Ramapough Mountain Indians
State-recognized tribe headquartered in New Jersey / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Ramapough Mountain Indians (also spelled Ramapo), known also as the Ramapough Lenape Nation or Ramapough Lunaape Munsee Delaware Nation or Ramapo Mountain people, are a group of approximately 5,000[2] people living in and around the Ramapo Mountains of Bergen and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey and Rockland County in southern New York, about 25 miles (40 km) from New York City. They were recognized in 1980 by the state of New Jersey as the Ramapough Lenape Nation but are not recognized federally. Their tribal office is located on Stag Hill Road on Houvenkopf Mountain near Mahwah, New Jersey. Since January 2007, the chief of the Ramapough Lenape Nation has been Dwaine Perry.[3]
Total population | |
---|---|
2,654 (1992 membership list[1]) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States: New Jersey, New York | |
Languages | |
English, formerly Munsee, Iroquoian languages, Jersey Dutch | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Lenape |
The Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation descends allegedly largely from the Lenape, whose regional bands included the Hackensack, Tappan, Rumachenanck/Haverstroo, Munsee/Minisink and Ramapo people. They absorbed people with varying degrees of Tuscarora, African, and Dutch and other European ancestry.[4] The Lenape language in this area was Munsee, an Algonquian dialect. The Tuscarora spoke an Iroquoian language. After relations with European colonists began, ancestors of the Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation also spoke Jersey Dutch and English. Presently they speak English.[5][6] The Ramapough are working to restore the Munsee language among their members.[7]
The Ramapough Lenape Nation, the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, and the Powhatan Renape Nation have a history of working together. As of May 2011, the three tribes formed the United States-recognized tribes of New Jersey.[8]