Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the <answer>Lenape</answer> (Delaware) Indians in the village of Shackamaxon. The <answer>Lenape</answer> are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their historical territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley.[a] Most <answer>Lenape</answer> were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, exacerbated by losses from intertribal conflicts. <answer>Lenape</answer> communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the <answer>Lenape</answer>. Surviving <answer>Lenape</answer> moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States' independence pushed them further west. In the 1860s, the United States government sent most <answer>Lenape</answer> remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma and surrounding territory) under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most <answer>Lenape</answer> now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with some communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario (Canada) and in their traditional homelands.
What native American tribe lived in the area before settlement?
Lenape