Before William Penn

    Many parts of Pennsylvania still seem like the wilderness encountered by English explorers who ventured into territory such as the Delaware Water Gap. Even so, few descendants of the earliest inhabitants live in the state, and place names are the most prominent, if problematic, reminder of Native American cultures once there. The name Delaware itself has a curious history and is one of the filters obscuring our view of early Indian life The river takes its name from the bay which was so called by Europeans using the title of an English lord styling himself de la Ware (Ware being a place name in Hertfordshire and the other two words coming from French).


Despite its European origins, the place name became attached to nearby speakers of an Algonquian language, and it may well be that the term Delaware Indians applies to more than one group: indeed, place name scholar George Donehoo notes a variety of names used by native groups to refer to the river (e.g., Makeriskhickon). As with the name Delaware, American (as in Native American) is of European origin, and though the term Indian is unfashionable in some circles nowadays, it is the only non-European form used for the totality of indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere. Originally used as a place name for a river in what is now called Pakistan, it spread to the Americas as a result of the well-known mistake of Columbus about where he had landed. However much anyone may like or dislike Native American, Indian, or Amerindian, no term exists which has proven thoroughly satisfactory.

No more than in any European language is there a single term in Indian languages which is universally accepted as a designator for all indigenous Americans. In fact, some of the better known Indian names reflect conflicts among competing tribes as well as other onomastic complications. According to Donehoo, the term Sioux was a slur used by Algonquians, in whose language the word meant 'snake-like'; the group slurred preferred to call themselves Dakota, meaning 'friend' or 'ally.' In the case of many place names, the etymology is disputed. Several explanations exist for the names of two major rivers in Pennsylvania: Allegheny and Susquehanna. In the case of Ohio, on the other hand, Donehoo agrees with the most widely accepted interpretation ('beautiful river,' from a Seneca form phonetically similar to Ohio). There are, moreover, other Pennsylvania place names for rivers or mountains which have, at least for Donehoo, straightforward etymologies:


The historian David Hackett Fischer considers Pennsylvania to be a state with a higher proportion of Indian place names still used in comparison with, for example, Massachusetts. For Fischer, the contrast reflects the more peaceful relations that the Quakers had with the aborigines in contrast to the Puritans (though it should be noted that at least one Massachusetts place name, Concord, reflects a friendly agreement reached between the natives and the English settlers). In Pennsylvania, the Quakers would normally buy land from the Indians and make a serious effort to live in harmony with their neighbors. In fact William Penn himself made an effort to learn Algonquian. Unfortunately, relations the Indians and another group of English speakers, those whom Fischer calls the British Borderers, were much less peaceful. Historians have recorded several atrocities in eighteenth century Pennsylvania that bring to mind the recent campaigns of "ethnic cleansing" in the Balkans.

The strife between Indians and English speakers formed part of a larger pattern of alliances and wars, with Spain, France, and England the chief rivals in much of the Western Hemisphere. As France battled England for control of the Ohio Valley, some Indians allied themselves with the English (e.g., the Senecas) and others with the French (e.g., the Algonquians), with others distrusting both colonial powers and trying to remain neutral (e.g., the Irogouis). Those who allied themselves with the victorious English enjoyed only a temporary advantage, especially since in 1781 Britain suffered defeat at the hands of the emerging United States.

    Nowadays in the vast forests of Pennsylvania there are few traces of the earlier Indian presence: expulsion, disease, and genocide all took a horrific toll. Yet anyone who looks for the indigenous past need not spend long to find it. Aside from place names, many highways in Pennsylvania either follow an old Indian trail or at least parallel it very closely, as with some stretches of the celebrated National Road.


Sources for this page:

David Hackett Fischer. Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

George Donehoo. A History of the Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Wennawoods Publishing, 1998.

Wiilliam Shank. Indian Trails to Super Highways. York, Pennsylvania: American Canal and Transportation Center, 1988.

George Stewart. Names on the Land. San Francisco: Lexikos, 1982.