THE MANHATTAN INDIANS 



BY ALANSON SKINNER 



INTRODUCTORY 



Some time before the advent of the Dutch at New Amsterdam, a 

 branch of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians split off from the 

 parent stock, which had its abode south and west of the Hudson and 

 moved eastward and northward forming the Mahikan tribe. They 

 occupied Manhattan island and the east bank of the Hudson as far 

 north as the southern boundary of the Mohawk Iroquois. In time 

 they became subdivided into several subtribes and bands, the 

 chief of which, known as the Wappinger Confederacy, was com- 

 posed of the Wappinger, Kitchawanck, Sintsinck, Siwanoy, Weck- 

 quaesgeck and Reckgawawanck. Of these people the two tribes 

 last mentioned were found by the Dutch inhabiting Manhattan 

 island. At that time the Weckquaesgecks held the upper part of the 

 island above a line drawn from the Rechewa's creek (later Harlem 

 creek) to the ravine at what is now Manhattanville, and the 

 Reckgawawanck occupied the lower part of the island. Both of 

 these tribes also held territories on the mainland where their principal 

 abodes were situated. The name Manhattan referred to the portions 

 of both tribes dwelling on the island and it is said to mean 

 " Islanders." Although the modern Delawares insist on translating 

 " Manhattanink " as " The Place Where They Were All Intoxi- 

 cated," basing the name on the traditions of their first meeting with 

 the whites and their introduction to spirituous liquors. 



All the old records claim that Manhattan island was used not as a 

 permanent abode but as a hunting and camping ground, assertions 

 which, however true at the time of the Dutch occupation, do not 

 seem entirely to hold good of the prehistoric period. 



Our first records of the Manhattan Indians or their kindred date 

 from Verrazano in 1524, and we have little further information in 

 regard to them until 1609 when Hudson entered New York harbor. 

 The first account of the Indians of the neighborhood of New Am- 

 sterdam is also by Verrazano^ who said that they did not differ 

 much from the natives whom he had met elsewhere along the coast 

 and that they were of good proportions, medium height, deep 

 chested and strong armed. He met among others " two kings more 



1 Collection of the New York Historical Societ}', 2d series, 1:45. 



