The Lenape, or Lenni Lenape, are an American Indian nation that historically occupied portions of the Middle Atlantic including New Jersey, Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania. Although European colonists often referred to the Lenape as Delaware Indians, this was not a term that the Lenape people created for themselves, though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably today.

During the French and Indian War, the Lenape originally sided with the French, but by the time the British took Fort Duquesne in present-day Pittsburgh, PA, in 1758, the Lenape had ended their alliance, siding with the British instead. After the war, with the French no longer claiming the territory, British colonists continued to move westward, encroaching on Lenape land and pushing the Lenape people further to the west.

Later during the 19th century, the U.S. government forcibly removed the Lenape people, pushing many members of the Lenape nation even further west, eventually into present-day Oklahoma. Today, there are three federally recognized tribes of Lenape people: the Delaware Nation, the Delaware Tribe of Indians, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians. There are also several recognized groups in Canada as well as other state recognized groups.

For more information and links to resources, please see our editorial statement on American Indian terminology.