The Lenape and Early Manhattan 4th grade · age 9

By Simit Patel · published October 23, 2026

In 1626, the Lenape agreed to let the Dutch use the island of Manahatta. What did the Lenape leaders think this agreement meant, and what did they expect would happen next?

The source

Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 (includes Letter of Isaack de Rasieres)

Various

About this document

As the reading described, in 1609 a Dutch expedition sailed along the Atlantic coast looking for a route to Asia. The crew did not find one, but they discovered that the Lenape people were eager to trade. By 1621, the Dutch West India Company had formed to make money from the fur trade. The company claimed a huge stretch of land it called New Netherland and began sending settlers. In 1626, the company's governor offered the Lenape a small amount of trade goods for the island of Manahatta. The Lenape did not think about land the way the Dutch did; they probably thought they were agreeing to share the land, not give it away forever.

Isaack de Rasieres was a Dutch official who worked for the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland. In 1628, he wrote a letter to a merchant named Samuel Blommaert back in the Netherlands. Because de Rasieres worked for the company, his letter describes things from the Dutch point of view — not the Lenape point of view. In his letter, de Rasieres described the land, the nearby peoples, and how the Dutch settlement at Manhattan was set up.

[T]he grain being dried, they put it into baskets... and bury it in the earth, where they let it lie, and go with their husbands and children in October to hunt deer, leaving at home with their maize the old people who cannot follow; in December they return home.
Their political government is democratic. They have a chief Sackima whom they choose by election... When any stranger comes, they bring him to the Sackima. On first meeting they do not speak—they smoke a pipe of tobacco; that being done, the Sackima asks: "Whence do you come?" the stranger then states that... before all who are present or choose to come.
[T]he Sackima announces his opinion to the people, and if they agree thereto, they give all together a sigh—"He!"—and if they do not approve, they keep silence, and all come close to the Sackima, and each sets forth his opinion till they agree; that being done, they come all together again to the stranger, to whom the Sackima then announces what they have determined, with the reasons moving them thereto.
All travellers who stop over night come to the Sackima, if they have no acquaintances there, and are entertained by the expenditure of as much sewan as is allowed for that purpose.

Glossary

democratic adj.: ruled by the people, who get a say in decisions (excerpt 2)
Sackima n.: the Lenape word for their chief or leader (excerpt 2)
election n.: a vote to choose a leader (excerpt 2)
thereto adv.: to that; with it (excerpt 3)
sets forth v.: explains or presents (excerpt 3)
determined v.: decided (excerpt 3)
acquaintances n.: people you have met before (excerpt 4)
sewan n.: shell beads used as money by the Lenape (excerpt 4)

Various. “Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 (includes Letter of Isaack de Rasieres).” Project Gutenberg (transcription of Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1909), https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2128/2128-h/2128-h.htm#isaack.

Your turn

Setting the scene

What has happened in our unit story by the time this document was created?

What does it say?

In paragraph one, what did the Lenape do with their dried grain, and where did they go after that?
In paragraph two, how did the Lenape choose their leader, and what happened when a stranger came to visit?
In paragraph three, what happened when the people did not agree with the Sackima's opinion?
In paragraph four, what did the Sackima do for travelers who stopped to stay overnight?

What does it mean?

In paragraphs two and three, de Rasieres uses the word 'democratic' and describes how the whole group had to agree before any decision was made. Why do you think he wanted his Dutch readers to know that the Lenape made decisions this way -- what was he trying to show them about the Lenape?
In paragraphs one and four, de Rasieres describes how the Lenape moved across the land with the seasons and welcomed strangers with food and shelter. Why do you think he included both of these details together -- what was he trying to help his readers understand about how the Lenape treated land and visitors?

What did the author assume?

Which assumption about land do you think the Lenape leaders would agree with?
A. Land is something people share and move across depending on the season, not something one group can own and keep forever.
B. Land is something one group can buy and own forever, so that no one else can use it.
Which assumption about the Dutch visitors do you think the Lenape leaders would agree with?
A. The Dutch were strangers who wanted to take the land and make it theirs alone.
B. The Dutch were guests who would share the land and live alongside the Lenape, just as other travelers did.

Write your answer

Use de Rasieres's letter about the Lenape to answer our question: In 1626, the Lenape agreed to let the Dutch use the island of Manahatta. What did the Lenape leaders think this agreement meant, and what did they expect would happen next?

From The Lenape and Early Manhattan, a 4th grade history lesson on Pallas.