New Jersey Inhabitants?

The indigenous inhabitants of New Jersey was the Lenni Lenape meaning "original people". These inhabitants, part of the Algonquin nation, came to be called the Delaware Indians by the early settlers. They were known for their easy-going nature. Some of the other tribes scorned them for their peaceful intentions which often they played the mediator between disagreeing Algonquin tribes. The Lenni Lenape people were separated into three clans; the Minsi in the north, the Unami in the center, and the Unilachtigo in the south. The three clans are also known as the Wolf, Turkey, and Turtle clans. Clans lived in stationary villages and used the surrounding land until the resources were exhausted. The Lenni-Lenape built villages of round houses called wigwams. The tribes were nomadic and traveled with the seasons in order to make better use of the available natural resources, but they had permanent settlements where they returned in the winter. During the spring, they planted gardens of corn, beans, and squash. In the summer they migrated to the coast to collect oysters and clams. In the fall the Lenni Lenape would migrate back to their settlements to harvest their gardens and prepare for winter. They hunted for deer, elk, and turkeys using bows and arrows. Lenape men were typically in charge of hunting and protecting their families. Women were the principle farmers and were in charge of cooking, and taking care of the children. Women grew their hair long, often until it reaches their hips. Men wore a plume of feathers in their hair, which stuck straight up or downward. Men decorated their faces elaborately; creating designs or animals. Men wore "breechcloats" or loinclothes. Women wore knee-length skirts. The Lenni Lenape were matrilineal in which "children do not inherit tribal rights from the father but from the mother. Described by the Europeans, Lenni government was male; with the civil and war chiefs. The chiefs ruled by "calm reasoning and friendly exhortations." They believed in a gender-neutral idea of god. The Indians looked to an all-powerful Mannitto, "the Great Spirit."In 1682, the Lenni Lenape signed a treaty of friendship with William Penn and the Quakers in Pennsylvania. The treaty became the first of its kind signed between Europeans and Indians. The rapid rate of colonization forced the Lenni Lenape from their lands.The Lenni Lenape who chose to stay faced the horrors of alcoholism and the devastation from European disease. The European need to own the land, diseases, guns and alcohol created an impossible situation for the survival of the Lenni-Lenape in their homeland.

Sources:

-Caffrey, M. (2000). Complementary Power: Men and Women of the Lenni Lenape. American Indian Quarterly. Vol. 24, No. 1. pp. 44-63. Published by: University of Nebraska Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1185990

-Lazzerini, R. (2006). Native Americans of New Jersey: The Lenni-Lenape. Worldwide Genealogy Resources. http://www.kindredtrails.com/New-Jersey-History-4.html

New Jersey founded?

The first European to explore New Jersey was Giovanni de Verrazano on his vessel named La Dauphine, around 1524. He was a Florentine explorer sailing under the French flag. New Jersey was founded by Verrazano searching for a Northwest passage to Asia in which he sailed along the coast and anchored off Sandy Hook. Verrazzano sailed on behalf of King François of France. Verrazzano's brother, Girolamo da Verrazzano, was a mapmaker who accompanyed Giovanni on his voyage, and mapped the voyage. Verrazzano thought that North America was a thin isthmus separating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Spanish records recount that he was captured in 1527, while cruising off the coast of Cadiz, and executed by order of the Emperor Charles V. During is voyage Verrazano kept a log-book of his experiences. In 1556 Ramusio published in his collection of voyages a letter written by Verrazano giving an account of his voyage to the coast of North America. It is the first post-Columbian description of the North Atlantic coast, and gives the first description of New York Bay and harbour and the present Hudson River.

Henry Hudson sailed for a Dutch trading company on the ship named Half Moon eventhough he was British. On his third voyage in 1609 he set sail from Amsterdam and headed north, trying to find a way through the Arctic to the Far East. He sailed into New York Bay in September of 1609 and explored a river which became known as the Hudson River for about 150 miles. He was looking for the shortcut to the Pacific. It claimed the land for the Dutch in which it was called New Netherlands. The primary record of the voyage - and the only surviving English record - is the journal of Robert Juet, who had sailed with Hudson previously as mate, and would again in 1610. He noted numerous fights with the natives, killing, drunkenness, looting and even a kidnapping. The crew was generally negative towards native Americans, and somewhat afraid of them, which may have influenced later relations between native groups and European settlers. On his return, Hudson stopped in England, where he was arrested for sailing under another nation's flag, considered treason at the time. The Dutch, Swedes, and Finns were the first European settlers in New Jersey. In 1664, the Dutch lost New Netherlands to the British when they added it to their colonies. Some of the colonists had purchases their land of the Indians before the proprietary government was established and refused to pay it because it was unjust tax. In May 1672, there was an actual rebellion with the colonists in which they sent compliants to the Assembly. They ended dividing the land in half and gave control to two proprietors: Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkley. With this resolvement the settlers were alowed to have political and religious freedom. In which New Jersey was ethnically diverse and grew to have about 100,000 people. The land was officially named New Jersey after the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel.

Sources:

-Chadwick, I. (1992). Henry Hudson's Third Voyage1609: The New World. Retrieved September 5, 2008 from

http://www.ianchadwick.com/hudson/hudson_03.htm
-Meehan, T. (1912). Giovanni da Verrazano. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Retrieved September 5, 2008 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15364a.htm

-Our Country. (1800). New Jersey colonial history: excerpt from volume 1. Retrieved August 30, 2008 from

www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Our_Country_Vol_1/newjersey_ij.html

-State of New Jersey. A Short History of New Jersey. New Jersey Office of Technology. Retrieved August 30, 2008 from

http://www.state.nj.us/handout_nj/assignment_history_ct.html