Long Island and Rhode Island. In 1609, the English navigator Henry Hudson explored the harbor and purportedly landed at Coney Island. Adriaen Block followed in 1615 and is credited as the first European to determine that both Manhattan and Long Island are islands. Native American land deeds recorded by the Dutch from 1636 state that the Indians referred to Long Island as "Sewanhaka" ("Sewanhacky" and "Sewanhacking" were other spellings in the transliteration of Lenape). "Sewan" was one of the terms for wampum (commemorative stringed shell beads, for a while also used as currency by colonists in trades with the Lenape), and is
Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape seq.). The largest American Indian tribe in New Jersey, the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape enjoy friendly relations with the nation of Sweden, which acknowledges its tribal identity and sovereignty. Sweden recently celebrated its more than 350-year-old treaty of friendship with the Tribe, dating to the early settlement of the Swedes and Finns in the Land of the Lenape, before Dutch and British colonial powers settled in the area. The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribe is governed by a nine-member elected Tribal Council. All council members must be enrolled citizens of the tribe. The tribe has determined that membership is dependent on tribal Indian blood