5 Dutch Days Lecture: Manhattan’s Indians

A Lecture with Karen Kupperman

Indians in the settlement of Sapokanican located in what is now the West Village, in the rest of the five boroughs, and on Long Island shared a culture and all spoke related Algonquian languages. Despite this shared culture, the arrival of the Dutch in these areas profoundly transformed the native culture and economy, driving native groups away from the new European settlements.

Using reports from Europeans who ventured to this region in the early period and focusing on the culture of native populations in the area of what is now considered Manhattan, historian Karen Kupperman will discuss the relationships between Indian groups in the pre-contact period as well as the effect of the coming of Europeans and especially the impact of imported diseases and the opening of trade here.