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{{Short description|Pre-colonial inhabitants of northeastern New Jersey, US}}
[[Image:Wpdms usgs photo raritan bay.jpg||300px|right|thumb|Raritan territory included Staten Island]]
{{Use American English|date=November 2022}}
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The '''Raritan''' were bands of the [[Lenape]] people living around the [[Raritan River]] and its [[Raritan Bay|bay]], in what is now northeastern [[New Jersey]] and [[Staten Island]], [[New York (state)|New York]].
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Raritan
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = File:Wpdms usgs photo raritan bay.jpg
| image_caption = General area of Raritan territory
| image_alt =
| image_upright =
| total = ''No longer distinct tribes.''
| genealogy =
| regions = [[New Jersey]]<ref name=ives213/>
| languages = [[Munsee language]]
| religions = Indigenous religion
| related_groups = other [[Lenape]] tribes
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}}
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The '''Raritan''' are two groups of [[Lenape]] people who lived around the lower [[Raritan River]]<ref name=ives213>Ives Goddard, "Delaware," p. 213.</ref> and the [[Raritan Bay]], in what is now northeastern [[New Jersey]], in the 16th century.


== Name ==
It is generally believed{{weasel-inline|date=June 2012}}{{by whom?|date=May 2016}} that the name comes from one of the [[Delaware languages|Lenape languages]] (among the languages in the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] language group), though there are a variety of interpretations as to its meaning. It may be a derivation of ''Naraticong'' <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.njstatelib.org/NJ_Information/Digital_Collections/Place_Names/PLACE.pdf |title=The Origin of New Jersey Place Names |accessdate=2009-01-06 |format=PDF |year=1938 |work=[[New Jersey State Library]] Commission |publisher=Federal Writers' Program }}
The name ''Raritan'' likely came from one of the [[Delaware languages|Lenape languages]] (among the languages in the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] language group), though there are a variety of interpretations as to its meaning. It may derive from ''Naraticong'' <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.njstatelib.org/NJ_Information/Digital_Collections/Place_Names/PLACE.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041205164251/http://www.njstatelib.org/NJ_Information/Digital_Collections/Place_Names/PLACE.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 5, 2004 |title=The Origin of New Jersey Place Names |accessdate=January 6, 2009 |year=1938 |work=[[New Jersey State Library]] Commission |publisher=Federal Writers' Program }}
</ref> meaning "river beyond the island", or ''Roaton'' or ''Raritanghe'', names of a group which had come from across the Hudson{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} and displaced the previous population known as ''Sanhican''.<ref>http://www.bergencountyhistory.org/Pages/indians.html Indigenous Population:Between 1628 and 1640, the Sanhicans were driven away from the west shore of Raritan Bay by a band of Wisquaskecks, known as the Roaton or Raritanghe, who removed from their territory north of Manhattan across Staten Island and into the lower Raritan Valley. By July 1640, the Raritans were described as "a nation of savages who live where a little stream [the Raritan River] runs up about five leagues behind Staten Island." At a peace conference with the Dutch in 1649, Pennekeck, sachem of ''Achter Col'' (Newark Bay), "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..." Their intrusion was apparently contested unsuccessfully by Sawanoos (Southern) Lenape and Sanhicans. Consequently, the Hackensacks were separated from other Sanhican communities.
</ref> meaning "river beyond the island."
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</ref> (who moved to farther into the interior).<ref>http://trentonhistory.org/His/colonial.htm</ref> Alternatively, ''Raritan'' is a Dutch pronunciation of ''wawitan'' or ''rarachons'', meaning "forked river" or "stream overflows".<ref>Troeger, Virginia, B. and McEwen, Rbert, James ''Woodbridge'', Charlestown, SC: Acadia Publishing, 2002, p. 18</ref>


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''Raritan'' is a Dutch pronunciation of ''wawitan'' or ''rarachons'', meaning "forked river" or "stream overflows".<ref>Virginia B. Troeger and Robert James McEwen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=35yLloJP-7EC New Jersey's Oldest Township''], Charleston, SC: Acadia Publishing, 2002, p. 18</ref>
The Raritan had early contact with settlers in the colony of [[New Netherland]]. [[William Kieft]], governor of New Netherland, planned an extermination campaign against them, on the pretext of pigs being stolen from a farm on present-day Staten Island. The attack against the American Indians, while not causing much damage, was a contributing event to the bands' allying in [[Kieft's War]] (1643-1645) against the settlements of New Netherland.<ref>

{{cite book
The first group known as the Raritan was also known as the '''Sanhicans'''.<ref name="wright">{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Kevin W. |title=Native Americans in Bergen County |url=https://www.bergencountyhistory.org/nativeamericans-in-bergen-county |website=Bergen County Historical Society |access-date=24 February 2023}}</ref> A second group, known as the [[Wiechquaeskecks]],<ref name=ives213/> [[Wisquaskecks]], Roaton, Raritanghe,<ref name=devries>David de Vries's Notes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j1sKi0KPTewC&q=Raritanghe ''Narratives of New Netherland''], p. 208.</ref> and Raritanoos settled the Raritan watershed area after the first departed.<ref name=wright/><ref name=ives213/>
|last=Shorto |first=Russell |authorlink =Russell Shorto

|title=The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America
== History ==
|year=2004|publisher=Random House|isbn=1-4000-7867-9
[[File:RAritanBayMarshes.JPG|thumb|left|Marshes around the [[Raritan Bay]]]]
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}}
The original Raritans, the Sanhicans, lived along [[Raritan Bay]]'s west shore<ref name=wright/> until 1640s, when attacks from the Delaware River Indians and Dutch settlers drove them inland.<ref name=ives213/>
</ref><ref>

[http://www.fulkerson.org/1tienhov.html A Tale of Tienhoven]
The Wisquaskecks had lived in what is now [[Westchester County, New York]].<ref>Ives Goddard, "Delaware," p. 237.</ref> After the Sanhicans migrated east, the Wisquaskecks<ref name=wright/> moved into the area by 1649 and then also became known as the Raritans.<ref name=ives213/>
</ref>

The Raritan had early contact with settlers in the colony of [[New Netherland]].<ref name=shorto>{{cite book |last=Shorto |first=Russell |authorlink =Russell Shorto |title=The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America|year=2004|publisher=Random House|isbn=1-4000-7867-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fulkerson.org/1tienhov.html |title=A Tale of Tienhoven |access-date=September 3, 2009 |archive-date=February 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217003147/http://www.fulkerson.org/1tienhov.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Dutch colonist [[David Pietersz. de Vries]] described the Raritans as "a nation of savages who live where a little stream [the Raritan River] runs up about five leagues behind Staten Island."<ref name=devries/> He wrote that [[Cornelis van Tienhoven]] 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.<ref name=devries/> Van Theihoven tortured the prisoner, and the Americans Indians responded to the attack by killing several Dutch settlers.<ref name=devries/> [[William Kieft]], 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]] (1643-45) against the settlements of New Netherland.<ref name=shorto/>

In 1649, the Wisquaskecks held a peace conference with the Dutch settlers. Pennekeck, a leader from [[Newark Bay]], "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...."<ref name=wright/> The Sanhicans unsuccessfully tried to contest Pennekeck.<ref name=wright/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://trentonhistory.org/His/colonial.htm |title=Trenton Historical Society, New Jersey |website=trentonhistory.org}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 25: Line 46:


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{cite book |author1=Ives Goddard |article=Delaware |editor1-last=Trigger |editor1-first=Bruce G. |title=Handbook of North American Indians: Northeast, Vol. 15 |date=1978 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |location=Washington, DC |pages=213–39}}
* {{cite book |author1=David de Vries |author1-link=David Pietersz. de Vries |editor1-last=Jameson |editor1-first=John |title=Narratives of New Netherland: 1609–1664 |date=2009 |publisher=Applewood Books |location=Carlisle, MA |isbn=9781429018968 |page=218 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j1sKi0KPTewC}}


{{Raritan Valley navigation}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Lenape]]
[[Category:Lenape]]
[[Category:People of New Netherland]]
[[Category:People from New Netherland]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Native American history of New Jersey]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Monmouth County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Monmouth County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:History of Staten Island]]
[[Category:Algonquian ethnonyms]]
[[Category:Algonquian ethnonyms]]


Latest revision as of 20:38, 17 February 2024

Raritan
General area of Raritan territory
Total population
No longer distinct tribes.
Regions with significant populations
New Jersey[1]
Languages
Munsee language
Religion
Indigenous religion
Related ethnic groups
other Lenape tribes

The Raritan are two groups of Lenape people who lived around the lower Raritan River[1] and the Raritan Bay, in what is now northeastern New Jersey, in the 16th century.

Name

[edit]

The name Raritan likely came from one of the Lenape languages (among the languages in the Algonquian language group), though there are a variety of interpretations as to its meaning. It may derive from Naraticong [2] meaning "river beyond the island."

Raritan is a Dutch pronunciation of wawitan or rarachons, meaning "forked river" or "stream overflows".[3]

The first group known as the Raritan was also known as the Sanhicans.[4] A second group, known as the Wiechquaeskecks,[1] Wisquaskecks, Roaton, Raritanghe,[5] and Raritanoos settled the Raritan watershed area after the first departed.[4][1]

History

[edit]
Marshes around the Raritan Bay

The original Raritans, the Sanhicans, lived along Raritan Bay's west shore[4] until 1640s, when attacks from the Delaware River Indians and Dutch settlers drove them inland.[1]

The Wisquaskecks had lived in what is now Westchester County, New York.[6] After the Sanhicans migrated east, the Wisquaskecks[4] moved into the area by 1649 and then also became known as the Raritans.[1]

The Raritan had early contact with settlers in the colony of New Netherland.[7][8] Dutch colonist David Pietersz. de Vries described the Raritans as "a nation of savages who live where a little stream [the Raritan River] runs up about five leagues behind Staten Island."[5] He wrote that Cornelis van Tienhoven 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.[5] Van Theihoven tortured the prisoner, and the Americans Indians responded to the attack by killing several Dutch settlers.[5] William Kieft, 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 (1643-45) against the settlements of New Netherland.[7]

In 1649, the Wisquaskecks held a peace conference with the Dutch settlers. Pennekeck, a leader from Newark Bay, "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...."[4] The Sanhicans unsuccessfully tried to contest Pennekeck.[4][9]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Ives Goddard, "Delaware," p. 213.
  2. ^ "The Origin of New Jersey Place Names" (PDF). New Jersey State Library Commission. Federal Writers' Program. 1938. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 5, 2004. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  3. ^ Virginia B. Troeger and Robert James McEwen, New Jersey's Oldest Township, Charleston, SC: Acadia Publishing, 2002, p. 18
  4. ^ a b c d e f Wright, Kevin W. "Native Americans in Bergen County". Bergen County Historical Society. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d David de Vries's Notes, Narratives of New Netherland, p. 208.
  6. ^ Ives Goddard, "Delaware," p. 237.
  7. ^ a b Shorto, Russell (2004). The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America. Random House. ISBN 1-4000-7867-9.
  8. ^ "A Tale of Tienhoven". Archived from the original on February 17, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
  9. ^ "Trenton Historical Society, New Jersey". trentonhistory.org.

References

[edit]
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