Raritan

The Raritan River runs east across New Jersey to the bay that shares its name. Its branches rise in the hills of the interior, joining to form a river that becomes tidal near New Brunswick. The Raritan people belonged to the Lenape communities of the surrounding country; their name was applied both to the river and to the bay at its mouth.

Dutch records used the name Raritan for several groups. The Sanhicans lived west of the bay before attacks in the 1640s drove them inland. In 1649 Wisquaskecks moved into the area and came to be known by the same name. Relations with the Dutch had already been marked by violence: the Raritan were among the peoples drawn into Kieft's War of 1643–1645, a conflict between New Netherland and its Indigenous neighbours.