When the Europeans arrived in the early 17th century, three cultures—the Lenape, Munsee, and Lenope—lived along the Delaware River, then known to Europeans as the “South” river. These Algonquin speakers initially were called “River Indians” by the colonists, but after renaming the river the Delaware Europeans called them “Delaware Indians” or simply “Delaware.” A fourth culture in that area, sometimes included with the “Delaware,” was the Ciconicin (Sikonese), first identified as the “Bay Indians” due to their location on Delaware Bay and because their horticultural lifestyle differed from the River Indians.
In the 19th century some observers adopted the “Heckewelder equation” to describe the three cultures, linking the Turtle clan with the Lenape, the Wolf with the Munsee, and the Turkey with the Lenope. The histories of these three cultures differ somewhat. Before A. D. 1000 the ancestors of all three cultures were among the small, wide-ranging bands that foraged throughout the Middle Atlantic region of the Eastern Woodland zone. Between 1000 and 1200 these foragers developed strategies that were specific to smaller areas. Archaeologically, this is evident in the transition from the Middle Woodland Period (ca. 0 to A. D. 1000) to the Late Woodland Period (ca. 1000 to ca. 1750), when the bow and arrow were developed. By 1300 each group had developed an intensive foraging lifestyle (involving FISHING, hunting, and gathering of foodstuffs) adapted to a specific territory. These cultural patterns were in operation when Europeans first made records of these peoples in the early 17th century.
The best known of the three cultures is the Lenape. Their long and cordial relations with William Penn and the Quakers in Pennsylvania followed more than 50 years of peaceful trade and land sales with Dutch and Swedish colonists. These were among the longest peaceful relations between Native Americans and European colonists. The Lenape occupied the west side of the lower Delaware River from Old Duck Creek (now the Leipsig River) in northern Delaware to Tohiccon Creek, just south of the Lehigh River. The Lenape were organized into 13 matrilineal bands, each of which used one of the drainage streams that fed the Delaware River. The principal FOOD of the Lenape was the eight species of anadromous fish (including shad, alewives, and striped bass) that spawned in their territory. Other foods were abundant in this region, particularly in the rich swamps and marshes associated with the river system. Migratory waterfowl, their eggs and chicks, and a rich supply of plants provided the Lenape with an extensive and varied diet while at their “summer” fishing stations.
Each Lenape band established a warm weather fishing station in late winter to take advantage of the huge fish migrations that lasted into November. The women of the lineage gathered fish from these overlapping spawning runs. These fishing stations, used seasonally for between five and 15 years, occupied vaguely defined areas within which the individual families of the band could set up their wickiups near those of their immediate kin. In the fall, with fish and nuts still plentiful and wild animals fattened for winter, the Lenape held their “annual renewal ceremonies.” All Lenape from every band gathered at one of the fishing stations to feast, arrange marriages, and carry out other family matters.
Like most Native Americans in the area, the Lenape migrated seasonally. At the beginning of winter, when the fish runs had ended and gathering of resources became more difficult, the several Lenape families in each band abandoned their fishing station to begin cold weather foraging in the interior. Before dispersing the families decided whether to return to the same fishing station the following spring. If the resources in that area had become too depleted, they might resolve to establish a new station, usually within a few miles distance and always near the mouth of their principal stream. The general location would be noted before the families in the band broke camp to go on their winter hunt. This winter dispersal took the more agile families to the distant parts of their territory, near the sources of their river and often beyond. The less mobile families, limited by infirm or elderly members, stayed closer to their fishing areas. Families might not see one another for months, but as soon as the first warming days of spring were felt each Lenape family would head downstream to the designated fishing station.
The Munsee occupied the territory east of the upper Delaware River and retained a general foraging lifestyle after A. D. 1000. Only four species of anadromous fish, the subset termed “long-run,” spawned beyond Tohickon Creek, into the Lehigh and upper Delaware drainages. Therefore, the Munsee had access to only half the species that made Lenape fishing a viable way to focus their gathering lifestyle. The Munsee consequently combined hunting and gathering with fishing, and they also grew and stored maize (corn) as an emergency crop. The location of the Munsee homeland, close to New Amsterdam, led to many traditions and details of their lives being recorded by Dutch colonists and traders.
The Lenope occupied southern New Jersey up to, but not including, the Raritan Valley. The similarity between the names Lenape and Lenope led the colonists to call the latter “Jerseys” to avoid confusion. They separated from the Lenape by 1300, but remained related to them both culturally and linguistically. While several of the Lenope bands had access to the Delaware River, most were located along the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic shore, where they had developed their culture to use the specific ecology of southern New Jersey. These bands thus concentrated more heavily on gathering maritime resources.
By 1750 many members of these three cultures had moved out of their homeland. While members of all three Native cultures migrated, the size and patterns of each group differed considerably. The Lenape moved directly west beginning before 1661 to take advantage of and ultimately to control the western Pennsylvania fur trade. The Munsee generally moved north, although many bands moved west along the New York border and beyond Pennsylvania. Most of the Lenape never left New Jersey, although a few moved into the Forks of Delaware at the Lehigh River, then north and west. The descendants of all three cultures retained their identities into the 20th century. The continuities were so strong that the Lenape language still survives among a few descendants of this Native culture.
See also Teedyuscung.
Further reading: Paul A. W. Wallace, Indians in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1981).
—Marshall Joseph Becker
World History
