Delaware

Before the European settlers arrived to North America, the land Before the European settlers arrived to North America, the land we now know as part of Delaware was settled by the Unami Lenape tribe (also known as Delaware tribe). This was an Eastern Algonquin tribe which lived along the Delaware valley and the Nanticoke and other rivers leading to the Chesapeake Bay. This tribe was closely related to the Munsee Lenape which lived along the Hudson River. The Delaware had a settled hunting and agricultural society. When fur trading became frantic, they became middlemen in the trade with their natural rivals the Susquehannock tribe. In the 1670s, the Iroquois destroyed the Susquehannock, clearing the way for the Lenape to move over the Allegheny mountains.