Lenapehoking is a term ascribed to the Lenape American Indians as the name in the Delaware language of the region they inhabited along the East Coast of the United States. Like much of Algonquian toponymy, there is some confusion about the meaning and history of the name.

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, New York Bay, and the southern counties of New York State, including New York Harbor and the five boroughs of New York City.

According to some people, who have misunderstood the origin of this word, the Lenape called this territory "Lenapehoking", 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.

Other Lenape place names

Lenape place names within the region included:

• Manhattan
  • Sapokanikan - habitation site and cultivated area on the Hudson River north of present day Greenwich Village
  • Nechtanc - habitation site along the East River near the present location of the Manhattan Bridge.

• 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 - habitation site along the south bank of Gowanus Creek
  • Sassian - habitation site in present Red Hook

See also

• History of New York City
• New Amsterdam

References

Lenape people