Archaeological evidence testifies that American Indians have been living in the region now comprising the five boroughs of New York City for at least 11,500 years. After European contact in the 16th and 17th centuries, Indians living along the Atlantic seaboard between the Delaware and Hudson valleys became generally known as Delawares, though the Indians referred to themselves as Lenape (people). Indians of the region are believed to have spoken a variant of Delaware dialect known as Munsee. Documented Munsee communities who lived in the area that would eventually become known as Brooklyn included the Marechkawick (sandy place) near present-day Borough Hall, Nayack (point of land), Wichquawanck (sandy bank) at present-day Fort Hamilton, Techkonis (translation unknown) in present-day Gravesend, and Canarsie (grassy place) in present-day Flatlands.
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Sources:
- Grumet, Robert S. "American Indians," in
The Encyclopedia of New York City, ed. Kenneth T. Jackson (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; New York: New York Historical Society, c1995), 25-28.
Dr. William Christie MacLeod was a supervisor on the New York City Work Projects Administration (WPA) Historical Records Survey, one of the many cultural projects initiated as part of the WPA's federal relief programs from 1935 to 1943.
From the guide to the New York City WPA historical survey of American Indians of Brooklyn, 1939-1940, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
