Brief History of the Lenape

For over 10,000 years, the First Peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands tribes lived in agricultural and hunting societies.  Men's, women's, and children’s roles were well defined. Preparation was the key to survival.   

With the arrival of early explorers, survival took on a different meaning.

The Forced March:  

Initially the Lenape of Pennsylvania had equitable dealings with William Penn. After Penn’s death, his sons concocted a plan to swindle the Lenape out of land which is now known as the infamous Walking Purchase. Times only got progressively worse for the Lenape.  In the 1730s an English bounty of 30—50 British pounds was offered for any Lenape, dead or alive. The final blow came during a Conference in 1758 in Easton, Pennsylvania when the Lenape (Delaware) were forced from their Pennsylvania and New Jersey ancestral homelands.

Eventually the Lenape were forced to settle in Oklahoma and Canada.

Today their descendants live throughout the world. In the United States the Lenape (Delaware) do not live on reservations or on Indian Territory. The only two surviving Lenape tribes in the United States officially recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. are the Delaware Tribe of Indians (Bartlesville, Oklahoma) and Delaware Nation (Anadarko, Oklahoma).