 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| extinct as a tribe | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Kings County,Long Island, andStaten Island,New York, U.S.[3] | |
| Languages | |
| Munsee language | |
| Religion | |
| Indigenous religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| otherMunsee people |
TheCanarsee were a band ofMunsee-speakingLenape who inhabited the westernmost end ofLong Island[4] andStaten Island[3] at the time theDutch colonizedNew Amsterdam in the 1620s and 1630s.
They are credited with selling the island ofManhattan to the Dutch, even though they only occupied its lower reaches, with the balance the seasonal hunting grounds of theWecquaesgeek of theWappinger people to the north.[5]
The Canarsee were among the peoples who were conflated with other Long Island bands into a group called theMetoac, an aggregation which failed to recognize their linguistic differences and varying tribal affinities.[6]
Nyack atFort Hamilton on Long Island was likely a Canarsee village.[7]
As was common practice early in the days of white European colonisation of North America, a people came to be associated with a place, with its name displacing theirs among the colonies and those associated with them, such as explorers, mapmakers, trading company superiors who sponsored many of the early settlements, and officials in the colonizers' mother country in Europe. This was the case of the "Canarsee" people, also known asCanarsie andCanarse, as well asCanarise,Canarisse, andCanarsii,[8] whose name, to the extent they identified with one, is lost in history. They were also called the Canarse and Canarsie.
It is the "Canarse" [sic] (possibly from theNyack Tract), who only utilized the very southern end ofManhattan island, theManhattoes, as a hunting ground, who are credited with sellingPeter Minuit the entirety of the island for $24 in 1626.[5] A confusion of possession on the part of the Canarsees who failed to tell the Dutch that the balance of island was the hunting ground of theWecquaesgeek, aWappinger band of southwestWestchester County.[5]
Red Hook Lane, a Canarsee path thru the marshland was in colonial times the main trail fromBrooklyn Heights toRed Hook. The Red Hook Lane Heritage Trail in Red Hook marks in a zig-zag fashion where the old indian trail was to Cypress Tree Island. It begins at theRed Hook Lane Arresick.[9]