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About Hackensack, NJ

The first inhabitants of the area were the Lenni Lenape, an Algonquian people (later known as the Delaware Indians) who lived along the valley of what they called the Achinigeu-hach, or " Ackingsah-sack", meaning stony ground (today the Hackensack River). A representation of Chief Oratam of the Achkinhenhcky appears on the Hackensack municipal seal. The most common explanation is that the city was named for the Native American tribe, though other sources attribute it to a Native American word variously translated as meaning "hook mouth", "stream that unites with another on low ground", "on low ground" or "land of the big snake", while another version described as "more colorful than probable" attributes the name to an inn called the "Hock and Sack". Settlement by the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland on west banks of the North River (Hudson River) across from New Amsterdam (present-day lower Manhattan) began in the 1630s at Pavonia, eventually leading to the establishment of Bergen (at today's Bergen Square in Jersey City) in 1660. Oratam, sachem of the Lenni Lenape, deeded the land along mid- Hackensack River to the Dutch in 1665.