Oratam (or Oritani) | |
|---|---|
| Hackensack leader | |
| Personal details | |
| Resting place | Sicomac,Wyckoff, NJ |
Oratam (or Oritani/Oratamin)[1] wassagamore, orsachem, of theHackensack People living in northeasternNew Jersey during the period of early European colonization in the 17th century. Documentation shows that he lived an unusually long life (almost 90 years) and was quite influential among indigenous and immigrant populations.
The Hackensacks were a sub-group of theUnami, or Turtle Clan, of theLenni-Lenape, numbering close to a thousand. They occupied the territory called Ack-kinkas-hacky (various spellings include Achkinhenhcky, Achinigeu-hach, Ackingsah-sack). Essentially a sedentary, agricultural society, the Hackensacks set up seasonal campsites and practicedcompanion planting, hunting, trapping, fishing, and shell-fishing. They maintained a village near the Tantaqua (Overpeck Creek), while their council fire was located at Gamoenpa (Communipaw). Their territory roughly corresponds to theUpper New York Bay,Newark Bay,Bergen Neck, theMeadowlands, and thePalisades, inHudson andBergen Counties.
During Oratam's chieftaincy, the region was settled byNew Netherland Dutch, an amalgam of northern Europeans. The New Netherland Dutch arrived in 1633, establishingPavonia, with homesteads and ports atPaulus Hook,Communipaw,Harsimus, andHoboken. Other settlements wereAchter Col andVriessendael. In 1661, the region was given a municipal charter and namedBergen.[2]
The society of the Unami was based on governance by consensus, or unanimous agreement, which its leaders were obliged to follow or to abdicate. Thetotem of the turtle was held in great esteem by other groups, particularly as peacemakers.[3][4] Having attained an old age, Oratam likely enjoyed a position of great honor and respect. Considered a sage negotiator, Oratam brokered many land deals, truces, and treaties between the native and colonizing peoples. On occasion he was aided byDavid Pietersz. de Vries,[3] aDutch landowner, andSara Kiersted, a prominentNew Amsterdammer who had mastered theUnami language, and to whom he made a large land grant in 1664.[5]
It was within the bounds of Oratam's sachendom that one of the first genocides ofNative Americans by European settlers took place. In February 1643, the governor ofNew NetherlandWilliam Kieft allowed the massacre of eightyWecquaesgeek andTappan who had taken refuge near one of the plantations at Harsimus in Pavonia. The Hackensacks, Tappans, and Montauks made common cause with theWappinger, and retaliated by attacking "bouweries" (home farms) and plantations (outlying fields). By April, though, Oratam, representing the Tappans, Reckgawanacs (Manhattans), Kicktawancs, and Sintsinck, concluded a treaty with the New Netherlanders.[3] Nonetheless, due to other events taking place, mostly onLong Island and in theHudson Valley, hostilities escalated and what became known asKieft's War continued for another two years. It was not until August 1645, at a "summit" inNew Amsterdam in part organized by Oratam, that a truce was declared and a treaty signed.
For nearly ten years the two communities co-existed peacefully, if somewhat tenuously, in some measure due to Oratam's influence in not allowing incidents between the parties to escalate to violent confrontation. However, in 1655, the murder of a Hackensack woman found stealing peaches from the orchard of a Dutch farmer on Manhattan, opened the flood gates for the release of pent-up frustrations, and once again the colony of Pavonia was raided, requiring settlers there to abandon their farms. This incident initiated thePeach War. Oratam was likely involved in the return of some of the hostages who had been held atPaulus Hook.
In 1660 Oratam's diplomatic skills were again requested. After a year of conflict between theEsopus Indians (Lenape of theMunsee branch) and the New Netherlanders inUlster County, the sachem of the Warranwonkongs asked Oratam to act as emissary to the government atNew Amsterdam.Petrus Stuyvesant, who had become Director-General of New Netherland, enlisted his support, and Oratam traveled to the territory and organized a "conference" that lead to a treaty which temporarily ended the hostilities.[6]
Oratam played a vital role in the negotiations for the sale of land toRobert Treat at what would grow to becomeGreater Newark in 1666.[7]
A representation of Chief Oratam of the Achkinhenhcky appears on the Hackensack municipal seal.[8][9]
He is said to have been buried in theSicomac "happy hunting ground" in Wyckoff, New Jersey.[10]