Person | Lënape (Monsi / Wënami) |
---|---|
People | Lënapeyok (Monsiyok / Wënamiyok) |
Language | Lënapei èlixsuwakàn (Monsii èlixsuwakàn / Wënami èlixsuwakàn) |
Country | Lënapehòkink (Monsihòkink / Wënamihòkink) |
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).