Who Were The Lenape?
The Lenape were the two groups of people living in New Jersey. The word “Lenape” means a male of our kind, men of the same nation or common, ordinary, real people. It does not mean the original people as so many people thought. The land occupied by the Lenape, all of New Jersey, southern New York, eastern Pennsylvania, and northern Delaware, is called by the Indian name, “Lenapehoking.” They spoke two different, although similar, languages. From the Musconetcong River, which separates Hunterdon and Warren Counties, north into southern New York State, lived the Munsee, also called the Minsi. The Munsee lived in an area that made life hard. There was game for meat, and fish, as well as berries, nuts, fruit, and greens, but not as much as there was in the warmer southern part of the state. An even bigger problem for the Munsee, were the Shawnee and Iroquois Indians. They were warrior tribes who fought the Munsee whenever they came together. South of the land of the Munsee were the Unami.
