He started a farm at the base of the mountains-in what is now Llewellyn Park. In 1678, Anthony Olive became the first European to settle in what is now West Orange. Often the borders were not clearly defined, and few if any maps remain. Sometimes they would name it after themselves or where they were from in Europe. This expansion was effected primarily by individual property owners, who would purchase tracts of land bit by bit. The Newark territory kept extending West as the English overthrew the Dutch and claimed or purchased more Hackensack territory. He then founded "New Ark" or Newark, establishing it as a Puritan theocracy, as had been done in Milford, CT. On July 11, 1667, Treat settled the purchase through Samuel Efsal, a Lenni Lenape interpreter. However, the Hackensack tribe disputed this purchase, and said it was not included in the Elizabethtown Purchase. In 1666, Puritan Captain Robert Treat moved south to New Jersey from Connecticut and purchased a tract of land from Governor Carteret, west of the Passaic River and 8 miles (13 km) east of what is currently West Orange. This is known as the "Elizabethtown Purchase." On October 28, 1664, The English purchased 780 square miles (2,000 km 2) of land from the Hackensack, from Staten Island to the Passaic River on the North to the Raritan River on the South, for about 154 English pounds. In 1664, the English took possession of Dutch New Netherland. Due to the wars between the Native Americans and European settlers, most European settlers stayed East of the Hudson River. In the 1500s and 1600s, the territory was disputed and transferred many times between the Hackensack, Dutch, Scottish, Swedes, and English colonists. This hospitality at first benefited the European settlers, who struggled in the wilderness after reaching North America's shores. They believed in taking only what was immediately necessary from nature, and considering the needs of the next seven generations. The Native Americans were hunter-gatherer tribes who would overlap territories and occasionally had tribal wars, but did not "own" land. The Turtle Back Rocks were considered sacred to the Native Americans. The area is now known as "Turtle Back Rock Picnic Area" and gives its name to the Turtle Back Zoo. The wooded South Mountain Reservation has rocks shaped like the backs of large turtles. This vantage point over the valleys east to Manhattan had a strategic value for Lenni Lenape warriors, and later George Washington's troops during the American Revolution. West Orange is located at the peak of the Watchung Mountains. In the centuries prior to industrial development, the Passaic River and Watchung Mountains were major geographic landmarks amidst the untouched wilderness. The Passaic River runs in an upside-down V shape-8 miles (13 km) west and east, and 13 miles (21 km) north of West Orange. They would travel to the ocean or mountains to hunt for food. Their main settlement was where the city of Hackensack is today. Northfield Avenue and Old Indian Road in West Orange, remain as original Hackensack trails. They were hunter-gatherers, matrilineal, and had cultural traditions such as wedding ceremonies. They identified themselves with the totem of the Turtle. They were part of the Algonquin language family, and known as "Delaware Indians" by the 18th century. In their language, "Leni Lenape" means, "the original people." The Acquackanonk sub-tribe were located along the Passaic River. The Hackensack were a phratry of the Unami tribe of the Leni Lenape. West Orange was originally part of the Native American Hackensack clan's territory, for over 10,000 years.
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