Description
The Raritan refers to two groups of Lenape people who lived around the lower Raritan River and the Raritan Bay, in what is now northeastern New Jersey, in the 16th century. The name Raritan likely came from one of the Lenape languages, though there are a variety of interpretations as to its meaning. It may derive from Naraticong meaning "river beyond the island." The original Raritans, the Sanhicans, lived along Raritan Bay's west shore until 1640s, when attacks from the Delaware River Indians and Dutch settlers drove them inland. The Raritan had early contact with settlers in the colony of New Netherland.
Language
Munsee
Culture
Raritan practiced companion planting, in which women cultivated many varieties of the Three Sisters: maize, beans, and squash. Men hunted, fished, and otherwise harvested seafood. In the 17th century, the Lenape practiced slash and burn agriculture. They used fire to manage land. Controlled use of fire extended farmlands' productivity. In the spring, they planted their gardens in their home villages where they cultivated corn, squash, beans, pumpkin and tobacco. In the summer, they hunted and traveled to the shores for clams and oysters. In the fall, they went back to their villages for their harvest.