Oratam
Encyclopedia
Oratam was sagamore, or sachem
, of the Hackensack Indians living in northeastern New 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 immigrating populations.
The Hackensacks were sub-group of the Unami
, or Turtle Clan, of the Lenni-Lenape, and occupied the territory called Ack-kinkas-hacky (variously spellings include Achkinhenhcky, Achinigeu-hach, Ackingsah-sack), numbering close to a thousand. Essentially a sedentary, agricultural society, they set up seasonal campsites and practiced companion 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
).The area roughly corresponds to the Upper New York Bay
, Newark Bay
, Bergen Neck
, the Meadowlands
, and the Palisades
, in Hudson
and Bergen
Counties. During his chieftaincy, the region was settled by New Netherland Dutch, an amalgam of northern Europeans, who arrived in 1633 and established Pavonia
, with homesteads and ports at Paulus Hook Communipaw
, Harsimus
, Hoboken
. Other settlements were Achter Col and Vriessendael. In 1661, the region was given a municipal charter and named Bergen
.
The society of the Unami was based on governance by consensus, or unanimous agreement, which its leaders were obliged to follow or to abdicate. The totem
of the turtle was held in great esteeem by other groups, particularly as peacemakers. 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 by David de Vries, a Dutch landowner, and Sara Kiersted, a prominent New Amsterdam
mer who had mastered the Unami language, and to whom he made large land grant in 1664.
It was within the bounds of Oratam's sachendom that one of the first genocides of Native Americans
by European settlers took place. In February 1643, the governor of New Netherland
William Kieft allowed the massacre of eighty Wecquaesgeek and Tappan
who had taken refuge close to one of the plantations at Harsimus in Pavonia. The Hackensacks, Tappans, Montauks made common cause with the Wappinger
, 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. Nonetheless, due other events taking place, mostly on Long Island
and in the Hudson Valley
, hostilities escalated and what became known as Kieft's War
continued for another two years. It was not until August of 1645, at a "summit" in New 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, to some degree due Oratam's influence in not allowing incidents between the parties to escalate to violent confrontation. In 1655, though, the murder of a squaw detected stealing peaches from the orchid of a Dutch farmer on Manhattan, opened the flood gates for the release pent-up frustrations, and once again the colony of Pavonia was raided, requiring settlers there to abandon their farms. This incident initiated the Peach Tree War
. Oratam was likely involved in the return of some of the hostages who had been held at Paulus Hook.
In 1660 Oratam's diplomatic skills were again requested. After a year of conflict between the Esopus
Indians (Lenape of the Munsee branch) and the New Netherlanders in Ulster County, the sachem of the Warranwonkongs, asked Oratam to act as emissary to the government at New Amsterdam
. Petrus Stuyvesant, who had become Director-General of New Netherland enlisted his support, and Oratam travelled to the territory and organized a "conference" that lead to a treaty which temporarily ended the hostilities.
Oratam played a vital role in the negotiations for the sale of land to Robert Treat
at what would grow to become Greater Newark
in 1666.
A representation of Chief Oratam of the Achkinhenhcky appears on the Hackensack municipal seal.
He is said to have been buried in the Sicomac "happy hunting ground" in Wykoff.
Sachem
A sachem[p] or sagamore is a paramount chief among the Algonquians or other northeast American tribes. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms from different Eastern Algonquian languages...
, of the Hackensack Indians living in northeastern New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
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 immigrating populations.
The Hackensacks were sub-group of the Unami
Unami
Unami may refer to:*the Lenape language, or its sublanguage the Unami language*Unami Creek*the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq *the Unami Lodge...
, or Turtle Clan, of the Lenni-Lenape, and occupied the territory called Ack-kinkas-hacky (variously spellings include Achkinhenhcky, Achinigeu-hach, Ackingsah-sack), numbering close to a thousand. Essentially a sedentary, agricultural society, they set up seasonal campsites and practiced companion planting
Companion planting
Companion planting is the planting of different crops in proximity , on the theory that they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and other factors necessary to increasing crop productivity...
, hunting, trapping, fishing, and shell-fishing. They maintained a village near the Tantaqua (Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately 8 miles long, in Bergen County in northern New Jersey in the United States. The upper creek flows through suburban communities west of New York City...
), while their council fire was located at Gamoenpa (Communipaw
Communipaw
Communipaw is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and site of one the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near LSP Station through the neighborhoods of...
).The area roughly corresponds to the Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...
, Newark Bay
Newark Bay
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, 3rd largest and one of busiest in the United States...
, Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck is a name for the peninsula between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay in the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Bayonne and Jersey City...
, the Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey in the United States. The Meadowlands are known for being the site of large landfills and decades of...
, and the Palisades
New Jersey Palisades
The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson Palisades are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in northeastern New Jersey and southern New York in the United States. The cliffs stretch north from Jersey City approximately 20 mi to near...
, in Hudson
Hudson County, New Jersey
Hudson County is the smallest county in New Jersey and one of the most densely populated in United States. It takes its name from the Hudson River, which creates part of its eastern border. Part of the New York metropolitan area, its county seat and largest city is Jersey City.- Municipalities...
and Bergen
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
Counties. During his chieftaincy, the region was settled by New Netherland Dutch, an amalgam of northern Europeans, who arrived in 1633 and established Pavonia
Pavonia, New Netherland
Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River that was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland in what would become today's Hudson County, New Jersey.-Hudson and the Hackensack:...
, with homesteads and ports at Paulus Hook Communipaw
Communipaw
Communipaw is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and site of one the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near LSP Station through the neighborhoods of...
, Harsimus
Harsimus
Harsimus is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment in the north to Christopher Columbus Drive in the south between Coles Street and Grove Street or more broadly, to Marin Boulevard...
, Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
. Other settlements were Achter Col and Vriessendael. In 1661, the region was given a municipal charter and named Bergen
Bergen, New Netherland
Bergen was a part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, in the area in northeastern New Jersey along the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers that would become contemporary Hudson and Bergen Counties...
.
The society of the Unami was based on governance by consensus, or unanimous agreement, which its leaders were obliged to follow or to abdicate. The totem
Totem
A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem...
of the turtle was held in great esteeem by other groups, particularly as peacemakers. 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 by David de Vries, a Dutch landowner, and Sara Kiersted, a prominent New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
mer who had mastered the Unami language, and to whom he made large land grant in 1664.
It was within the bounds of Oratam's sachendom that one of the first genocides of Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
by European settlers took place. In February 1643, the governor of New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
William Kieft allowed the massacre of eighty Wecquaesgeek and Tappan
Tappan (Native Americans)
The Tappan were a Lenape people who inhabited the region radiating from Hudson Palisades and New York – New Jersey Highlands in at the time of European colonialization in the 17th century....
who had taken refuge close to one of the plantations at Harsimus in Pavonia. The Hackensacks, Tappans, Montauks made common cause with the Wappinger
Wappinger
The Wappinger were an American tribe native to eastern New York. The term "Wappinger" may also refer to:* Wappinger, New York, the Town of Wappinger named for the tribe...
, 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. Nonetheless, due other events taking place, mostly on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
and in the Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
, hostilities escalated and what became known as Kieft's War
Kieft's War
Kieft's War, also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between settlers of the nascent colony of New Netherland and the native Lenape population in what would later become the New York metropolitan area of the United States...
continued for another two years. It was not until August of 1645, at a "summit" in New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
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, to some degree due Oratam's influence in not allowing incidents between the parties to escalate to violent confrontation. In 1655, though, the murder of a squaw detected stealing peaches from the orchid of a Dutch farmer on Manhattan, opened the flood gates for the release pent-up frustrations, and once again the colony of Pavonia was raided, requiring settlers there to abandon their farms. This incident initiated the Peach Tree War
Peach Tree War
The Peach Tree War, also known as the "Peach War," is the name given to a large scale attack on the New Netherland colony of Pavonia, across from New Amsterdam, and surrounding settlements along the North River by the Susquehannock Nation and allied Native Americans on September 15,...
. Oratam was likely involved in the return of some of the hostages who had been held at Paulus Hook.
In 1660 Oratam's diplomatic skills were again requested. After a year of conflict between the Esopus
Esopus
Esopus may refer to:In New York*Esopus, New York, a town in Ulster County*Esopus Creek, a tributary of the Hudson River*Esopus Meadows Lighthouse, a lighthouse on the Hudson River near Esopus, New York...
Indians (Lenape of the Munsee branch) and the New Netherlanders in Ulster County, the sachem of the Warranwonkongs, asked Oratam to act as emissary to the government at New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
. Petrus Stuyvesant, who had become Director-General of New Netherland enlisted his support, and Oratam travelled to the territory and organized a "conference" that lead to a treaty which temporarily ended the hostilities.
Oratam played a vital role in the negotiations for the sale of land to Robert Treat
Robert Treat
Robert Treat was an American colonial leader, militia officer and governor of Connecticut between 1683 and 1698....
at what would grow to become Greater Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
in 1666.
A representation of Chief Oratam of the Achkinhenhcky appears on the Hackensack municipal seal.
He is said to have been buried in the Sicomac "happy hunting ground" in Wykoff.
Sources
- Indian Tribes of Hudson's River; Ruttenber,E.M.; Hope Farm Press, 3rd ed, 2001, ISBN#0-910746-98-2
- http://www.wyckoff-nj.com/history.html
- http://www.teaneck.org/virtualvillage/teaneck1895-1970/pieceofland.html
- http://www.bogota.nj.us/history/default.asp
- http://www.hackensack.org/content/70/default.aspx
- http://www.leonianj.gov/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=445 -
- http://www.usgennet.org/usa/nj/state/Lenape.htm