什麼是德拉瓦人

操阿爾岡昆語（Algonquian）的北美印第安部落聯盟，居住於大西洋沿岸，約自德拉瓦州南部至長島西部，特別是德拉瓦河流域一帶。主要以農業為主，輔以漁、獵。德拉瓦人有三個氏族，實行母系制；氏族再分為家系，家系成員一般共同居住在一長形房屋（longhouse）裏。家系羣組組成自治公社。公社內有由各家系首領及其他着名人士組成的議事會，決定公共事務。家系內最年長的婦女有權任免族長。德拉瓦人是印第安部落中對彭威廉（William Penn）最友善的一支，他們所得到的回報卻是臭名昭着的「量步購地」（Walking purchase），這是一項剝奪他們的土地並強迫他們遷往原來畫給易洛魁人的土地上定居的條約。西元1690年後他們往西遷移，在法國印第安人戰爭（French and Indian War, 1754～1763）中支持法國，並幫助他們擊敗英國將領佈雷多克（Edward Braddock）的軍隊。1867年殘餘的德拉瓦人已遷往奧克拉荷馬。如今人數約有一萬人。

Delaware

Confederation of Algonquian-speaking North American Indians who occupied the Atlantic seaboard from southern Delaware to western Long Island, especially the Delaware River Valley. They depended primarily on agriculture, but also hunted and fished. They were grouped in three clans based on maternal descent; these were in turn divided into lineages, whose members lived together in a longhouse. They were governed by a council of lineage sachems (chiefs), who directed the public affairs of the community; the eldest woman of the lineage appointed the sachem. The Delaware were the Indians most friendly to William Penn; they were rewarded by the infamous Walking Purchase, a treaty that deprived them of their own lands and forced them to settle on lands assigned to the Iroquois. After 1690 they drifted westward. They sided with the French in the French and Indian War (1754-63) and helped defeat the British general Edward Braddock. In 1867 most of the remaining Delaware were removed to Oklahoma. Today they number about 10,000.