ABSTRACT
The Delawares are an Algonquian tribe, which calls itself Lenape, meaning ‘common people’ in the sense of ‘We, the people.’1 The English name by which they by now have become known was derived from the river Delaware, which in turn was named after Thomas West, Lord de la Warr, who was appointed governor of Virginia in 1610. Although Lenape numbers at time of contact were probably relatively small, they occupied the large interriver drainage basins between the lower Hudson and the Delaware Rivers. Some even lived in the middle Chesapeake area, extending Delaware territory over what is today southeastern Pennsylvania, southeastern New York, as well as what by now has become the states of Delaware and New Jersey. They lived in scattered, semi-permanent villages and these communities were independent, each with its own chiefs.2 Villages in close proximity to one another may have constituted a band. There was no authoritarian chief with power over all Lenape and decisions were made collectively in general council.3 The Delawares were probably not a unified tribe until after they had moved-or had been moved-to Ohio in the first half of the eighteenth century.4 Before that time their organization had most likely been rather lose and had emphasized the independence of each village.
