The WAPPINGER lived on the east side of the Hudson River between the Bronx and Rhinebeck extending east to the crest of the Taconic Mountains on the border between New York and Connecticut. Except for a few small groups, most Wappinger had left the lower Hudson Valley by 1760 and settled in western Massachusetts with the Mahican at Stockbridge, the Iroquois in New York, or the Delaware in Pennsylvania.

In 1600 the seven Wappinger tribes probably numbered about 8,000 in 30 villages. After contact, the rate of their "melting away" was dramatic. Smallpox struck the area 1633-35 and 1692. By 1700 epidemics (including malaria) had reduced the lower Hudson tribes to 10 per cent of their original number. Warfare also took a serious toll, and at least 1,600 Wappinger were killed during the Wappinger War (1643-45). Only a few hundred Wappinger remained in the lower Hudson Valley after 1700, and almost all were gone by 1758. One possible group of Wappinger remain in the region today, the Ramapough Mountain Indians (Ramapo Mountain People) in northern New Jersey. They are probably descendents of a mixture of Munsee Delaware, Mattabesic Ramapo, and Pompton (Wappinger who relocated to northern New Jersey during the 1660s). With 2,500 members, they have state recognition but were denied federal status in 1993

Other names for the Wappinger were: Highland Indians, Long Reach Indians, Oping (Opine), and Pompton.

Mention is sometimes made of a Wappinger tribe or confederation, but it took a major war with the Dutch to unite these seven small tribes into a single unit. Like most of the eastern Algonquin groups, the Wappinger were organized into sachemships where, in most cases, the authority of the sachem and council (composed of clan chiefs) extended over only a few villages and was limited mostly to resolving problems and disputes. Councils of the individual sachems were only held as required by common problems. However, in times of war, leadership was given to a war chief, whose authority was absolute for the duration of the conflict. A greater degree of organization was not required, since the Wappinger generally lived in peace with most of their neighbors. The Wappinger manufactured a superior form of wampum which they traded with other tribes. There appears to have been some warfare before contact because of this valuable commodity. There were also raids by European slavers during the 1500s.

As a result, the Wappinger were forced to make more extensive military preparations than the norm. Besides their villages, most of the Wappinger had at least two "castles," or forts, where they could retreat when threatened. Like other tribes in the region, the Wappinger relied heavily on an agriculture of corn, beans, squash. Tobacco was also grown for ceremonial purposes. Diet was supplemented by fishing in the spring and summer and hunting during the colder months. The Wappinger frequently cooked their meat without removing the innards which made it difficult for some of their Dutch guests to enjoy the meal. Despite this, many Dutch are known to have married Wappinger women. Villages consisted of wigwams and mid-sized longhouses. As a rule, the Wappinger only lived in their villages during the warmer months and moved to their castles for the winter. The Hudson River provided easy transportation for their dugout canoes. Because of its tidal surges, both the Wappinger and Mahican called it the Mahicanituk meaning "ever flowing river." Its Iroquois name was Cohatatea, but the Dutch renamed it the Maurititius. Only after the English gained control of New York in 1664 did it become known as the Hudson River.

Extracts above from Wappinger History by Lee Sultzman.

The name DELAWARE was given to the natives who occupied the Delaware River Valley during the colonial occupation of English Governor Lord de la Warr. In their language they are LENAPE (len-ah'-pay) which means "The People" and belong to the Algonquian linguistic group. They were among the first Indians to come in contact with Europeans (Dutch, English, & Swedish) as early as 1600. They were considered a "Grandfather" tribe whose power, position, and spiritual presence served to settle disputes among rival tribes.

The Munsee subtribe were the northernmost group of the Lenape prior to 1682.  They occupied the headwaters of the Delaware River where Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York meet including the Catskill Mountains on the west side of the lower Hudson Valley.  In the 1600s conflicts with neighboring tribes and smallpox decimated the tribe, the survivors were forced westward along with other subtribes.

Known also for their fierceness and tenacity as warriors the Lenape are recorded, however, as choosing a path of accommodation with the Europeans, treating William Penn for eastern Pennsylvania and signing the first Indian treaty with the United States (Sept. 17, 1778). Through war and peace the Lenape continued to give up their lands and moved westward (Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana).

The Delaware of today number close to 10,000 and are headquartered in Bartlesville where the tribal government operates service programs. A small group of separately-organized Delawares (the Absentees) are located in Anadarko, Oklahoma on lands they jointly control with the Wichitas and Caddos.

There is a controversial theory or historical legend based on pictographs the Lenape supposedly carved on prayer sticks. This story, called the The Wallum Olum (Red Record), claims that the Lenape migrated from Siberia across the Bering strait on a quest for the great water to the east (the Atlantic).

Delaware Home Page
Delaware History by Lee Sultzman

The original Mahican homeland was the Hudson River Valley from the Catskill Mountains north to the southern end of Lake Champlain. Bounded by the Schoharie River in the west, it extended east to the crest of the Berkshire Mountains in western Massachusetts from northwest Connecticut north to the Green Mountains in southern Vermont.

Because they include all Algonquin tribes between the Hudson and Connecticut Rivers, some estimates of the Mahican population in 1600 range as high as 35,000. However, when limited to the core tribes of the Mahican confederacy near Albany, New York, it was somewhere around 8,000. By 1672 this had fallen to around 1,000. At the lowpoint in 1796, 300 Stockbridge, the "Last of the Mohicans," were living with the Oneida and Brotherton in upstate New York. However, if the Mahican with the Wyandot and Delaware in Ohio were also included, the actual total time was probably closer to 600. The census of 1910 listed 600 Stockbridge and Brotherton in northern Wisconsin. Three years after the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, the Stockbridge became a federally recognized tribe. They currently have almost 1,500 members living on, or near, their reservation west of Green Bay. There are also 1,700 Brotherton Indians (without federal status) on the east side of Lake Winnebago.

Both Mahican and Mohican are correct, but NOT Mohegan, a different tribe in eastern Connecticut who were related to the Pequot. In their own language, the Mahican referred to themselves collectively as the "Muhhekunneuw" "people of the great river." This name apparently was difficult for the Dutch to pronounce, so they settled on "Manhigan," the Mahican word for wolf and the name of one their most important clans. Variations were: Maeykan, Mahigan, Mahikander, Mahinganak, Maikan, and Mawhickon. In later years, the English altered this into the more-familiar Mahican or Mohican. The French name for the Mahican was Loup (French for wolf) and followed a similar reasoning. However, the French were prone to using this without distinction for most Algonquin-speaking tribes south of the St. Lawrence (Mahican, Delaware, and Abenaki). Other names: Akochakaneh (Iroquois), Canoe Indians, Hikanagi (Shawnee), Monekunnuk, Mourigan (French), Nhikana (Shawnee), Orunges, River Indians, Stockbridge, Tonotaenrat, and Uragees.