Description
The Wecquaesgeek (also Manhattoe and Manhattan) were a Munsee-speaking band of Wappinger people who once lived along the east bank of the Hudson River in the southwest of today's Westchester County, New York, and down into the Bronx. The Wecquaesgeek faced numerous conflicts with Dutch and English colonists. In 1609 two dugout canoes were sent from the Nipinichsen settlement to threaten Hendrik Hudson's ship in on his return trip down the river. In the 1640s, the Wecquaesgeek settled the Raritan River and Raritan Bay after the Sanhicans migrated west. Once they settled there, colonists called them the Raritans.
Language
Munsee
Culture
They were a mobile and peaceful people, trading amongst the various Algonkian tribes around them. The land was fertile for planting crops and contained flint, essential to the primitive hunter for projectile points. Chestnuts, oak and hickory trees abounded, along with sweet gum, willow and persimmon. The Wecquaesgeek resided along the southeastern banks of the Hudson River and fished local streams and lakes with rods and nets. Practicing seasonal agriculture, they grew corn, beans, and various species of squash.