Raritan people

The name Raritan likely came from one of the Lenape languages (among the languages in the Algonquian language group), though there are a variety of interpretations as to its meaning. It may derive from Naraticong meaning "river beyond the island." Raritan is a Dutch pronunciation of wawitan or rarachons, meaning "forked river" or "stream overflows". The first group known as the Raritan was also known as the Sanhicans. A second group, known as the Wiechquaeskecks, and Raritanoos settled the Raritan watershed area after the first departed. == History ==

17th century The original Raritans, the Sanhicans, lived along Raritan Bay's west shore After the Sanhicans migrated east, the Wisquaskecks Dutch colonist David Pietersz. de Vries described the Raritans as "a nation of savages who live where a little stream [the Raritan River] runs up about five leagues behind Staten Island." 19th century According to Encyclopedia of New Jersey Indians, the surviving Raritans sold the last of their lands and moved to the Brotherton Reservation in Burlington County, New Jersey. Their descendants are part of larger Lenape communities including the Stockbridge Munsee Community in Wisconsin, Delaware Tribe of Indians, Delaware Nation, Moravian of the Thames First Nation, and the Delaware First Nation of the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario. ==See also==