Lunaapahkiing Princeton Timetree

Relations, Removals, Resurgence

Walking Purchase

By the 1730s, William Penn’s sons – Thomas and John – realize that Lunaape land could be used to resolve their great debts. With the help of a co-conspirator, John Logan, they produce an unsigned draft deed from 1686 in which Lunaapeew ostensibly promise to give up as much land as can be covered in a day and a half’s walk westward from the Delaware River in Bucks County.

writing on yellowed paper, describing the Walking Purchase

Passage written in 1851 by Francis Parkman describing the Walking Purchase.Library of Congress

View a map of the land appropriated by the 1737 Walking Purchase.

deception William Penn & brothers land claims land purchases
View this leaf in the context of the timetree.

In collaboration with:

Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Princeton VizE Lab, Anthropology Princeton Department of History Princeton Department of English licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License AccessibilityPrinceton University