Big Apple History . Early New York . The Native People


	European depiction of Native Americans fishing.

Many Europeans sailed across the Atlantic in the early 1620s, inspired by Henry Hudson's glowing reports of fur-trading opportunities in the New World. When these fortune hunters arrived, they encountered a variety of native people.

Europeans often referred to all Native Americans as Delawares, since many lived along what the Europeans named the Delaware River. In reality, the native people in this area were as diverse as the European immigrants. Two major groups of Native Americans lived in what is now New York State: the Algonquin in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island and the Iroquois to the west. Each group consisted of many clans comprised of highly accomplished hunters, fishers, and farmers. In addition, the Iroquois had an extremely organized political system that some historians think influenced the U.S. Constitution. The Algonquin people who lived near what is now New York City called themselves Lenape.

The Lenape ("len-AH-pay") belonged to the group of Native Americans that spoke the Algonquin language. They were widely respected by other Algonquin tribes as settlers of disputes.

Lenape men were expert hunters and fishermen, while Lenape women farmed. This division of labor caused cultural confusion when Europeans arrived. From the European point of view, farming was real work, while hunting and fishing were just recreational sports.

Therefore, some Europeans viewed Lenape men as lazy, letting their women do all the work. Many of the Lenape, meanwhile, wondered why European men did women's work like farming.

The Lenape used a money system of their own invention called "wampum." To make wampum, they sewed tiny black, purple, and white beads made from seashells into belts. A large belt contained thousands of beads. Black and purple beads were worth twice as much as white beads. The Lenape (also called the Lenni-Lenape) used wampum in ceremonies, as diplomatic gifts, and for trading with the Europeans.

Since European governments forbade colonists to produce their own currency in the New World, Dutch and British merchants there also adopted wampum as a system of money. At one point, the Dutch -- eager to improve their profits -- produced their own wampum in Holland, hoping to use it back in New Amsterdam to trade with the natives. The Lenape, however, considered this wampum counterfeit and refused to honor it.

Hudson's account of his initial experiences with the native people was rich in contradiction: He called them "a very good people," but also declared that they were "much inclined to steal."

While many Europeans were eager to exploit the abundant natural resources in order to make a profit, such ideas initially seemed foreign to the Native Americans, who did not share European ideas of private property and profit. Eventually, many of the native men were lured by the easy profits of the fur trade into spending more time hunting for furs than participating in tribal life.

Illustration: "The Manner of Their Fishing," by Robert Weir, © The British Museum, licensed by the Trustees of the British Museum.