Delaware Indians

Leni Lenape

Lenapehoking, the original Lenape territory. Munsee speakers in the north, Unami-speakers in the center, and Unalichtigo-speakers in the south. West/left side geographic limits correspond closely to ridgelines (drainage divides) between the Susquehanna and Delaware river valleys.
Total population
Estimated 16,000
Regions with significant populations
United States ( Oklahoma)	11,195 (2010)
United States ( Wisconsin)	1,565
Languages
English, Munsee, and Unami
Religion
Christianity, Native American Church, traditional tribal religion
Related ethnic groups
Other Algonquian peoples

The Leni Lenape or Lenape (/ləˈnɑːpɛ/), or in older references, the Delaware people (or nation) are a Native American tribe and in Canada, a recognized First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their historical territory included present day New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley. During the Beaver Wars in the first half of the 1600s, European colonists were careful to keep firearms from the coastally located Delaware, while rival Iroquoian peoples such as the Susquehannocks and Confederation of the Iroquois became comparatively well armed. Subsequently, the Lenape became subjugated and made tributary to first the Susquehannocks, then the Iroquois, even needing their rivals (superiors) agreement to initiate treaties such as land sales. Like most tribes, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases originating in Europe, mainly smallpox but also cholera, influenza and dysentery, and recurrent violent racial conflict with Europeans. Iroquoian peoples occasionally fought the Lenape. As the 1700s progressed, many surviving Lenape moved west —into the (relatively empty) upper Ohio River basin.