The village was a popular settlement of the Lenape for nearby hunting and fishing. The chief of the area by the mid-1600s was Rechewack. The people of the area were referred to in historical documents as Reckgawawanc, and faced attacks from the north of their territory by the Mohawk. However, although they were at war with Mohawk, historian James Riker noted "war [was] only on their persons or goods, but not on their lands, so that their title [to land] still held."[2]
At the same time, Dutch settlements of New Netherland were moving northward from the southern areas of Manhattan island in the mid-1600s. The Dutch increasingly sought title to lands that included Konaande Kongh.[3][5] Other nearby Lenape settlements to the south had already been abandoned, such as Sapohanikan in the 1630s[6][7] and Nechtanc, being the site of a massacre in 1643.[8][9] The Dutch had also gained title to nearby land in northern Manhattan in 1647.[5]
In 1669, the land on which the settlement rested was transferred to Jean Mousnier de la Montagne, a political leader in the expanding Dutch colony that now included the area that is now Central Park, extending from Hell Gate to the Harlem River, by Rechewack, who had held onto it until then amid surrounding pressures.[3] The settlement was mentioned in the transfer of title as a locale near "the Point named Rechwanis."[5][10]
In 1675, the Dutch ordered the Lenape "to remove within a fortnight to their usual winter quarters within Hellgate upon this island [Manhattan]," indicating that nearby areas were still being frequented by the people, possibly as hunting grounds.[5]
