Native American Tribes
of the Hudson River
In 1609 when Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson, there were
about ten thousand Indians living on either side of the Hudson.
According to E.M. Rutterber in Indian Tribes of Hudson's River to 1700, on the East bank the Mahicans held land from north of Albany to
the sea including Long Island and east toward Connecticut. On the
west bank, they occupied from the Catskills west to Schenectady
where the territory of the Mohawks began. South of the Catskills
there were the Minsis or Munsees, a tribe of the Lenni Lenapes
whose territory extended south to the sea and west to the
Delaware River. The Lenni Lenapes were also known as the
Delawares.
The Mahicans named the great river on
which they traveled Mahicanituck. Their governmental seat was
where Albany now stands and was called
Pempotowwuthut-Muhhecanneuw or fireplace of the Muhheakunnik
nation. Their government was a democracy. A sachem or leader was
chosen by the nation and he was assisted by counselors who were
also elected. Other important positions in the tribe were a hero,
who had demonstrated great bravery, an owl, who had a great
memory and a strong speaking voice and a runner who could carry
messages.
The Lenni Lenape were based in what is now Philadelphia. Their
government was based on the liberty of the people and consensus
by all in power. The nation was divided into three tribes, the
Unami, the Unlachto and the Minsi. Each tribe had its chief and
counselors. In peace nothing could be done without the unanimous
consent of the council. The chiefs were required to give good
order and to decide in quarrels. They could not punish or command
only argue their case before the counselors. If a chief
didnt act according to these rules, he was deposed.
Henry Hudsons description of the Indians who met the
Half Moon were that they were "clothed in mantles of
feathers and robes of fur, the women clothed in hemp, red copper
tobacco pipes, and other things of copper they did wear about
their necks."
Shirley Dunn in The Mohicans and Their Land 1609-1730 said that Robert
Juet's journal from the Half Moon described a people with "friendly attitudes, a
complex social organization, ample food supplies, a peaceful lifestyle, and
extensive territory at the moment of European contact.
Most of the "River Indians" lived in long houses or
wigwams, made from bended saplings covered with tulip tree bark.
They planted corn, squash and beans which supplemented their diet
of fish and game.
The first meeting between Henry Hudson and the Indian was
characteristic of what relations would be between Europeans and
Native Americans. Hudson's men distrusted the Indians and
fighting ensued. Once the Dutch began to settle the Hudson
Valley, competition for land became fierce. By the end of the
1600s all of the tribes living near the Hudson had been
decimated by small pox, which the settlers brought with them and
wars with the Dutch. Many who survived moved west. By the end of
the eighteenth century there were so few Indians, their villages
were no longer noted on the maps.
Artifacts of the Indians who lived by the Hudson have been
found especially near to brooks and streams. Some of these
artifacts can be seen in a display at Constitution Marsh in
Garrison.
Lenni Lenape on the Web:
The Lenapes: A
Study of Hudson Valley Indians
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