The Munsee (or Minsi or Muncee) or mə́n'si·w ( del, Monsiyok)Online Lenape Talking Dictionary, "Munsee Indians"
Link
/ref> are a subtribe of the

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

, originally constituting one of the three great divisions of that nation and dwelling along the upper portion of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

, the

Minisink The Minisink or (more recently) Minisink Valley is a loosely defined geographic region of the Upper Delaware River valley in northwestern New Jersey (Sussex and Warren counties), northeastern Pennsylvania ( Pike and Monroe counties) and New York ...

, and the adjacent country in New York,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. From their principal totem they were frequently called the wolf tribe of the Lenape. They were considered the most warlike portion of their nation and assumed the leadership in war councils. They were prominent in the early history of New York and New Jersey, being among the first nations of that region to meet the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an colonizers.

Background

The Munsee originally occupied the headwaters of the

in present-day New York,

, and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, extending south to the

Lehigh River The Lehigh River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward pat ...

, and also held the west bank of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

from the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

nearly to the New Jersey line. They were bordered by the

Mohican The Mohican ( or , alternate spelling: Mahican) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, who ...

and

Wappinger The Wappinger () were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut. At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutches ...

on the north and east, and the Lenape (Delaware) on the south and southeast. They were regarded as a buffer between the southern Lenape and the Iroquois Confederacy based in present-day New York south of the Great Lakes. Their council village was

, probably in

Sussex County, New Jersey Sussex County is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. Its county seat is Newton. ...

. The bands along the Hudson were prominent in the early history of New York, but as European-American settlements increased, most of the Munsee moved south to join their relatives along the Delaware.''Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico,'' Vol.3, Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, 1912

History

In 1669, they aided the

Esopus people The Esopus tribe () was a tribe of Lenape (Delaware) Native Americans who were native to the Catskill Mountains of what is now Upstate New York. Their lands included modern-day Ulster and Sullivan counties. The Lenape originally resided in the D ...

in attacking the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

colonists, and were defeated by Martin Cregier (see

Esopus Wars The Esopus Wars were two conflicts between the Esopus tribe of Lenape Indians (Delaware) and New Netherlander colonists during the latter half of the 17th century in Ulster County, New York. The first battle was instigated by settlers; the secon ...

). By a noted fraudulent treaty known as the

Walking Purchase The Walking Purchase (or Walking Treaty) was a 1737 agreement between the Penn family, the original proprietors of the Province of Pennsylvania, later the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Lenape native Indians (also known as the Delaware In ...

, the main body of the Munsee was forced to move from the Delaware River about the year 1740. They settled on the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

, on lands assigned them by the

Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

(Iroquois) - ('ökwé'ö:weh - "The only true men"). Soon afterward they moved westward, joining the main Lenape nation on the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

. Most became incorporated with that group. In 1756 those remaining in New York were placed upon lands in

Schoharie County Schoharie County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 29,714, making it the state's fifth-least populous county. The county ...

and were incorporated with the Mohawk. A considerable body, the

Christian Munsee The Christian Munsee are a group of Lenape (also known as ''Delaware''), an Indigenous people in the United States, that primarily speak Munsee and have converted to Christianity, following the teachings of Moravian missionaries. The Christian M ...

, who were converted by the Moravian missionaries, drew off from the rest and formed a separate organization, most of them moving to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. Others joined Ojibwa and Stockbridge people in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The majority were incorporated in the Lenape, with whom they participated in their subsequent wars and removals. Those who kept the name of Munsee were in three bands in the early 20th century, in Canada and the United States. Two had consolidated with remnants of other nations, so that no separate census is available. These nations were the Munsee of the Thames, Ontario,

, 120 (now recognized as a

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

known as the

Delaware Nation at Moraviantown Moravian 47 (Munsee: ''Náahii'', literally 'downstream', in contrast with Munsee-Delaware Nation, referred to as "Nalahii", meaning "upstream") is an Indian reserve located in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, with an area of . It is occupied by the Delawa ...

; Chippewa and Munsee

Franklin County, Kansas Franklin County (county code FR) is a county located in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 25,996. Its county seat and most populous city is Ottawa. The county is predominantly rur ...

, 90 , they had a federal reservation together from 1859 but dissolved their tribal relations in 1900); and Stockbridge and Munsee, Green Bay Agency, Wisconsin, 530. The Stockbridge-Munsee Community is a federally recognized tribe in Wisconsin, United States.

Notes

References

* * *Penford, Saxby Voulaer., "Romantic Suffern - The History of Suffern, New York, from the Earliest Times to the Incorporation of the Village in 1896", Tallman, N.Y., 1955, (1st Edition)

External links

* {{authority control Algonquian ethnonyms First Nations in Ontario Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands Lenape Native American tribes in New Jersey Native American tribes in New York (state) Native American tribes in Pennsylvania People of New Netherland

Background

History

See also

Notes

References

External links