Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Sassian's Maize Land

Sassians was a Brooklyn locality named in a 1642 Kieft grant as Sassian's maize land. Sassians is recorded as a Brooklyn locality associated with a Native person named Sassian. A 1642 Kieft grant to Jan Maye described land extending toward Sassian's maize land. The phrase is interpreted as indicating Sassian's corn field and home. Sassian is translated as "the sower" or "the planter," compared with Algonquian words meaning to scatter or sow. Why Place Names Matter “Indigenous place names are embedded in the culture, landscape, language and identities of the people who use them.” — Amy Becker, Elders’ Voices Find Home on Google Earth: the Stz’uminus Storied Places Digital Atlas (2014), Quoted statement in University of Victoria news feature