Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Winippague

Winippague is the traditional placename for what is now Bergen Island in Jamaica Bay. The alternative name is Wimbaccoe. Anthropologist William Wallace Tooker suggested that the name may translate to "a fine water-place," from wini, "fine," and -paug, "water-place." Winippague or Bergen Island has been identified as an important wampum manufacturing place for Canarsie people during early contact with Europeans. Archaeological materials from the area are held in Smithsonian collections. The traditional name Winippague, designating present-day Bergen Island as a "fine water-place," identifies the site where the Canarsie people once manufactured highly valued wampum shell beads. Recognizing this wampum-making place reminds us that the complex landscapes of modern New York City were shaped by complex Indigenous trade networks long before European colonization. Winippague is present-day...