Staten Island First Natives

The name Delaware was given by the Europeans to all the natives living along the Delaware River. Thirty Indian nations lived between the Mississippi and the Atlantic Ocean, all speaking a common Algonquian language. One of these nations, the Lenni-Lenape, lived in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York (see map below). Three tribes of the Lenape nation lived on and near Staten Island, the Tappans, Hackensack, and Raritans. They were known as fierce and tenacious warriors when they had to fight; however, they preferred to choose a path of peace with the Europeans and other tribes. (The name Lenape (len-NAH-pay) means “The People” or “Original People.”)

The Lenapes

The Lenapes were some of the first people in North America, dating back to about 10,000 BC. At that time, the Wisconsin glacier covered almost half the continent. The Lenapes lived on the West Shore of Staten Island and hunted mastodons, giant caribou, and other large animals for food and clothing.

As the glaciers receded and the climate moderated, deciduous trees like oak and maple grew in the region. They used tulip trees to create canoes and “dug-outs” by burning the tree’s center and chopping out the charcoal, creating the needed shape. The Lenapes moved about the area using various parts of the Island as seasonal camps. During the warmer months, they would collect shellfish and hunt small animals like white-tailed deer, rabbits, beavers, and turkeys that were abundant in the area. The Lenapes did not waste any of the animals they killed. Instead, they used fur for clothing; skins for shelter and clothing; bones for tools; deer hooves for glue, and other parts, such as a snapping turtle shell for toys.

As time passed, they adopted the bow and arrow and clay bowls and created crude farming tools. Horticulture allowed people to grow corn, beans, and squash in one area.

The White People Arrive

The Lenapes saw their first “white man” around 1500 AD when the colonists came to North America. First sighted by Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524, the Island remained populated mainly by the Raritans and Unamis Indians until about 1630, when the Dutch attempted to establish settlements there. Called Staaten Eylandt by the Dutch, they failed to maintain colonies. The Indians, feeling threatened, drove each attempt settlers made from the Island. Many of these wars were instigated by the Dutch; in all, blood was spilled on both sides in three wars; the Pig War (1641), the Whisky War (1642), and the Peach War (1655). The disputes were finally settled, and in 1661, the Dutch established a lasting colony called Oude Dorp, or Old Town, near South Beach. The Lenapes began trading with the colonists and received metals such as iron, copper, and brass that were used for tools and weapons.

Trade Erupts

They also traded for shirts, kettles, knives, guns, and other materials. Many of the early treaties and land sales they signed with the Europeans were, in their minds, more like leases. Early Delaware had no idea that land could be sold. The land belonged to the Creator, and the Lenape people believed they only used it to shelter and feed their people. When people were experiencing poverty, bedraggled settlers got off their ships after their lengthy voyage and needed a place to live. The Lenape shared the land with them, whoever, in the mind of the Europeans, their gifts were the purchase price for the land. As a result, the Indians sold the same land many times, leading to disputes that lasted until the 1800s. Many of the Lenape left the Island by the 1670s. Many tribes moved westward, first to Ohio, then Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, and finally, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), while other tribes moved north to Ontario. The last Lenape was seen on the Island around 1682.