November History Spotlight: the Indigenous History of Northern Manhattan |
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LENAPEHOKING & The Birth of "Manahatta" |
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The region known today as Manhattan is the homeland of the Lenape – a term meaning “original people” or “true men.” The Lenape referred to the island as Manahatta (hilly island) and the encompassing lands as Lenapehoking (see map below). The Lenape were divided into three traditional bands based on their various dialects and locations: Munsee, Unamie, and Unalactigo. Each expressed their Lenape heritage with matrilineal clans: the Turtle clan, Wolf clan, and Turkey clan. Each of these clans can be found amongst the Unamie, and Unalactigo whereas only the Wolf and Turkey clan are within the Munsee band. This matrilineal clan system united them.
The Lenape speak a family language of the Algonquin people and are believed to be the grandfathers of the Algonquin tribes, often revered as the original tribe by the Algonquin-speaking peoples. The Lenape and their ancestors have called the Lenapehoking region home for over 10,000 years.
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This week, as we enjoy a time-honored Thanksgiving holiday where our nation gives thanks for the colonizing efforts of Europeans to create our current America, we should pause to reflect on and honor the remarkable, original stewards of this land we call home. Indigenous history is this land’s foundation, and we have a lot to learn from indigenous peoples’ past and present stewardship of our beloved home. Those of us who make up Landmark East Harlem hope this spotlight will begin a journey of learning about this land’s past and those who, for millennia, nurtured the ground beneath our feet before being forcibly removed from their homes. We will be continuing to educate ourselves in how we can be an organization that cultivates historic and cultural narratives of East Harlem beyond the last few centuries, and hope you do the same for whatever places you call home.
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East Harlem is on the traditional and unceded territory of the Lenni-Lenape, whose homeland includes southern New York and the entire island of Manhattan. LEH seeks to create a respectful and inclusive awareness of stolen native lands and will continue to reach out to local indigenous community members as we craft a Land Acknowledgement that goes beyond words and strengthens community ties to our local indigenous neighbors and native institutions.
“The land upon which we gather is part of the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape, called “Lenapehoking.” The Lenape People lived in harmony with one another upon this territory for thousands of years. During the colonial era and early federal period, many were removed west and north, but some also remain among the continuing historical tribal communities of the region...We acknowledge the Lenni-Lenape as the original people of this land and their continuing relationship with their territory. In our acknowledgment of the continued presence of Lenape people in their homeland, we affirm the aspiration of the great Lenape Chief Tamanend, that there be harmony between the indigenous people of this land and the descendants of the immigrants to this land, “as long as the rivers and creeks flow, and the sun, moon, and stars shine.” via Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Government
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#Interactive
The Welikia Project
Welikia means “my good home” in Lenape, the original Native American language of the region. This incredible interactive map portal allows explore what Manhattan was like before it was colonized by Europeans.
Thanks 20+ years of research, an amazing interactive project from the Wildlife Conservation Society has uncovered the original ecology of Manhattan. Discover the wildlife, Native American use, and landscape factors on each present day block in Manhattan!
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Welcome to a wild place - East Harlem in 1609!
Before the Dutch arrived in the early 1600s, most of the land from present-day East 96th Street northward to East 108th and stretching as far westward to approximately Third Avenue did not exist. Instead, a salty marsh covered by the East River at high tide with Harlem Creek feeding into it. The creek stretched westward to approximately Fifth Avenue then snaked northward to West 120th Street. It wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that the landscape of East Harlem would begin to resemble its current state. John Randall’s 1811 grid plan that created Manhattan’s now-famous street system could not yet surpass the Harlem Creek and the Harlem Marsh. The grid effectively stopped at East 106th Street, just shy of the creek’s southern banks.
These wetlands totaled roughly 370 acres and provided an environment rich in biodiversity suitable for fishing, hunting, and gathering for the Lenape. Because of this ecological geography, the region was much more conducive to fishing. In the fertile lands to the north and south of the marshes, crops such as corn, squash, beans, sweet potatoes, and tobacco were commonly grown. When the Dutch began frequenting the area, they referred to the south bank of the Harlem Creek as Otterspoor because of the large number of otters that frequented the area.
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Climate Crisis and Learning from the Ecological History of the Land
While East Harlem’s pastoral waterways and marshes may no longer be visible, the landscape’s memory persists, manifesting itself during times of natural disaster – an occurrence becoming increasingly frequent amidst our current climate crises. Understanding the early landforms of the place we now call East Harlem helps shed light on those areas which are prone to flooding and therefore deserving of preemptive flood-risk measures. What we now know about the historic landscape allows us to ask questions of resiliency and intentional stewardship.
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Collective Land Stewardship |
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While the Lenape sought to coexist with the land, the Dutch settlers valued the landscape from a more extractive perspective. In a letter written in 1626, Pieter Schaghen recorded the purchase of “the Island of Manhattes from the Indians for a value of 60 guilders.” An astonishingly low sum of money, this transaction between then Governor Peter Minuit and the Lenape has often been described as an inequitable agreement. The understanding of private property and land ownership is a concept entrenched in a colonizing mindset and ultimately the antithesis to the Lenape philosophy. They believed in collective stewardship which valued mutual rights to the land’s bounty in which “wind, stream, bush, field, sea, beach, and riverside are open and free to every one of every nation with which the Indians are not embroiled in open conflict” (Banner, 2005, p. 103). The Dutch ultimately viewed the land as a commodity which led to frequent conflicts with the Lenape even if both communities held the land in trust (Lenape in the name of the Great Spirit, Kishelemukunk and the colonists in the name of their Christian God). While the Lenape understood the exchange of goods as an agreement to share the land, the Dutch believed they now owned it writ large.
Coexistence and collective stewardship proved fundamentally at odds with the Dutch and English belief systems of private property with their extractive mindsets toward the commodification of land. This ideology persists to this day. If we take any knowledge from the land’s original native stewards, a collective caretaking of our community, of our historical cultural landscapes, as well as our ecological footprint may be the only way to hold on to a true sense of place--and if successful, a stewardship that can continue for the next ten millenia.
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This Month's Landmark Spotlight was made possible by the contributing work of our Preservation Intern, Lindsay Papke.
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Our New El Barrio/East Harlem Community Survey |
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This new survey is part of this year’s Preserve New York (PNY) grant for the purpose of soliciting public input regarding historic and cultural resources in El Barrio/East Harlem. This input will help inform a grant-funded survey to identify sites and buildings of community importance in the area.
The survey is being directed by a professional historic preservationist working for Ascendant Neighborhood Development Corporation, an East Harlem-based community development corporation. The study is expected to be published and shared with the public in early 2022.
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Support Our Designation Campaign |
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100% of online donations will go toward preserving the cultural and historical landmarks of East Harlem/El Barrio. Make a tax-deductible contribution today!
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Thanks for subscribing to our Preservation News Blasts. If you missed our last news blast you can read it here! If you have any landmark suggestions, preservation action alerts, or other news ideas, we'd love to hear from you.
Visit our Landmark Suggestion Form or drop us a line. If you haven't subscribed yet and want to, sign up now!
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Sources for News Blast #6:
Steinberg, Theodore.Gotham Unbound: The Ecological History of Greater New York. First Simon&Schuster hardcover edition. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2014.
Wildlife Conservation Society. “Welikia 1609 Map.” Welikia: Beyond Mannahatta. New York, N.Y.: Wildlife Conservation Society. Accessed November 12, 2021. https://welikia.org/m-map.php.
Banner, Stuart. How the Indians Lost Their Land: Law and Power on the Frontier. Electronic resource. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005. http://www.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/cul/resolve?clio14097789.
Connolly, Colleen. “The True Native New Yorkers Can Never Truly Reclaim Their Homeland.” Smithsonian Magazine, October 5, 2018. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-native-new-yorkers-can-never-truly-reclaim-their-homeland-180970472/.
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. “Map of the city of New York and island of Manhattan as laid out by the commissioners appointed by the Legislature, April 3, 1807” New York Public Library Digital Collections.
Steinberg, Theodore. Gotham Unbound: The Ecological History of Greater New York. First Simon&Schuster hardcover edition. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2014.
Sultzman, Lee. “Delaware History.” Delaware History, February 25, 2000. https://www.tolatsga.org/dela.html.
Wildlife Conservation Society. “Welikia 1609 Map.” Welikia: Beyond Mannahatta. New York, N.Y.: Wildlife Conservation Society. Accessed November 12, 2021. https://welikia.org/m-map.php.
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Who is Landmark East Harlem? |
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We are a coalition of organizations and individuals whose mission is to protect the special character of the neighborhood.
We do this by working to secure City landmark designation and State and National Register listing for individual properties and historic districts in East Harlem. We also advocate for contextual new development and adaptive reuse of older properties.
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What are Preservation Action Alerts? |
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When we hear of a structure or community institution being considered for demolition or in need of preservation assistance, we'll let you know how you can help. Come join us at a rally, sign a petition, or share a post on social media. Neighborhood preservation is a community effort!
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