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
Coney Island the north east side is, for the most part, enclosed in bulkheads. The original Native American inhabitants of the region, the Lenape, called this area "Narrioch". This name has been attributed the meaning of ""land without shadows"" or ""always in light"" describing how its south facing beaches always remained in sunlight. A second meaning attributed to "Narrioch" is ""point"" or ""corner of land"". The first documented European name for the island is the Dutch name "Conyne Eylandt" or "Conynge Eylandt." This would roughly be equivalent to "Konijn Eiland" using modern Dutch spelling, meaning "Rabbit Island". The name was anglicized to