Lenapehoking


Lenapehoking 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.
Beyond the ancestral domain, Lenape nations today control lands within Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario.

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", a construction seen in the national endonym of their Anishinaabe relatives. The second element, hòki, originates from the Proto-Algonquian word *axskiy, meaning "land", relating it to the aski in Nitaskinan, the assi in Nitassinan, Ojibwemowin's aki, and the Istchee in Eeyou Istchee. Finally, the last element, -nk, is the locative suffix. 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. 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 nations whose countries ranged along the entire coast from beyond the Saint Lawrence River in today's Canada, and the nations throughout all of New England, down into northern South Carolina, the Lenape 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 nation had to deal with the fierce and territorial Susquehannocks; Lenapehoking was generally plotted with boundaries along mountain ridges 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 River|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 warfare. The greater Philadelphia area was known to host European to Indigenous contacts from the Dutch traders contacts with the Susquehanna, English traders, 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 people from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy moved into the area in the 1920s to 1960s and were employed as skyscraper construction workers 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, Wisconsin, and Ontario.

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

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. A 1610 map depicts the name Manahata twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River. The word Manhattan has been translated as 'island of many hills' from the Lenape language. The Encyclopedia of New York City offers other derivations, including from the Munsee dialect of Lenape:,, or . Nora Thompson Dean defined it as: 'place that is an island', from Lenape.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.

Staten Island

' – name for Staten Island
  • ' – name for Staten Island – habitation site and cultivated area along Great Kills Harbor

Brooklyn

or – habitation in Bay Ridge near the present location of the Verrazzano–Narrows BridgeGowanus 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. Also source of the neighborhood Gowanus and the Heights of Guan. – habitation site in present Red Hook

Queens

Rockaway, evolved from the Lenape word, which apparently referred to 'a sandy place'.Maspeth originally Mas-pet were a part of the Rockaway band that lived along Maspeth Creek.

Westchester County

Ossining – derived from the local tribe, meaning 'stone upon stone', and, also meaning 'stone'.Mamaroneck – from Munsee "striped stream/river"; not, as is often incorrectly cited, as "the place where fresh water falls into the sea"TuckahoeArmonk' – 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.

Rockland County

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

New Jersey

Absecon – meaning: 'little water'Assunpink Creek – meaning: 'Stony Creek' / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'rocky place that is watery', from Lenape.Communipaw – 'riverside landing place'Cushetunk – 'place of hogs'Hackensack – 'stream flowing into another on a plain/ in a swamp/ in a lowland' / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'place of sharp ground', from Lenape.Hoboken – 'where pipes are traded' / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'tobacco pipe', from Lenape.Hohokus – 'red cedars'Hopatcong – 'pipe stone' Kittatinny – 'great hill' or 'endless mountain' / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'big mountain', from Lenape.Mahwah – 'meeting place'Manahawkin – 'place where there is good land' / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'where the land slopes', from Lenape.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 : 'place to gather grass', from Lenape.Mantua – said to have come from the "Munsees", North Jersey Lenapes, but the township is in South Jersey.Matawan – 'hill on either side'Metuchen – 'dry firewood'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 JerseyMusconetcongNetcong – Abbreviation of.Parsippany – original form was, which means 'the place where the river winds through the valley'Passaic – 'valley' or 'river flowing through a valley' / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'valley', from Lenape.Peapack – 'place of water roots'Raritan – original form was ; may have meant 'river behind the island' or 'forked river'.Scheyichbi – Meaning of name varies. notes two possible meanings: the land that the Lenapes called their country, or 'land of the shell money'.Secaucus – 'black snakes'.Weehawken – 'place of gulls'.Whippany – meaning from the original, 'place of the arrow wood' or 'place of the willow trees'

Pennsylvania

Aquashicola Creek – derived from the Lenape, meaning 'where we fish with the bushnet'.Cacoosing Creek – derived from the Lenape word, meaning 'owl'Buckwampum Mountain – located in eastern Springfield Township, Bucks County, means 'a round bog'.Catasauqua – 'thirsty ground'Catawissa – 'growing fat'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'Cohocksink Creek – from a Lenape word for 'pine lands'.Cohoquinoque Creek – derived from a Lenni-Lenape word for 'the grove of long pine trees'.Connoquenessing – 'a long way straight'Conococheague Creek – 'water of many turns'Conodoguinet Creek – 'a long way with many bends'Conshohocken – original form, meaning pleasant valley. / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'elegant land', from Lenape.Hokendauqua Creek – From Lenape words:, or 'land', and, or 'to come for some purpose', Meaning: 'searching for land'Kingsessing – 'a place where there is a meadow'Kittatinny – 'great mountain' / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'big mountain', from Lenape.Karakung – 'clay creek'Lahaska – derived from meaning 'the place of much writing',Lackawanna – 'forks of a stream' / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'sandy creek'; 'sandy river', from Lenape. Lehigh County – from Lenape word meaning 'at the forks of a path or stream'Lycoming – 'great stream' Macungie – derived from, meaning 'bear swamp' or 'feeding place of the Bears'.Mahoning Creek – from Lenape word, meaning 'at the mineral lick', referring to a place frequented by deer, elk and other animals.Manatawny Creek – 'place where we drank'Manayunk – 'place where we go to drink' / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'place to drink', from Lenape.Mauch Chunk Creek – from Lenape word, 'at the bear mountain' *Nora Thompson Dean : 'where the hills are clustered', from Lenape.Maxatawny – from Lenape word, 'bear path stream'Monocacy – from Lenape word, 'stream with several large bends'Moselem – 'trout stream'Moshannon Creek – derived from, 'moose stream' Moyamensing – place of judgment, located in the south part of PhiladelphiaMuckinipattis Creek – 'deep running water'Neshaminy Creek – from Lenape word, 'two streams' or 'double stream'Nesquehoning Creek – from Lenape word, 'black mineral lick'Nittany – 'single mountain' Nockamixon Township – from Lenape word, 'where there are three houses'Ockanickon Scout Reservation – named after a Lenape chief who assisted William Penn in the exploration of the Bucks County area.Okehocking Historic District – an 18th-century Indian Land Grant by William Penn to the Okehocking band of Lenape (Delaware) Indians in 1703.Ontelaunee – little daughter of a great motherPassyunk – a Philadelphia neighborhood and former township named for a Lenape village / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'in the valley', from Lenape.Paxtang – 'where the waters stand' Paunacussing Creek – means 'where the powder was given to us'.Pennypack Creek – 'downward-flowing water'; a creek in and near Philadelphia.Perkasie – derived from, meaning 'where the hickory nuts were cracked'.Perkiomen Creek – derived from meaning 'where the cranberries grow'; a creek in central Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.Pocono – from Lenape word, 'a stream between mountains'Poquessing Creek – 'place of the mice'Punxsutawney – meaning 'town of the sandflies' Saucon Creek – from Lenape word, 'the mouth of a stream' Shackamaxon – which means 'place of the council' and is on the site of Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia.Skippack – from Lenape word, 'wet land'Susquehanna River – from Lenape, 'mile wide, foot deep' Tamaqua – from Lenape, 'beaver' Tatamy – from Lenape name Chief Moses Tatamy who lived in the region and died in 1761Tohickon Creek – 'the stream over which we pass by means of a bridge of drift-wood' or simply 'deer-bone–creek'.Towamencin – a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, means 'poplar tree'Towamensing – 'fording place at the falls'Tulpehocken – 'land of turtles', the name of a creek and a SEPTA train station and street in Philadelphia / *Nora Thompson Dean : 'turtle land', from Lenape.Unami Creek – From Lenape word meaning 'person from down river'