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
Native American Film and Video Festival American Indian. Selectors have included indigenous film makers such as Chris Eyre, Randy Redroad, and Nora Naranjo-Morse, and Native American cultural experts and academics such as G. Peter Jemison, Beverly Singer, and Paul Apodaca. Founded in 1979, the Festival is internationally recognized as the first to feature Native productions from throughout the Americas and the Arctic Circle; indigenous media makers participate from Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, and the United States (including Hawaii). Native American Film and Video Festival The Native American Film and Video Festival is a noncompetitive showcase of film, video and audio productions held biennially