Original Settlers of New York: The Lenape and "Mannahatta"

Long before Europeans, the Lenape (Delaware) people inhabited the area now known as New York City. They called the island "Mannahatta" or "Manahachtanienk"—meaning "island of many hills" or "place of general inebriation" (referring to a fermented drink).

Lenape Life

• Algonquian-speaking, matrilineal clans
• Seasonal rounds: fishing, hunting, gathering, maize/bean/squash horticulture
• Villages: Sapohanikan (Greenwich Village), Konaande Kongh (Harlem), Werpoes (Chinatown), etc.
• Extensive trade networks (wampum, furs, shells)

European Contact

• 1524: Verrazzano explores harbor
• 1609: Henry Hudson (Dutch) sails river later named for him
• 1624: Dutch West India Company establishes New Netherland
• 1626: "Purchase" of Manhattan (60 guilders trade goods)—Lenape understood as sharing, not alienation
• 1664: English take New Netherland → New York

Lenape were displaced westward through treaties, war, and pressure. Today, Lenape descendants live in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Ontario, and New Jersey—maintaining culture and language.