The Raritan were two groups of

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

people who lived around the lower

Raritan River The Raritan River is a river of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its Drainage basin, watershed drains much of the mountainous areas in the North Jersey, northern and Central Jersey, central sections of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay near ...

Ives Goddard, "Delaware," p. 213. and the

Raritan Bay Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west b ...

, in what is now northeastern

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, in the 16th century.

Name

The name ''Raritan'' likely came from one of the

Lenape languages The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

(among the languages in the Algonquian language group), though there are a variety of interpretations as to its meaning. It may derive from ''Naraticong'' meaning "river beyond the island." ''Raritan'' is a Dutch pronunciation of ''wawitan'' or ''rarachons'', meaning "forked river" or "stream overflows". The first group known as the Raritan was also known as the Sanhicans. A second group, known as the

Wiechquaeskecks The Wecquaesgeek (also Manhattoe and Manhattan) were a Munsee-speaking band of Wappinger people who once lived along the east bank of the Hudson River in the southwest of today's Westchester County, New York,Their presence on the east bank of the ...

Wisquaskecks The Wecquaesgeek (also Manhattoe and Manhattan) were a Munsee-speaking band of Wappinger people who once lived along the east bank of the Hudson River in the southwest of today's Westchester County, New York,Their presence on the east bank of the ...

, Roaton, Raritanghe,David de Vries's Notes
''Narratives of New Netherland''
p. 208. and Raritanoos settled the Raritan watershed area after the first departed.

History

17th century

The original Raritans, the Sanhicans, lived along

's west shore until 1640s, when attacks from the Delaware River Indians and Dutch settlers drove them inland. The Wisquaskecks had lived in what is now

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The c ...

. After the Sanhicans migrated east, the Wisquaskecks moved into the area by 1649 and then also became known as the Raritans. The Raritan had early contact with settlers in the colony of

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

. Dutch colonist David Pietersz. de Vries described the Raritans as "a nation of savages who live where a little stream he Raritan Riverruns up about five leagues behind Staten Island." He wrote that

Cornelis van Tienhoven Cornelis van Tienhoven ( Utrecht – 1656 New Amsterdam) was an official of New Amsterdam from 1638 to 1656, and one of the more prominent people in New Netherland. He served in the administrations of three governors: Wouter van Twiller, Willem Ki ...

took more than one hundred men to the Wisquaskecks to address their theft of pigs and attempt theft of a yacht. Van Theihoven's group killed several of the Wisquaskecks and took their chief's brother as a hostage. Van Theihoven tortured the prisoner, and the Americans Indians responded to the attack by killing several Dutch settlers.

William Kieft Willem Kieft, also ''Wilhelm Kieft'', (September 1597 – September 27, 1647) was a Dutch merchant and the Director of New Netherland (of which New Amsterdam was the capital) from 1638 to 1647. Life and career Willem Kieft was appointed ...

, governor of New Netherland, had planned the extermination campaign against them. The attack against the American Indians was a contributing event to the bands' allying in

Kieft's War Kieft's War (1643–1645), also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between the colonial province of New Netherland and the Wappinger and Lenape Indians in what is now New York and New Jersey. It is named for Director-General of New N ...

(1643-45) against the settlements of New Netherland. In 1649, the Wisquaskecks held a peace conference with the Dutch settlers. Pennekeck, a leader from

Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jerse ...

, "said the tribe called Raritanoos, formerly living at Wisquaskeck had no chief, therefore he spoke for them, who would also like to be our friends...." The Sanhicans unsuccessfully tried to contest Pennekeck.

19th century

According to ''Encyclopedia of New Jersey Indians'', the surviving Raritans sold the last of their lands and moved to the

Brotherton Reservation Brotherton is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. The village is on a border with the City of Wakefield and West Yorkshire (here formed by the River Aire). History Brotherton was historically part of the West ...

Burlington County, New Jersey Burlington County is a county in the South Jersey region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The county is the largest by land area in New Jersey and ranks second behind neighboring Ocean County in total area. Its county seat is Mount Holly.< ...

. Their descendants are part of larger Lenape communities including the

Stockbridge Munsee Community Stockbridge may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Stockbridge, Edinburgh, a district of Edinburgh, Scotland * Stockbridge, Hampshire * Stockbridge, West Sussex * Stockbridge Anticline, one of a series of parallel east–west trending folds in t ...

in Wisconsin,

Delaware Tribe of Indians The Delaware Tribe of Indians, or the Eastern Delaware, based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is one of three federally recognized tribes of the Lenape people in the United States. The others are the Delaware Nation based in Anadarko, Oklahoma,< ...

Delaware Nation The Delaware Nation (), based in Anadarko, OklahomaDe ...

Moravian of the Thames First Nation 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 Delawar ...

, and the

Delaware First Nation The Delaware First Nation is a Lenape First Nation in southern Ontario and is a member nation of the Six Nations of the Grand River. Its reserves include the shared Glebe Farm 40B and Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation Six Nations (or ...

of the

Six Nations of the Grand River Six Nations (or Six Nations of the Grand River) is demographically the largest First Nations reserve in Canada. As of the end of 2017, it has a total of 27,276 members, 12,848 of whom live on the reserve. The six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy ...

in Ontario.

Notes

References

* *

External links

Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians
{{authority control Lenape People from New Netherland Native American history of New Jersey Native American tribes in New Jersey Monmouth County, New Jersey Algonquian ethnonyms de:Raritan