The first recorded inhabitants of the Susquehanna River valley were the Iroquoian speaking Susquehannocks. Their name meant 'people of the muddy river' in Lenape. by diseases and warfare, they had died out, moved away, or been assimilated into other tribes by the early 18th century. The lands of the West Branch Susquehanna River valley were then chiefly occupied by the Munsee clan or phratry of the Lenni Lenape, and were under the nominal control of the Five (later Six) Nations of the Iroquois.