Lenapehoking

PersonLënape
     (Monsi /
     Wënami)
PeopleLënapeyok
     (Monsiyok /
     Wënamiyok)
LanguageLënapei èlixsuwakàn
     (Monsii èlixsuwakàn /
     Wënami èlixsuwakàn)
CountryLënapehòkink
     (Monsihòkink /
     Wënamihòkink)
Map of Lenapehoking and approximate boundaries of languages spoken, including all of present-day New Jersey, most of eastern Pennsylvania, and southern New York

Lenapehoking (Unami: Lënapehòkink[1]) is widely translated as 'homelands of the Lenape', which in the 16th and 17th centuries, ranged along the Eastern seaboard from western Connecticut to Delaware, and encompassed the territory adjacent to the Delaware and lower Hudson river valleys, and the territory between them.

Beginning in the 17th century, European colonists started settling on traditional Lenape lands. Combined with the concurrent introduction of Eurasian infectious diseases and encroachment from the colonists, the Lenape were severely depopulated and lost control over large portions of Lenapehoking. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the United States government forcibly removed the Lenape to the American Midwest, including the state of Oklahoma.[2]

Lenape nations today control lands within Oklahoma (Delaware Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians), Wisconsin (Stockbridge-Munsee Community), and Ontario (Munsee-Delaware Nation, Moravian of the Thames First Nation, and Delaware of Six Nations).

  1. ^ "Lenape Talking Dictionary".
  2. ^ Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., ed. (1961). The American Heritage Book of Indians. American Heritage Publishing. pp. 168–189. LCCN 61-14871.