Delaware (people)

I

Introduction

Delaware (people), Native Americans of the Algonquian language family and of the Northeast culture area. The Delaware originally resided in what are now the states of New Jersey, New York (Staten Island, Manhattan, western Long Island, and the west side of the lower Hudson River), eastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The Delaware call themselves Lenape or Lenni Lenape, meaning “original people.” Europeans named them Delaware because they lived along the Delaware River (itself named after Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, first governor of colonial Virginia) and its tributaries.

The Delaware are sometimes known as the Delaware Confederacy because they were a loose alliance of Algonquian-speaking bands. Based on dialects, the various bands, each with a distinct political identity, are grouped as three divisions: the Munsee in the north, the Unami in the south, and the Unalachtigo along some of the Atlantic coast. Members of other Algonquian tribes held the Delaware in esteem and respectfully addressed them as “grandfather” because Delaware territory was considered the ancestral homeland of all Algonquians.

II

History and Migrations

The Delaware developed trade relations with early European settlers and, according to legend, sold Manhattan Island to the Dutch in 1626. (Some scholars believe that the group making the transaction was actually a band of the Wappinger tribe, which had villages along the east side of the Hudson River.) European settlement on Delaware territory was rapid and led to some hostilities between the Dutch and Delaware bands in the region of New Amsterdam (now New York City). Although the Delaware sold much of their land to the Dutch and, after the 1664 English takeover of New Netherland, to the English, they apparently thought they were only selling the right to use the land, not the land itself. In 1682 Delaware bands, one of them under Chief Tammany (or Tamanend), signed a treaty of friendship with William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania. Penn made several land purchases from the Delaware, generally on fair terms.

With less and less land, and under attack from the Iroquois, the Delaware began to move westward. One group was converted to Moravian Christianity (see Moravian Church) in western Pennsylvania and remained there. By the mid-18th century the main body of Delaware had abandoned their eastern villages and migrated to Ohio and Indiana. Subsequent stops were in Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas. By the 1860s some Delaware had relocated to the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma, where they settled among the Cherokee. Others moved elsewhere in the West, joining other tribes, working in the fur trade, or becoming scouts for the United States Army.

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A

Customs

Like other eastern Algonquians, the Delaware were an agricultural people, growing corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers, and hunting and gathering to supplement their diet. They typically placed their villages along the banks of rivers and creeks, with fields of crops nearby. They lived in rectangular houses with domed roofs, similar to Iroquois longhouses, or in less permanent small domed wigwams. Marriage was accomplished through an exchange of gifts, and it could be terminated easily by either party. A Delaware chief, together with his advisers and the tribe's elders, selected the new chief among those who were eligible, based on matrilineal descent (descent traced through the female line). The Delaware addressed their prayers to Manitou, the Great Spirit, or its many manifestations. An important renewal ceremony was the Big House (Ga’mwi or Gamwing), which lasted 12 days and involved a log structure symbolizing the universe, the lighting of a sacred fire, and offerings to Misinghalikun, a legendary being who guarded game animals.

III

Contemporary Life

In the 2000 U.S. census about 8,300 people identified themselves as Delaware only; an additional 8,000 people reported being part Delaware. There are two groups in Oklahoma, mostly of Unami ancestry: the Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma in the western part of the state and the more numerous Delaware Tribe (Eastern Delaware or Lenni Lenape) of Oklahoma in the northeast. Munsee descendants share the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation in Wisconsin with other Algonquians. Canadian First Nations include the Moravian of the Thames and the Munsee-Delaware, both in Ontario and both of Munsee ancestry; other Munsee live among the Iroquois on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. Other small Delaware bands maintain tribal identity in former homelands in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kansas. There has been a renaissance of traditional culture among these various groups, and most sponsor tribal powwows. In 1992 the Delaware Nation Grand Council of North America was incorporated in Ohio for the purpose of unity among all the bands.

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