Lenapehoking

Map showing the Lenapehoking region.

Lenapehoking or Len'api'hak'ing is a term for the lands historically inhabited by the Native American people known as the Lenape (named Delaware by early European settlers) in what is now the Northeastern United States. Though it is sometimes said to be a word in the Delaware languages for this area, like much of the toponymy involving languages in the Algonquian linguistic group, there is some confusion about the meaning and history of the name. Much of this land is now heavily urbanized and suburbanized.

At the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th and 17th century, the Lenape homeland generally encompassed the territory adjacent to the Delaware and lower Hudson river valleys, as well the territory between them. It stretched from modern-day Delaware to western Connecticut and Long Island and included parts of eastern Pennsylvania, all of present day New Jersey, and the southern counties of New York State, including Rockland, Orange, Westchester, and Putnam Counties, Nassau County, and the five boroughs of New York City. Along with New York City, Newark, Trenton, Princeton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware, Atlantic City, and numerous other urban and suburban areas are in Lenapehoking today, as are the Jersey Shore, Pine Barrens, the Sourland Mountains, the Delaware Valley, and perhaps some parts of the Catskills, Poconos, and the Pennsylvania Dutch Country.

There is no universal agreement among scholars regarding the autonym of Lenape territory. Some believe the area the Lenape inhabited was called Scheyischbi, or 'the place bordering the ocean'. According to some people, the Lenape called this territory "Lenapehoking" (lənape haki-nk), meaning 'in the land of the Lenape'. This assertion has gained widespread acceptance and is found widely in recent literature on the Lenape, including in the websites of purported Lenape people. Ray Whritenour, a philologist, says that the term does not appear in any sources from the 18th century, but is a modern name coined by Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves Woman) in 1984, in order to provide the archaeologist/author, Herbert C. Kraft, with a convenient term for the area once inhabited by ancestors of the Lenape people.

Today, some Native Americans not limited to the Lenape or Delaware tribes live in the Northeast Corridor or Eastern Seaboard. Many of them arrived in the 1920s to 1960s from the Iroquois Confederacy employed as skyscraper construction workers, where they been nicknamed the "Mohawks" and they played an important rule in building the skyline of Philadelphia and New York City. In the University City section of West Philadelphia, there has been some political activity by Urban Indian residents of the area, who adapted the namesake Lenapehoking to where they live. However, only a small number are American Indians, and some of their protests and near-riots occurred there in the late 2000s and 2010.

Lenape place names

Lenape place names within the region included:

• Manhattan
  • Manhattan is derived from Manna-hata, a Dutch version of a Lenape place-name.

The name Manhattan derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on Henry Hudson's yacht Halve Maen (Half Moon). A 1610 map depicts the name Manahata twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River (later named the North River, and now called the Hudson River). The word "Manhattan" has been translated as "island of many hills" from the Lenape language. The Encyclopedia of New York City offers other derivations, including from the Munsee dialect of Lenape: manahachtanienk ("place of general inebriation"), manahatouh ("place where timber is procured for bows and arrows"), or menatay ("island").

• • Sapokanikan - habitation site and cultivated area by the cove on the Hudson River at present day Gansevoort Street, Greenwich Village.
  • Nechtanc - habitation site along the East River site of Jacob Van Corlaer's plantation at Corlaer's Hook, near the present location of the Manhattan Bridge, in the part of the Lower East Side that is now Chinatown.

• Staten Island
  • Aquehonga - name for Staten Island
  • Manacknong - name for Staten Island
  • Shawkopoke - habitation site and cultivated area along Great Kills Harbor

• Brooklyn
  • Nayack or Wichquawanck - habitation in Bay Ridge near the present location of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge
  • Gowanus Canal - originally named by early settlers as "Gowanes Creek" after Gouwane, sachem of the local Lenape tribe called the Canarsee, who lived and farmed along the shores of the creek.
  • Sassian - habitation site in present Red Hook

• Queens
  • Rockaway originally known as Reckowacky after a small band of the Canarsee who lived on the peninsula.
  • Maspeth originally Mas-pet were a part of the Rockaway band that lived along Maspeth Creek.

• Rockland County, New York
  • Monsey - from the name of the Munsees, northern branch of the Lenapes

• New Jersey
  • Absecon - meaning: "place of swans"
  • Assunpink Creek - meaning: "Stony Creek"
  • Communipaw (in downtown Jersey City) - "riverside landing place"
  • Hackensack - "stream flowing into another on a plain/ in a swamp/ in a lowland"
  • Hoboken - "where pipes are traded"
  • Hohokus - "red cedars"
  • Hopatcong - "pipe stone" (NOT "honey waters of many coves" as early 20th-century boosters would have it)
  • Kittatinny - "great hill" or "endless mountain"
  • Mahwah - "meeting place"
  • Manahawkin - "place where there is good land"
  • Manalapan - municipality's name is said to have come from Lenape and is said to mean "land of good bread"
  • Mantoloking - said to be either "frog ground", "sandy place" or "land of sunsets"
  • Manasquan - "Man-A-Squaw-Han", meaning "stream of the island of squaws"
  • Mantua - said to have come from the "Munsees", North Jersey Lenapes, but the township is in South Jersey.
  • Matawan - "hill on either side"
  • Metuchen - "dry firewood"
  • Minisink - "from the rocky land", is the old name for the Munsee, and the name of an ancient Lenape trade route that ran along a good part of what is now US Highway 46 in Northern New Jersey
  • Musconetcong
  • Netcong - Abbreviation of "Musconetcong".
  • Passaic - "valley" or "river flowing through a valley"
  • Peapack - "place of water roots"
  • Raritan - original form was Naraticong - may have meant "river behind the island" or "forked river".
  • Scheyichbi. Meaning of name varies. notes two possible meanings: the land that the Lenapes called their country, or "land of the shell money (wampum)".
  • Secaucus - "black snakes".
  • Weehawken - "place of gulls".

• Pennsylvania
  • Aquashicola Creek -  derived from the Lenape, meaning "where we fish with the bushnet."
  • 'Cacoosing Creek' - "owl"
  • Catasauqua - "thirsty ground"
  • Catawissa - "growing fat"
  • Cocalico- is the Unami-Len'api term Gook'kawi'unk or "Snake-sleep-place."
  • Cohocksink Creek - is the Unami-Lenapi term for "pine lands."
  • 'Cohoquinoque Creek' - is Unami-Len'api for "the grove of long pine trees."
  • Connoquenessing - “a long way straight"
  • Conococheague Creek - is Unami-Lenapi forOk'chaxk'hanna or "Many-turns-river."
  • Conshohocken - is Unami-Len'api for either Kanshi'hak'ing, or "Elegant-ground- place" or, more likely, Chottschinschu'hak'ing, which means "Big-trough-ground-place" or "Large-bowl-ground-place" to denote the big bend in the Tulpe'hanna (Turtle River, or modern Schuylkill River).
  • Hokendauqua Creek - From Lenape words: Haki, or land, and undoech-wen, or to come for some purpose, Meaning: "Searching for land"
  • Kittatinny- is Unami-Len'api for Kit'atin'ing, which means "Far-go-place" or "Goes-on-forever-place." It is also called Kit'atin'wachtsch'unk or "Far-go-hills-place" or the "Endless Mountains." Kit'atin'ing starts along the northern boundaries of modern Dauphin, Lebanon, Berks, Lehigh, and Northampton counties, Pennsylvania, and, according to the Unalachtigo and Unami Lenapi, who lived south of it, it kept going on and on into the north, through the lands of the Minsi-Len'api ("Scattered-People") and the Goano'ganochsajeh'eroni ("Big-house-people," A.K.A., Iroquois).
  • Lahaska - derived from "Lahaskeke" meaning “the place of much writing,”
  • Lackawanna - "forks of a stream"
  • Lehigh County - from Unalachtigo-Len'api term "Lechauwekink" meaning "at the forks of a path or stream"
  • Lycoming - "great stream"
  • Macungie - Unalachtigo-Len'api for Megungi, which means "wholly, entirely, purely, quite, or alone." Megungi was the northern border area of the Len'api Nation.
  • Mahoning - from the Unalachtigo-Len'api term Men'et'ing, which means "Drink-place." It also denotes a place where Ahktu (deer) or Moos (elk) herds gather. Many place names in Pennsylvania use the term "Mahoning" or "Mahanoy," e.g., Upper and Lower Mahanoy townships, Northumberland County; Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County; Mahoning Township, Montour County; Mahoning Township, Montour County; North, South, East, and West Mahoning townships, Indiana County; Mahoning Township, Armstrong County; and Mahoning Creek, Armstrong County.
  • Mahantango - from the Unami-Len'api term Men'en'ahktu'unk, which means "Drink-deer-place" or "Place-where-deer-gather-to-drink." The modern Mahantango Mountain of northern Dauphin and Schuylkill counties and southern Northumberland County takes its name from this ancient Unami term, as well as the Mahantango Creek and Upper Mahantongo Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
  • Manatawny Creek - "place where we drank"
  • Manayunk - From the Unami-Len'api term Men'en'unk or "Drink-place." Manayunk is a neighborhood in modern Philadelphia, along the Schuylkill River.
  • Mauch Chunk Creek - from Minsi-Len'api term: Machk'unk or "Bear-place."
  • Maxatawny - from Lenape word: "Machksit-hanne" meaning: "bear path stream"
  • Monocacy - from Lenape word: "Menagassi" meaning: "stream with several large bends"
  • Moselem - "trout stream"
  • Moshannon Creek - is from the Unami-Len'api term Mos'hanne, which means "elk river."
  • Moshannock State Park- is from the Unami-Len'api term Mos'hanne'unk, which means "elk river place." It's a place where elk herds once gathered. According to the Len'api, there have never been any moose in modern Pennsylvania; never have been, and never should be.
  • Muckinipattis Creek - "deep running water"
  • Neshaminy Creek - from the Unami-Len'api term: "Nischa'hanna'ing," which means "Two-river-place." This area is modern Northampton Township, Bucks County, namely Richboro and Langhorne. Here, at modern Tyler State Park, is where the local Sak'ima (family chiefs), Kita'kim'a (clan chiefs), or Kich'kin'et (sign readers) would meet at "Council Rock"; i.e., it was a place of "strong medicine." Present Council Rock School District is named after this revered place.
  • Nesquehoning Creek - from Lenape word: Neska-honi, meaning: "black mineral lick"
  • Nittany --from Unami-Len'api term Netami'ing, which means "The-first-place." ). Modern Nittany Mountain in Centre County, Pennsylvania. It overlooks State College, the home of Pennsylvania State University. The mascot of Penn State is the "Nittany Lion" (or mountain cat or cougar that the Len'api call Tschin'que or Nian'que).

• • Nockamixon Township - from Lenape word: "Nochanichsink" meaning: "where there are three houses"
  • Ockanickon Scout Reservation - named after a Lenape chief who assisted William Penn in the exploration of the Bucks County area.
  • 'Okehocking Historic District' - an 18th-century Indian Land Grant by William Pennto the Okehocking band of Lenape (Delaware) Indians in 1703.
  • Ontelaunee -  little daughter of a great mother
  • Passyunk - a Philadelphia neighborhood and former township named for a Lenape village (compare to Passaic, New Jersey)
  • Paxtang - "where the waters stand"
  • Paunacussing Creek - means “where the powder was given to us.” 
  • Pennypack Creek - "downward-flowing water" - a creek in and near Philadelphia.
  • Perkasie - derived from "Poekskossing", meaning “where the hickory nuts were cracked.”
  • Perkiomen Creek - derived from "Pakihmomink" meaning "where the cranberries grow" - a creek in central Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
  • Pocono - from Lenape word: Poco-hanne "a stream between mountains"
  • Poquessing Creek - “place of the mice”
  • Punxsutawney - "Punkwsutènay" meaning "town of the sandflies"
  • Saucon Creek - from Lenape word: "Sacunk" meaning: "the mouth of a stream"
  • Shackamaxon - on the site of Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia.
  • Skippack - from Lenape word: "Skappeu-hacki" meaning: "wet land"
  • Susquehanna River - from (Lenape: Siskëwahane) "mile wide, foot deep"
  • Tamaqua - from Lenape word: "Tamaqua" meaning: "beaver"
  • Tatamy - from Lenape name: Chief Moses Tatamy who lived in the region and died in 1761
  • Tohickon Creek - “the stream over which we pass by means of a bridge of drift-wood” or simply “deer-bone--creek.”
  • Towamensing - "fording place at the falls"
  • Tulpehocken - "turtle land"
  • Tulpehocken - "land of turtles", the name of a creek and a SEPTA train station and street in Philadelphia
  • Unami Creek - From Lenape word: Unami meaning "person from down river"
  • Wissahickon - "yellow stream" or "catfish stream" - a creek in and near Philadelphia.
  • Wyomissing - meaning "the land of flats" - a borough in Berks County Pennsylvania
  • Youghiogheny - "four streams" or "winding stream"

See also

Sticker

• History of New York City
• History of New Jersey
• History of Philadelphia
• History of Pennsylvania
• History of New York
• History of Delaware
• New Amsterdam
• New Netherland
• Bergen, New Netherland
• New York metropolitan area
• Philadelphia metropolitan area