Nanticoke
The Nanticoke are a Native American tribe originally located along the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay and the Nanticoke River in Maryland. They are part of the Algonquian language group and have historically interacted with surrounding tribes, such as the Conoy. Traditionally, Nanticoke men engaged in hunting and fishing, while women cultivated maize and produced shell beads for wampum. The tribe was governed by a hereditary chief and a council of elders, with lineage traced through women.
Following sustained contact with European settlers beginning in the early 17th century, the Nanticoke faced significant challenges, including disease and displacement. By the 1700s, many Nanticoke migrated to join the Iroquois Confederacy in Pennsylvania due to increased colonial pressures. Over the centuries, they relocated several times, eventually settling in Delaware and gaining state recognition in 1903. Today, the Nanticoke Indian Tribe and the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation in New Jersey continue to engage in efforts to preserve their cultural heritage and educate the public, notably through museums and annual powwows. Uniquely, the Nanticoke have taken a firm stance against casino gaming, focusing instead on other forms of economic development.
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Nanticoke
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Northeast
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Algonquian
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Delaware, New Jersey
- POPULATION SIZE: 700 (2024 Nanticoke Indian Tribe); Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation population numbers unavailable
The Nanticoke originally inhabited the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay along the Nanticoke River in Maryland. Culturally, they were closely associated with surrounding groups from the Algonquian language family, such as the Conoy. Unfortunately, only a few details about their traditional lifeways survived. Men hunted and fished, and women practiced maize horticulture. The Nanticoke were adept at the production of shell beads for peake (wampum) and at the processing of furs. A hereditary chief ruled over several villages and, with elders, formed an upper social stratum. Individuals traced their ancestry through women. The Nanticoke buried their dead in ossuaries (mass graves) after lengthy interment in aboveground mortuary structures.
Sustained contact with White settlers began after 1608. By the early eighteenth century, the Nanticoke had suffered greatly from disease and from harassment by colonists. To lessen conflicts, they agreed to live on two reservations along the Nanticoke, known as Broad Creek and Chicacoan. This greatly reduced their territory and limited their ability to support themselves. During this period, the Nanticoke became tributaries of the powerful Five Nations of the Iroquois of New York.
By the mid-1700s, because of further interference by colonists, the Nanticoke petitioned the Iroquois for protection. Several hundred migrated to Iroquois territory in Pennsylvania before regrouping at Otsiningo, near present-day Binghamton, New York. By then, they had merged with the Conoy. After the American Revolutionary War, they moved west, finally settling in Oklahoma, where they became identified with and absorbed into the Delaware (Lenni Lenape) nation.
By the 1760s, the Nanticoke who remained in Maryland had abandoned their land. In the succeeding years, they settled with members of local nations on Indian River Hundred near Millsboro, Delaware. In 1903, after many attempts, they gained official recognition as Nanticoke Indians from the state. The formation of the Nanticoke Indian Association, also called the Nanticoke Indian Tribe, furthered Indigenous causes during the twentieth century. A separate organization, known as the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation of New Jersey, developed in 1978 near Bridgeton, New Jersey, where members of the two nations had settled. In the mid-2020s, both organizations remained active and strived to preserve community history, revive traditional ways, and educate the public through museums and annual powwows. Unique to the Nanticoke, amongst many other Indigenous American nations, is its firm anti-gaming stance. While the Nanticoke support other nations in their various forms of economic development, the Nanticoke have expressed revenues from casino gambling are not of interest. Both Nanticoke nations have received recognition from the state as Indigenous nations, but neither is federally-recognized.
Bibliography
"About." Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Nation, www.nlltribalnation.org/14-2/118-2. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.
"History." Nanticoke Indian Tribe, www.nanticokeindians.org/about/history. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.
"History Matters: Nanticoke Tribe Seeks to Sustain Its Identity." Delaware Public Media, 27 Nov. 2015, www.delawarepublic.org/culture-lifestyle-sports/2015-11-27/history-matters-nanticoke-tribe-seeks-to-sustain-its-identity. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.
"Nanticoke Indian Museum." Nanticoke Indian Tribe, www.nanticokeindians.org/locations/nanticoke-indian-museum. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.
Porter, Frank W. The Nanticoke. Chelsea House, 1987.
Porter, Frank W. "Strategies for Survival: The Nanticoke Indians in a Hostile World." Ethnohistory, vol. 26, no. 4, 1976, pp. 325–45.
"Preserving Native Nanticoke Land in Delaware." The Conservation Fund, www.conservationfund.org/our-impact/projects/preserving-native-nanticoke-land-in-delaware. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.