The Lenape of Mannahatta

The Lenape of Mannahatta. Hudson River Pk. , The island of Mannahatta (Manhattan) was Indigenously settled for millennia before the arrival of Europeans. Mannahatta, and the Mahicannituck or Muhheakunnuck (the Hudson River) are part of the Lenapehoking (homelands) of the Lenape, meaning "True" or "Original People." The Lenape continue to thrive among sovereign Nations in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada. their enduring culture and strong oral history speak to the permanency of Indigenous cultural traditions and the significance of community that was and is so integral to the Lenape and their Delaware ancestors and ties them to their homelands in New York., On his exploration of the Mahicannituck (Hudson River), Henry Hudson documented meeting with the Lenape. On behalf of the Dutch, Hudson claimed Lenape land and by 1624 New Netherland was established. The eventual governor of New Netherland, Peter Minuit claimed to have "purchased" the island from the Lenape in 1626 for 60 guilders (approximately $24 today). However, due to different conceptions of ownership and language barriers, such transactions were misunderstood. Instead, the Lenape likely saw the agreement as permission for colonists to travel across or hunt on their lands. This type of misunderstanding resulted in dispossession and forced removal of the Lenape from their homelands., [Captions:] , Traditionally members of Lenape society were organized into three clans: the Pèle (Turkey Clain); Pùkuwànku (Turtle Clan); and Tùkwsit (Wolf Clan). Clan membership was traced along the mother's family line and partners live with the woman's family. The bonds between extended family groups and clans comprised the foundation of the villages established throughout the territory., The Lenape were forced to leave their ancestral homelands and spread inland into what is now the United States and Canada (above). The Lenape and their culture flourishes and continues among the federally recognized sovereign Lenape Nations: the Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma; the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Wisconsin; as well as the Munsee-Delaware Nation, the Moravian of the Thames First Nation, and the Delaware of Six Nations in Ontario., At the time of contact, the area of Pier 76t and Lower Manhattan was inhabited by three Lenape groups: the Canarsie, the Sapohannikan, and the Manhattan, each of which spoke a different dialect and who were settled across five different villages. Three main trails, seen left, connected the groups and villages and intersected at a central meeting point, called Kintecoying (Crossroads of Three Nations).