliteration, meaning 'owl'<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Buckwampum Mountain – located in eastern Springfield Township, Bucks County, means 'a round bog'.<ref name=":0">RESEARCH OF Donald R. Repsher, of Bath, PennsylvaniaFriend and Brother of the Lenape Template:Webarchive

</ref>

• Catasauqua – 'thirsty ground'<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Catawissa – 'growing fat'<ref>Nude Walker: A Novel By Bathsheba Monk</ref>
• Chinquapin – The name is taken from a small nut-bearing tree or shrub, resembling the American Chestnut.
• Cocalico – 'where the snakes collect in dens to pass the winter'<ref>Names which the Lenni Lennape Or Delaware Indians Gave to Rivers, Streams ... edited by William Cornelius Reichel</ref>
• Cohocksink Creek – from a Lenape word for 'pine lands'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Cohoquinoque Creek – derived from a Lenni-Lenape word for 'the grove of long pine trees'.
• Connoquenessing – 'a long way straight'Template:Citation needed
• Conococheague Creek – 'water of many turns'
• Conodoguinet Creek – 'a long way with many bends'
• Conshohocken – original form Template:Transliteration, meaning pleasant valley.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'elegant land', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Hokendauqua Creek – From Lenape words: Template:Transliteration, or 'land', and Template:Transliteration, or 'to come for some purpose', Meaning: 'searching for land'
• Kingsessing – 'a place where there is a meadow'
• Kittatinny – 'great mountain' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'big mountain', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Karakung – 'clay creek'
• Lahaska – derived from Template:Transliteration meaning 'the place of much writing',<ref name=":0" />
• Lackawanna – 'forks of a stream' / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'sandy creek'; 'sandy river', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/> (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
• Lehigh County – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration meaning 'at the forks of a path or stream'
• Lycoming – 'great stream'<ref>History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania ... edited by John Franklin Meginness</ref> (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
• Macungie – derived from Template:Transliteration, meaning 'bear swamp' or 'feeding place of the Bears'.
• Mahoning Creek – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration, meaning 'at the mineral lick', referring to a place frequented by deer, elk and other animals.
• Manatawny Creek – 'place where we drank'<ref>The Centennial Celebration, 1776-1876 at Pottstown, Pa., July 4, 1876 and ... By L. H. Davis</ref>
• Manayunk – 'place where we go to drink'<ref name=":1" /> / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'place to drink', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Mauch Chunk Creek – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration, 'at the bear mountain'<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'where the hills are clustered', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Maxatawny – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration, 'bear path stream'<ref name=":3"/>
• Monocacy – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration, 'stream with several large bends'<ref name=":3"/>
• Moselem – 'trout stream'<ref>The Story of Berks County (Pennsylvania) By A. E. Wagner, Francis Wilhauer Balthaser, D. K. Hoch</ref>
• Moshannon Creek – derived from Template:Transliteration, 'moose stream'<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
• Moyamensing – place of judgment, located in the south part of Philadelphia
• Muckinipattis Creek – 'deep running water'
• Neshaminy Creek – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration, 'two streams' or 'double stream'<ref name=":0" />
• Nesquehoning Creek – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration, 'black mineral lick'<ref name=":3"/>
• Nittany – 'single mountain'<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
• Nockamixon Township – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration, 'where there are three houses'<ref name=":0" />
• Ockanickon Scout Reservation – named after a Lenape chief who assisted William Penn in the exploration of the Bucks County area.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Okehocking Historic District – an 18th-century Indian Land Grant by William Penn to the Okehocking band of Lenape (Delaware) Indians in 1703.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Ontelaunee – little daughter of a great mother<ref>The New England Magazine, Volume 37</ref>
• Passyunk – a Philadelphia neighborhood and former township named for a Lenape village (compare to Passaic, New Jersey)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'in the valley', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Paxtang – 'where the waters stand'<ref>History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Volume 1 By Luther Reily Kelker</ref> (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
• Paunacussing Creek – means 'where the powder was given to us'.<ref name=":0" />
• Pennypack Creek – 'downward-flowing water'; a creek in and near Philadelphia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Perkasie – derived from Template:Transliteration, meaning 'where the hickory nuts were cracked'.<ref name=":0" />
• Perkiomen Creek – derived from Template:Transliteration meaning 'where the cranberries grow'; a creek in central Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.<ref name=":0" />
• Pocono – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration, 'a stream between mountains'<ref name=":3"/>
• Poquessing Creek – 'place of the mice'<ref name=":0" />
• Punxsutawney – Template:Transliteration meaning 'town of the sandflies' (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
• Saucon Creek – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration, 'the mouth of a stream'<ref name=":3"/> (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
• Shackamaxon – which means 'place of the council' and is on the site of Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Skippack – from Lenape word Template:Transliteration, 'wet land'<ref name=":3"/>
• Susquehanna River – from Lenape Template:Transliteration, 'mile wide, foot deep'Template:Citation needed (This Lenape placename does not occur within the bounds of Lenapehoking, as defined by the map accompanying this article.)
• Tamaqua – from Lenape Template:Transliteration, 'beaver'<ref name=":3" />
• Tatamy – from Lenape name Chief Moses Tatamy who lived in the region and died in 1761
• Tohickon Creek – 'the stream over which we pass by means of a bridge of drift-wood' or simply 'deer-bone–creek'.<ref name=":0" />
• Towamencin – a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, means 'poplar tree'<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Towamensing – 'fording place at the falls'<ref name=":3"/>
• Tulpehocken – 'land of turtles', the name of a creek and a SEPTA train station and street in Philadelphia<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> / *Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman): 'turtle land', from Lenape Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Kraft, Herbert C. 1985 p. 45"/>
• Unami Creek – From Lenape word Template:Transliteration meaning 'person from down river'<ref name=":3" />
• Wallenpaupack - From Lenape name meaning the 'stream of swift and slow water.' Wallenpaupack Creek was dammed in 1928 to create Lake Wallenpaupack
• Wissahickon – 'yellow stream' or 'catfish stream'; a creek in and near Philadelphia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Wyomissing – meaning 'the land of flats'; a borough in Berks County Pennsylvania<ref name=":3"/>
• 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

• Turtle Island (Native American folklore)
• Apacheria
• Bergen, New Netherland
• Comancheria
• History of Delaware
• History of New Jersey
• History of New York (state)
• History of New York City
• History of Pennsylvania
• History of Philadelphia
• Huronia (region)
• New Amsterdam
• New Netherland
• New York metropolitan area
• Philadelphia metropolitan area