Delaware indian
The Delaware Indians are also known as Lenni or Lenape who are now believed to be extinct. This is however, not true. There are 11,000 Delaware Indian people in the state of Oklahoma, 5,000 in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 3,000 in ntarib an` arouFd a 100 in Delawara. The Delaware Indians was originally a tribe that was supposed to be from their homeland Lenape. Lenape, meaning the people, is the actual birthplace of Algonquian tribes. These people were the first Indian tribes that came in contact with the Dutch, British and Swedish people as early as the 1600s.
This tribe was called grandfather by other tribes on account of being peace makers. They settled disputes among rival tribes and thus were looked upon with reverence. These tribes were known for their fierceness and fighting spirit but they choose the path of peace while communicating with the other tribes and the Europeans. There is a pictographic history of these tribes that is called the Walum olum, which shows that the tribes had migrated from Labrador. Whatever, the truth may be, the Lenape people were found to be settled in the area surrounding the Delaware River for Centuries. However, these people were destroyed by European diseases, like many other Native Americans.
The Delaware Indians had signed land sales and treaties in their early days of settlements but they thought of them to be trivial. They thought the land to be a property of the creator and thought of themselves to be using that land to feed and shelter their people. The Delaware Indians gave people shelter and shared their land with them. These were the people who landed from the ships on the islands and gave the Delaware Indians gifts. The Indians considered it to be the cost of the land. Based on these bonds they were driven off to the west by the British and later the Americans. They relocated in Oklahoma around the year 1860. Here they had to undergo an unwanted union with the Cherokee nation. They regained their independent tribal stature as late as 1996. Other bands of Lenape or Delaware Indians still remain scattered in their own native land or along the routes leading westward where one can find there descendents still living.
The Delaware Indians call themselves Lenni Lenape meaning original people. Delaware is one of the oldest nations in the American continent. There are 3 divisions of the Delaware tribe. Each tribe has a chief and a war chief. The turtle clan is the leader of all the other tribes of Delaware and has the head chief. These people were originally hunters and after settling in Delaware became farmers. Their flag is symbolic of their culture. The mask that is at the center of the flag stands for masked spirit or Mesingw. He is the protector of the mortals of the forest. These creatures of the forests are of as much importance to the Delaware Indians as is the buffalo to the people residing in the plains. They used bones and claws of animals to make hooks for fishing. Copper and stones were used to make spearheads and arrows. They used weapons made with these metals and raw materials to fight against the settlers who started taking away their land from them.
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