The Delaware Tribe

The Delaware Indians who was also called the "Lenape" lived along the Delaware River in New Jersey. Delaware is the first state. The language they speak is called "Algonquian". The Delawares are called "Grandfathers" because other tribes believe that they were the oldest groups in Algonquian Nation.The name Delaware was given to the people who lived along the Delaware River. The Delawares call themselves Lenape which means "The People".The Lenape wanted peace with everyone including the Europeans. The Tribe was divided into three principal clans, the Turtle (which is the oldest), the Wolf and the Turkey.

The type of food they will eat and make they grew large fields of corn or maize, squash, beans, sweet potatoes and tobacco. They will dress themselves using deerskins, and also made beads and wampum feather mantels and other ornaments. They also made stone pipes,bow, and arrowheads. For wars, they would use war clubs,tomahawks, bows and arrows,scalping knives and spears. They also used a shield of thick dried hide for defense. They used the bow,arrow, and spear for killing fishes.Fur was use for clothing and bones were use for fashioning tools. They made use of paints and dyes, which they derived from both mineral and vegetable realms to decorate themselves when going to war or for picture writing which was their means of keeping records so they can communicate with each other.



The Delware located their villages and campsites near streams where transportation was available. They lived in permanent villages, leaving them only in their quest for food. The Lenape were not a warlike people. "They had excellent memory,lived imagination, genuine with, natural understanding and were very curious about things that were happening around them". The Lenape did not live in teepees but they did live in wigwams or longhouses. Their houses are made out of bark. In the summer their houses were covered with mats made from reeds. The 3 nations, the Minsi, the Unami, and the Unalachtigo each occupied a specific geographical area. The Lenape made and wore clothing both as protection from the weather and also comfort.


The families of Lenape shared alot of stuff. They will hunt food together. The way how children will keep themselves occupied will be play games like how we Amercians do. Lenape men and boys will would play together. To test their strength, they wrestled eac other, raced and jumped over obstacles. Young girls will play house with dolls made from leather, wood, and cornhusks.

Some of the hardships in the Delaware Tribe are that they did joke alot but sometimes not everybody will take the situations has a joke. And probably also when Lenape was giving all of his fur to the Europeans because he had to share his land with them so in return the Europeans gave them token, so for that nice offer Lenape thought that he should give them some fur.

The Lenni Lenape are often said to be extinct, but thats not true. The name of them now is "Nanticoke Lenni Lenape". There are 11,000 Lenape people in Oklahoma, 5,000 Lenape Indian in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. There are also 3,000 in Canada and Wisconsin and around 1,000 in Delaware. So according to that the Delaware tribe is still around.