18. Other parts of Brooklyn
The Canarsee who lived in modern-day Bay Ridge were referred to as the Nyack, whose name means “point of land.” The Nyack built a settlement along the shores of Bay Ridge and traded with the Dutch. Reports from 1645 note how Cornelis van Werckhoven, on behalf of the Dutch West India Company, gave the Nyack six coats, six kettles, six axes, six chisels, six small looking glasses, twelve knives, and twelve combs for a portion of land nearby.
In Greenpoint, the Mespeatches used the land as hunting grounds. The area was too swampy for habitation, but those who interacted with the local settlers at first traded with them before inevitable conflict.
Native Americans also had settlements in Bushwick, Gravesend, and Fort Hamilton, which they called Navack. Sheepshead Bay had been used as a source of wampum, and there were villages established by the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Brooklyn Heights was also referred to as Ihpetonga, or “high sandy bank.”