Native New Yorkers: The Legacy of the Algonquin People of New York

Evan T. Pritchard

Jan 2002 · Council Oak Books

About this ebook

When Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed into the New York Harbor in 1524, he climbed a hill and beheld "campfires as plentiful as stars, as far as the eye can see." Native New Yorkers reveals the city beneath The City, telling the fascinating story of the ancient Algonquin culture that maintained a thriving civilization in the greater New York area that is now a bustling metropolis. This book draws on a wide range of historical sources as well as extensive interviews with living Algonquin elders; exhaustively traces ancient trails, villages, burial grounds, and sacred sites and is supplemented with maps, a timeline of New York's Algonquin history, a glossary of Algonquin words, and a transcript of Giovanni da Verrazzano's letter to King Francis I of France describing his first glimpses of people of New York in 1524.

Ratings and reviews

I read the book and found it a great primer to the reading of "The Island at the center of the World" Russel Shorto. It was interesting and mostly plausible per my newbie Native American knowledge, however, The Lenape tribe members do not see it as a factual piece, in fact it has often been called a fairytale. I will take the time to research their views and make my own conclusions. My daughter is presently reading the book and I will also get her opinion.

About the author

Evan T. Pritchard is a descendant of the Micmac people (part of the Algonquin nations) is the founder of the Center for Algonquin Culture. He is currently professor of Native American history at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he also teaches ethics and philosophy. He is the author of Henry Hudson and the Algonquins of New York and No Word for Time: The Way of the Algonquin People, among others.