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TNB->Delaware Indian: Delaware Nation (Formerly Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma)

Posted on Thursday, July 19 @ 09:55:46 CDT

Delaware Nation (Formerly Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma).. KEYWORDS: delaware indians deleware indians lenapi indians oklahoma indians who signed first indian treaty federally recognized indian tribes meaning of lenape indians lenapi absentee delawares of oklahoma

The Delaware, or Lenape, signed the first-ever "Indian treaty" with the newly-born United States of America in 1778.

The name DELAWARE was given to the natives who occupied the Delaware River Valley during the colonial occupation of English Governor Lord de la Warr. In their language they are LENAPE (len-ah'-pay) which means "The People" and belong to the Algonquian linguistic group.

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The Delaware of today number close to 10,000 and are headquartered in Bartlesville where the tribal government operates service programs. A small group of separately-organized Delawares (the Absentees) are located in Anadarko, Oklahoma on lands they jointly control with the Wichitas and Caddos. There has been a recent revival in cultural programs (language, song, and social dance) which has pleased the few remaining full-blood elders who feared cultural extinction.

To date, the Lenape people, now located in Oklahoma and Canada, have suffered betrayals, massacres, and at least seven "Trails of Tears," all marked by multiple treaties and multiple relocations. Originally located in the river valleys and woodland mountains of Delaware, NY, New Jersey, and some areas of Pennsylvania, the Delaware peoples have achieved an extraordinary record of negotiations with both the United States and Canadian governments. They also have achieved an extraordinary record of physical and cultural survival.

The Delaware, or Lenape, signed the first-ever "Indian treaty" with the United States in 1778. Succeeding treaties included:

Treaty of 1785 (Wyandotte)
Treaty of 1803
Treaty of 1804
Treaty of 1809
Treaty of 1818
Treaty of 1829
Treaty of 1854
Treaty of 1860

The tribe's official name is the Delaware Tribe of Indians, and the other two Delaware groups (Western Oklahoma and Canda)also use the name Delaware.

The Delawares evolved into a loose confederacy of three major divisions: the Munsee (wolf), the Unalachtigo (turkey), and the Unami (turtle). They occupied the territory from which most of the Algonquian tribes had originated and were accorded the respectful title of grandfather by these tribes.

They traded with the Dutch early in the 17th century sold much of their land, and began moving inland to the Susquehanna valley. In 1682 they made a treaty of friendship with William Penn, which he did his best to honor. In 1720 the Delaware fell victim to Iroquois attack and were forced to move into what is now Ohio.

The western Delaware sided with the French in the last of the French and Indian Wars, took part in Pontiac’s Rebellion, and sided with the British in the American Revolution. Some of the Delaware in Pennsylvania had been converted to Christianity by the Moravians.

In 1782 a peaceful settlement of Christian Delaware at Gnadenhutten was massacred by a force of white men. Anthony Wayne defeated and subdued the Delaware in 1794, and by the Treaty of Greenville (1795) they and their allies ceded their lands in Pennsylvania and Ohio. They crossed the Mississippi River and migrated to Kansas and then to Texas. They were later moved to the Indian Territory and settled with the Cherokee.

A remarkable history of the Delaware, in the form of pictographs, was located by the French scholar Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1836. Known as the Walum Olum, it depicted Delaware migrations and changes; its claim to antiquity, however, is somewhat doubtful.

It has long been known that the name applied to the Native people who lived along the Delaware River was taken from the title of an Englishman, Lord de la Warr, whose name was Sir Thomas West. He was appointed governor of the English colony at Jamestown, Virginia in 1610. One of his followers, Captain Samuel Argall, once sailed into a majestic bay which he named "de la Warr Bay" in honor of the governor. The river that flowed into the bay was given the same name, and they both were later contracted into Delaware.

The Lenape have their own story about the origin of the name "Delaware." It is as follows:

The Lenape story is that when the Europeans first arrived a whiteman kept trying to ask a Lenape what tribe he belonged to, and he told him "Lenape." For some reason the whiteman had trouble saying the word properly, and would say "Lenuhpee," "Renahpay" and other mispronunciations. Finally he said "Lenape" correctly, and the Lenape said, "Nal në ndëluwèn! Nal në ndëluwèn!" (That's what I said! That's what I said!).

The whiteman heard the DULUWEN part and he said, "Oh, you said Delaware! So you are a Delaware. Now I know what to call you," and the name stuck.

In 1990 there close to 10,000 Delaware in the United States, most of them in Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Around 600 Delaware live in Ontario, Canada.