109-599: The Nine Men was a council of citizens elected by the residents of New Netherland to advise its Director General Peter Stuyvesant on the governance of the colony. It replaced the previous body, the Eight Men , which itself had superseded the Twelve Men . Members of this early form of representational democracy in North America were elected in 1647, 1649, 1650 and 1652. On July 26, 1649, eleven current and former members of
218-610: A Dutch company. The term New Netherland Dutch generally includes all the Europeans who came to live there, but may also refer to Africans, Indo-Caribbeans , South Americans, and even the Indians who were integral to the society. Dutch was the official language and likely the lingua franca of the province, although other languages were also spoken. There were various Algonquian languages ; Walloons and Huguenots tended to speak French, and Scandinavians and Germans brought their own tongues. It
327-534: A charter for a utopian society that included equal education of all classes, joint ownership of property, and a democratically elected government. Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy attempted such a settlement near the site of Zwaanendael, but it was largely destroyed in 1664 by the British. A few Dutch settlers to New Netherland made their home at Fort Goede Hoop on the Fresh River . As early as 1637, English settlers from
436-522: A colonist was murdered in an act of revenge for some killings that had taken place years earlier and the Indians refused to turn over the perpetrator. Kieft suggested that they be taught a lesson by ransacking their villages. In an attempt to gain public support, he created the Citizens Commission the Council of Twelve Men . The Council did not rubber-stamp his ideas, as he had expected them to, but took
545-564: A dozen men from the Halve Maen , using muskets and small cannon, went ashore and assaulted the village near their anchorage. They drove the people from the settlement and took their boat and other property—probably pelts and trade goods. On 4 August, the ship was at Cape Cod , from which Hudson sailed south to the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay . Rather than entering the Chesapeake he explored
654-562: A fleet of 21 ships led by Vice Admiral Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and Commodore Jacob Binckes , then the largest ever seen in America. They chose Anthony Colve as governor and renamed the city New Orange, reflecting the installation of William of Orange as Stadtholder of Holland in 1672; he became King William III of England in 1689. Nevertheless, the Dutch Republic needed money after
763-637: A government from which they had formerly fled. On 27 August 1664, four English frigates led by Richard Nicolls sailed into New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded New Netherland's surrender. They met no resistance to the capture of New Amsterdam , since requests for troops to protect the Dutch colonists from their English neighbors and Native Americans had been ignored. This left New Amsterdam effectively defenseless, but Stuyvesant negotiated good terms from his "too powerful enemies". Article VIII of these terms confirmed that New Netherlanders "shall keep and enjoy
872-556: A map drawn in 1616. Hendricksz made his voyages aboard the IJseren Vercken (Iron Hog), a vessel built in America. Despite the survey, the company was unable to secure an exclusive patent from the States General for the area between the 38th and 40th parallels. The States General issued patents in 1614 for the development of New Netherland as a private, commercial venture. Soon after, traders built Fort Nassau on Castle Island in
981-464: A passage to China with the yachts Craen and Vos , captained by Jan Cornelisz Mey and Symon Willemsz Cat respectively. Adriaen Block , Hendrick Christiaensen , and Cornelius Jacobsen Mey explored, surveyed, and mapped the area between Maryland and Massachusetts in four voyages made between 1611 and 1614. These surveys and charts were consolidated in Block's map, which used the name New Netherland for
1090-454: A primary goal. The legislators preferred the formula of trading posts with small populations and a military presence to protect them, which was working in the East Indies, versus encouraging mass immigration and establishing large colonies. The company did not focus on colonization in America until 1654 when it was forced to surrender Dutch Brazil and forfeit the richest sugar-producing area in
1199-460: A young boy arrived in a small wooden boat. The Inuit had never seen a white person before, but they took them to an encampment and fed them. After the old man died, the Inuit tethered the boy to one of their houses so he would not run away. Despite the long time passed, the story might be given some credence after long-ignored Inuit testimonies proved reliable enough to lead to the discovery of the wrecks of
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#17328528223041308-468: Is approximately 600 kilometres (370 mi) south of James Bay, was found to have carving on it with Hudson's initials (H. H.), the year 1612, and the word "captive". While lettering on the stone was consistent with English maps of the 17th century, the Geological Survey of Canada was unable to determine when the carving was made. The bay visited by and named after Hudson is three times the size of
1417-609: Is likely that the Africans in Manhattan spoke their mother tongues but were taught Dutch from 1638 by Adam Roelantsz van Dokkum. The arrival of refugees from New Holland in Brazil may have brought speakers of Portuguese, Spanish, and Ladino (with Hebrew as a liturgical language). Commercial activity in the harbor could have been transacted simultaneously in any of a number of tongues. The Dutch West India Company introduced slavery in 1625 with
1526-421: Is now believed to have been on the east coast of Greenland—but neither had any knowledge of any discovery of Jan Mayen, an achievement which was only later attributed to Hudson. Fotherby eventually stumbled across Jan Mayen, thinking it a new discovery and naming it "Sir Thomas Smith's Island", though the first verifiable records of the discovery of the island had been made a year earlier, in 1614. In 1609, Hudson
1635-607: Is the Reformed Church in America. The colonists had to attract the Indians and other non-believers to God's word, "through attitude and by example" but not "to persecute someone by reason of his religion, and to leave everyone the freedom of his conscience." In addition, the laws and ordinances of the states of Holland were incorporated by reference in those first instructions to the Governors Island settlers in 1624. There were two test cases during Stuyvesant's governorship in which
1744-404: Is unknown. While Pricket's account is one of the few surviving records of the voyage, its reliability has been questioned by some historians. Pricket's journal and testimony have been severely criticized for bias, on two grounds. Firstly, prior to the mutiny the alleged leaders of the uprising, Greene and Juet, had been friends and loyal seamen of Hudson. Secondly, Greene and Juet did not survive
1853-506: The Algonquian and Iroquois population, possibly at Schenectady , Esopus , Quinnipiac , Communipaw , and elsewhere. In 1624, New Netherland became a province of the Dutch Republic, which had lowered the northern border of its North American dominion to 42 degrees latitude in acknowledgment of the claim by the English north of Cape Cod. The Dutch named the three main rivers of the province
1962-781: The Baltic Sea , and its many large estuaries afford access to otherwise landlocked parts of Western Canada and the Arctic . This allowed the Hudson's Bay Company to exploit a lucrative fur trade along its shores for more than two centuries, growing powerful enough to influence the history and present international boundaries of western North America. Along with Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait in Canada, many other topographical features and landmarks are named for Hudson. The Hudson River in New York and New Jersey
2071-708: The Dutch Republic at the time, as well as by the character of those who immigrated to it. It was during the early British colonial period that the New Netherlanders actually developed the land and society that had an enduring impact on the Capital District , the Hudson Valley , North Jersey , western Long Island , New York City , Fairfield County, and ultimately the United States. The concept of tolerance
2180-846: The East India and Muscovy Companies again sent Hudson in the Hopewell to attempt to locate a passage to the Indies, this time to the east around northern Russia. Leaving London on 22 April, the ship travelled almost 2,500 mi (4,000 km), making it to Novaya Zemlya well above the Arctic Circle in July, but even in the summer they found the ice impenetrable and turned back, arriving at Gravesend on 26 August. According to Thomas Edge , "William [ sic ] Hudson" in 1608 discovered an island he named "Hudson's Tutches" (Touches) at 71° N,
2289-555: The Grand Banks of Newfoundland on 2 July, and in mid-July made landfall near the LaHave area of Nova Scotia . Here they encountered Indigenous people who were accustomed to trading with the French; they were willing to trade beaver pelts , but apparently no trades occurred. The ship stayed in the area about ten days, the crew replacing a broken mast and fishing for food. On the 25 July,
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#17328528223042398-585: The Iroquois Confederacy ) conquered the Mahicans, who retreated to Connecticut. The Mohawks gained a near-monopoly in the fur trade with the Dutch, as they controlled the upstate Adirondacks and Mohawk Valley through the center of New York. The Algonquin Lenape population around New York Bay and along the lower Hudson River were seasonally migrational people. The Dutch called the numerous band collectively
2507-567: The Lenape . After gaining support from the Queen of Sweden , Minuit chose the west bank of the Delaware River to establish a colony there in 1638, calling it New Sweden . As expected, the government in New Amsterdam took no action other than to protest. Small settlements centered on Fort Christina sprang up as the colony slowly grew, mostly populated by Swedes , Finns , and Dutch . In 1651,
2616-611: The Manhattans ( Pavonia and Staten Island ) were attacked in an incident that is known as the Peach War . These raids are sometimes considered revenge for the murder of a Munsee woman attempting to pluck a peach, though it is possible that they were an attempt to disrupt the attack on New Sweden. A new experimental settlement on Delaware Bay was begun in 1663, just before the British takeover in 1664. Franciscus van den Enden had drawn up
2725-758: The Manhattoe , in exchange for traded goods worth 60 guilders , often said to be worth US$ 24. The figure of 60 guilders comes from a letter by a representative of the Dutch Estates General and member of the board of the Dutch West India Company , Pieter Janszoon Schagen, to the Estates General in November 1626. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 (or 60 guilders) to US$ 24 (he arrived at $ 24 = Fl 60/2.5, because
2834-472: The Massachusetts Bay Colony began to settle along its banks and on Lange Eylandt , some with permission from the colonial government and others with complete disregard for it. The English colonies grew more rapidly than New Netherland as they were motivated by a desire to establish communities with religious roots, rather than for trade purposes. The wal or rampart at New Amsterdam ( Wall Street )
2943-480: The Treaty of Westminster concluded the war. It took until 10 November 1674 for the new English governor Edmund Andros to take over from governor Anthony Colve. New Netherland grew into the largest metropolitan area in the United States, and it left an enduring legacy on American cultural and political life, "a secular broadmindedness and mercantile pragmatism" greatly influenced by the social and political climate in
3052-718: The Zuyd Rivier ( South River ), the Noort Rivier ( North River ), and the Versche Rivier ( Fresh River ). Discovery, charting, and permanent settlement were needed to maintain a territorial claim. To this end in May 1624, the GWC landed 30 families at Fort Orange and Noten Eylant (today's Governors Island ) at the mouth of the North River. They disembarked from the ship Nieu Nederlandt , under
3161-524: The native peoples of North America and contributed to the development of trade and commerce. On his final expedition, while still searching for the Northwest Passage, Hudson became the first European to see Hudson Strait and the immense Hudson Bay . In 1611, after wintering on the shore of James Bay , Hudson wanted to press on to the west, but most of his crew mutinied. The mutineers cast Hudson, his son, and six others adrift; what then happened to
3270-544: The patroons of Zwaanendael , Samuel Blommaert and Samuel Godijn was destroyed by the local Indigenous population soon after its founding in 1631 during the absence of their agent, David Pietersen de Vries . Peter Minuit , who had obtained a deed for Manhattan from the Lenape (and was soon after dismissed as director), knew that the Dutch would be unable to defend the southern flank of their North American territory and had not signed treaties with or purchased land there from
3379-787: The 1650s and became a major center for trade across the North Atlantic . The Dutch conquered New Sweden in 1655 but, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War , surrendered New Netherland to the English following the capture of New Amsterdam . In 1673, the Dutch retook the colony but relinquished it under the Treaty of Westminster (1674) that ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War . The inhabitants of New Netherland ( New Netherlanders ) were European colonists, Native Americans , and Africans imported as slave laborers. Not including Native Americans,
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3488-756: The Anglican government as in old England". The Dutch West India Company directors concluded that the religious freedom they offered in New Netherland would dissuade English colonists from working toward their removal. They wrote to Director-General Peter Stuyvesant : [W]e are in hopes that as the English at the north (in New Netherland) have removed mostly from old England for the causes aforesaid, they will not give us henceforth so much trouble, but prefer to live free under us at peace with their consciences than to risk getting rid of our authority and then falling again under
3597-787: The Dutch Government came down against the GWC, granting the colony a measure of self-government and recalling Stuyvesant in April 1652. However, the orders were rescinded with the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War a month later. Military battles were occurring in the Caribbean and along the South Atlantic coast. In 1654, the Netherlands lost New Holland in Brazil to Portugal, encouraging some of its residents to emigrate north and making
3706-485: The Dutch dismantled Fort Nassau and constructed Fort Casimir on the west bank in an attempt to disrupt trade and reassert control. Three years later, Fort Casimir was seized by the Swedes, who renamed it Fort Trinity. In 1655, Stuyvesant led a military expedition and regained control of the region, naming its main settlement " New Amstel " ( Nieuw-Amstel ). While Stuyvesant was conquering New Sweden, some villages and farms at
3815-423: The Dutch ship Halve Maen (English: Half Moon). He could not complete the specified (eastward) route because ice blocked the passage, as with all previous such voyages, and he turned the ship around in mid-May while somewhere east of Norway's North Cape . At that point, acting outside his instructions, Hudson pointed the ship west and decided to try to seek a westerly passage through North America. They reached
3924-523: The Dutch. The massacre left 130 dead. Within days, the surrounding tribes united and rampaged the countryside, in a unique move, forcing settlers who escaped to find safety at Fort Amsterdam. For two years, a series of raids and reprisals raged across the province, until 1645 when Kieft's War ended with a treaty, in a large part brokered by the Hackensack sagamore Oratam . The colonists were disenchanted with Kieft, his ignorance of Indigenous peoples, and
4033-669: The European continent. The Dutch Republic had become a home to many intellectuals, international businessmen, and religious refugees. In the Americas , the English had a settlement at Jamestown, Virginia , the French had small settlements at Port Royal and Quebec , and the Spanish were developing colonies in South America and the Caribbean. In 1609, English sea captain and explorer Henry Hudson
4142-530: The Fresh River, and Fort Wilhelmus on the South River. Many of the settlers were not Dutch but Walloons , French Huguenots , or Africans (most as enslaved labor, some later gaining "half-free" status). Peter Minuit became Director of the New Netherland in 1626 and made a decision that greatly affected the new colony. Originally, the capital of the province was to be located on the South River, but it
4251-634: The GWC, the States General, and the New Netherlanders. The English were nibbling at Dutch territory to the north and the Swedes to the south, while in the heart of the province, the Esopus were trying to contain further Dutch expansion. Discontent in New Amsterdam led locals to dispatch Adriaen van der Donck back to the United Provinces to seek redress. After nearly three years of legal and political wrangling,
4360-521: The Hudsons and their companions is unknown. Virtually nothing of Hudson's early life is known for certain. His year of birth is variously estimated between 1560 and 1570. He may have been born in London and it is possible that his father was an alderman of that city. When Hudson first entered the historical record in 1607, he was already an experienced mariner with sufficient credentials to be commissioned
4469-554: The Indians did not intend to leave or give up access. This misunderstanding and other differences led to violent conflict later. At the same time, such differences marked the beginnings of a multicultural society. Like the French in the north, the Dutch focused their interest on the fur trade . To that end, they cultivated contingent relations with the Five Nations of the Iroquois to procure greater access to key central regions from which
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4578-428: The Indians. The Dutch West India Company would offer a land patent, and the recipient would be responsible for negotiating a deal with representatives of the local tribes, usually the sachem or high chief. The Indians referred to the Dutch colonists as Swannekins , or salt water people ; they had vastly different conceptions of ownership and use of land than the colonists did, and difficulties sometimes arose concerning
4687-435: The Institute for Social History of Amsterdam. Based on the price of silver , " The Straight Dope " newspaper column calculated an equivalent of $ 72 in 1992. Historians James and Michelle Nevius revisited the issue in 2014, suggesting that using the prices of beer and brandy as monetary equivalencies, the price Minuit paid would have the purchasing power of somewhere between $ 2,600 and $ 15,600 in current dollars. According to
4796-486: The Narrows into the Upper New York Bay . Hudson believed that he had found the continental water route, so he sailed up the major river that now bears his name. He found the water too shallow to proceed several days later at the site of Troy, New York . Upon returning to the Netherlands, Hudson reported that he had found fertile land and amicable people willing to engage his crew in small-scale bartering of furs, trinkets, clothes, and small manufactured goods. His report
4905-411: The North American colonies more appealing to some investors. The Esopus Wars are so named for the branch of Lenape that lived around Wiltwijck, today's Kingston , which was the Dutch settlement on the west bank of Hudson River between Beverwyk and New Amsterdam . These conflicts were generally over settlement of land by New Netherlanders for which contracts had not been clarified, and were seen by
5014-496: The River Indians, known the exonyms associated with place names as the Wecquaesgeek , Hackensacks , Raritans , Canarsee , and Tappans . These groups had the most frequent contact with the New Netherlanders. The Munsee inhabited the Highlands , Hudson Valley, and northern New Jersey , while the Susquehannocks lived west of the Delaware River along the Susquehanna River, which the Dutch regarded as their boundary with Virginia. Company policy required land to be purchased from
5123-423: The US dollar was erroneously equated with the Dutch rijksdaalder having a standard value of 2.5 guilders). "[A] variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars," as authors Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace remarked in their history of New York. In 1626, sixty guilders were valued at approximately $ 1,000 in 2006 and $ 963 in 2020, according to
5232-409: The United Provinces. Still, the Dutch could not populate or militarily defend their territorial claim and, therefore, could do nothing but protest the growing flood of English settlers. With the 1650 Treaty of Hartford , Stuyvesant provisionally ceded the Connecticut River region to New England, drawing New Netherland's eastern border 50 Dutch miles (approximately 250 km ) west of Connecticut's mouth on
5341-498: The area of Albany up Hudson's river. The fort was to defend river traffic against interlopers and to conduct fur trading operations with the Indians. The location of the fort proved to be impractical, however, due to repeated flooding of the island in the summers, and it was abandoned in 1618 when the patent expired. The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands granted a charter to the Dutch West India Company (GWC) ( Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie ) on 3 June 1621, which gave
5450-420: The award. The New Netherland Company was an alliance of trading companies, and they used Adrian Block 's map to win a patent that expired on 1 January 1618. The New Netherland Company also ordered a survey of the Delaware Valley , and Cornelis Hendricksz of Monnickendam explored the Zuyd Rivier (South River) in 1616 from its bay to its northernmost navigable reaches. His observations were preserved in
5559-411: The board signed the Petition of the Commonality of New Netherland , which requested that the Estates-General take action to encourage economic freedom and force local government like that in the Netherlands, removing the colony from the control of the Dutch West India Company . It became the basis for the municipal government when the city of New Amsterdam received its charter in 1653. Members and
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#17328528223045668-402: The coast to the north, finding Delaware Bay but continuing on north. On 3 September, he reached the estuary of the river that initially was called the "North River" or "Mauritius" and now carries his name. He was not the first European to discover the estuary, though, as it had been known since the voyage of Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. On 6 September 1609, John Colman of his crew
5777-503: The colonial population, many of whom were not of Dutch descent, was 4,301 in 1650 and 8,000 to 9,000 at the time of transfer to England in 1674. During the 17th century, Europe was undergoing expansive social, cultural, and economic growth, known as the Dutch Golden Age in the Netherlands. Nations vied for domination of lucrative trade routes around the globe, particularly those to Asia. Simultaneously, philosophical and theological conflicts were manifested in military battles throughout
5886-467: The colony fell, the company freed the slaves, establishing early on a nucleus of free blacks. The Union of Utrecht is the founding document of the Dutch Republic, signed in 1579, and it stated "that everyone shall remain free in religion and that no one may be persecuted or investigated because of religion". The Dutch West India Company , however, established the Reformed Church as the official religious institution of New Netherland. Its successor church
5995-457: The command of Cornelis Jacobsz May , the first Director of the New Netherland . He was replaced the following year by Willem Verhulst . In June 1625, 45 additional colonists disembarked on Noten Eylant from three ships named Horse , Cow , and Sheep , which also delivered 103 horses, steers, cows, pigs, and sheep. Most settlers were dispersed to the various garrisons built across the territory: upstream to Fort Orange , to Kievits Hoek on
6104-401: The company the exclusive right to operate in West Africa (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Cape of Good Hope ) and the Americas. Willem Usselincx was one of the founders of the GWC, and he promoted the concept that the company's main goal should be to establish colonies in the New World. In 1620, Usselincx made a last appeal to the States General, which rejected his principal vision as
6213-417: The conclusion of the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672–1674, the historic "disaster years" in which the French simultaneously attacked the republic under Louis XIV , the English, the Prince-Bishop of Münster , and Archbishop-Elector of Cologne . The States of Zeeland had tried to convince the States of Holland to take on the responsibility for the New Netherland province, but to no avail. In February 1674,
6322-475: The confiscated property. In addition, a Mennonite settlement led by Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy near Lewes, Delaware was destroyed. The 1667 Treaty of Breda ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War ; the Dutch did not press their claims on New Netherland, and the status quo was maintained, with the Dutch occupying Suriname and the nutmeg island of Run . Within six years, the nations were again at war. The Dutch recaptured New Netherland in August 1673 with
6431-430: The construction of Fort Amsterdam at its southern tip, around which grew the heart of the province called The Manhattoes in the vocabulary of the day, rather than New Netherland. According to a letter by Pieter Janszoon Schagen, Peter Minuit and Walloon colonists of the West India Company acquired the island of Manhattan on May 24, 1626, from unnamed native people, who are believed to have been Canarsee Indians of
6540-514: The controlling story of the expedition's disastrous end. Only eight of the thirteen mutinous crewmen survived the return voyage to Europe. They were arrested in England, and some were put on trial, but no punishment was imposed for the mutiny. One theory holds that the survivors were considered too valuable as sources of information to execute, as they had travelled to the New World and could describe sailing routes and conditions. In 1612, Nicolas de Vignau claimed he saw wreckage of an English ship on
6649-412: The expectations on both sides. The colonists thought that their proffer of gifts in the form of sewant or manufactured goods was a trade agreement and defense alliance, which gave them exclusive rights to farming, hunting, and fishing. Often, the Indians did not vacate the property or reappeared seasonally according to their migration patterns. They were willing to share the land with the colonists, but
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#17328528223046758-511: The first time; it was also called Nova Belgica on maps. During this period, there was some trading with the Native American population. Fur trader Juan Rodriguez was born in Santo Domingo of Portuguese and African descent. He arrived in Manhattan during the winter of 1613–1614, trapping for pelts and trading with the Indians as a representative of the Dutch. He was the first recorded non-native inhabitant of New York City. The immediate and intense competition among Dutch trading companies in
6867-426: The following two days. On 16 July, they reached as far north as Hakluyt's Headland (which Thomas Edge says Hudson named on this voyage) at 79° 49′ N, thinking they saw the land continue to 82° N ( Svalbard 's northernmost point is 80° 49′ N) when really it trended to the east. Encountering ice packed along the north coast, they were forced to turn back south. Hudson wanted to make his return "by
6976-401: The helm of his new ship, the Discovery , he stayed to the north (some claim he had deliberately stayed too far south on his Dutch-funded voyage), reached Iceland on 11 May, the south of Greenland on 4 June, and rounded the southern tip of Greenland. On 25 June, the explorers reached what is now the Hudson Strait at the northern tip of Labrador . Following the southern coast of
7085-457: The importation of 11 black slaves who worked as farmers, fur traders, and builders. They had a few basic rights and families were usually kept intact. They were admitted to the Dutch Reformed Church and married by its ministers, and their children could be baptized. Slaves could testify in court, sign legal documents, and bring civil actions against whites. Some were permitted to work after hours earning wages equal to those paid to white workers. When
7194-438: The islands. This claim is contentious; others have pointed to strong evidence that it was Jonas Poole 's reports in 1610, that led to the establishment of English whaling, and voyages of Nicholas Woodcock and Willem Cornelisz van Muyden in 1612, which led to the establishment of Dutch, French and Spanish whaling. The whaling industry was built by neither Hudson nor Poole—both were dead by 1612. In 1608, English merchants of
7303-463: The latitude of Jan Mayen . However, records of Hudson's voyages suggest that he could only have come across Jan Mayen in 1607 by making an illogical detour, and historians have pointed out that Hudson himself made no mention of it in his journal. There is also no cartographical proof of this supposed discovery. Jonas Poole in 1611 and Robert Fotherby in 1615 both had possession of Hudson's journal while searching for his elusive Hold-with-Hope—which
7412-405: The leader of an expedition charged with a search for a trade route across the North Pole . In 1607, the Muscovy Company of England hired Hudson to find a northerly route to the Pacific coast of Asia. At the time, the English were engaged in an economic battle with the Dutch for control of northwest routes. It was thought that, because the sun shone for three months in the northern latitudes in
7521-409: The liberty of their consciences in religion" under English rule. The Articles were largely observed in New Amsterdam and the Hudson River Valley, but were violated in another part of the conquest of New Netherland along the Delaware River, where Colonel Sir Robert Carr expropriated property for his own use and sold Dutch prisoners of war into slavery. Nicolls eventually forced Carr to return some of
7630-477: The mainland and just west of Oyster Bay on Long Island. The Dutch West India Company refused to recognize the treaty but failed to reach any other agreement with the English, so the Hartford Treaty set the de facto border. Connecticut was mostly assimilated into New England. In March 1664, Charles II of England , Scotland, and Ireland resolved to annex New Netherland and "bring all his Kingdoms under one form of government, both in church and state, and to install
7739-482: The mouth of the great bay Hudson later simply named the "Great Indraught" ( Isfjorden ). On 13 July, Hudson and his crew estimated that they had sailed as far north as 80° 23′ N, but had more likely only reached 79° 23′ N. The following day they entered what Hudson later in the voyage named "Whales Bay" ( Krossfjorden and Kongsfjorden ), naming its northwestern point "Collins Cape" (Kapp Mitra) after his boatswain , William Collins. They sailed north
7848-437: The mutineers and those who went along with the mutiny. In the latter class was ship's navigator, Abacuk Pricket , a survivor who kept a journal that was to become one of the sources for the narrative of the mutiny. According to Pricket, the leaders of the mutiny were Henry Greene and Robert Juet. The latter, a navigator, had accompanied Hudson on the 1609 expedition, and his account is said to be "the best contemporary record of
7957-620: The mutiny, Hudson's shallop broke out oars and tried to keep pace with the Discovery for some time. Pricket recalled that the mutineers finally tired of the David–Goliath pursuit and unfurled additional sails aboard the Discovery , enabling the larger vessel to leave the tiny open boat behind. Hudson and the other seven aboard the shallop were never seen by Europeans again. Despite subsequent searches, including those conducted by Thomas Button in 1612 and by Zachariah Gillam in 1668–1670, their fate
8066-637: The natives as an unwanted incursion into their territory. Previously, the Esopus, a clan of the Munsee Lenape, had much less contact with the River Indians and the Mohawks . According to historian Eleanor Bruchey: New Netherlanders were not necessarily Dutch, and New Netherland was never a homogeneous society. Governor Peter Minuit was a Walloon born in what is now Germany who also spoke English and worked for
8175-575: The newly charted areas led to disputes in Amsterdam and calls for regulation. The States General was the governing body of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, and it proclaimed on 17 March 1614, that it would grant an exclusive patent for trade between the 40th and 45th parallels. This monopoly would be valid for four voyages, and all four voyages had to be undertaken within three years of
8284-527: The north of Greenland to Davis his Streights ( Davis Strait ), and so for Kingdom of England", but ice conditions would have made this impossible. The expedition returned to Tilbury Hope on the River Thames on 15 September. Hudson reported large numbers of whales in Spitsbergen waters during this voyage. Many authors credit his reports as the catalyst for several nations sending whaling expeditions to
8393-464: The only governor of the colony to be called Director-General . Some years earlier, land ownership policy was liberalized, and trading was somewhat deregulated, and many New Netherlanders considered themselves entrepreneurs in a free market . The population had reached about 15,000, including 500 on Manhattan Island. During the period of his governorship, the province experienced exponential growth. Demands were made upon Stuyvesant from all sides:
8502-400: The opportunity to mention grievances that they had with the company's mismanagement and its unresponsiveness to their suggestions. Kieft thanked and disbanded them and, against their advice, ordered that groups of Tappan and Wecquaesgeek be attacked at Pavonia and Corlear's Hook , even though they had sought refuge from their more powerful Mohican enemies per their treaty understandings with
8611-529: The region around the modern New York metropolitan area . Looking for a Northwest Passage to Asia on his ship Halve Maen ("Half Moon"), he sailed up the Hudson River , which was later named after him, and thereby laid the foundation for Dutch colonization of the region . His contributions to the exploration of the New World were significant and lasting. His voyages helped to establish European contact with
8720-535: The return voyage to England (Juet, who had been the navigator on the return journey, died of starvation a few days before the company reached Ireland ). Pricket knew he and the other survivors of the mutiny would be tried in England for piracy , and it would have been in his interest, and the interest of the other survivors, to put together a narrative that would place the blame for the mutiny upon men who were no longer alive to defend themselves. The Pricket narrative became
8829-472: The rule prevailed: the official granting of full residency for both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews in New Amsterdam in 1655, and the Flushing Remonstrance involving Quakers in 1657. It was located in areas of Canada all the way to Delaware Apart from the second Fort Nassau , and the small community that supported it, settlement along the Zuyd Rivier was limited. The settlement sponsored by
8938-594: The second at Cape Cod . Hudson believed that the passage to the Pacific Ocean was between the St. Lawrence River and Chesapeake Bay , so he sailed south to the Bay, then turned northward, traveling close along the shore. From Delaware Bay , he began to sail upriver looking for the passage. This effort was foiled by sandy shoals, and the Halve Maen continued north along the coast. After passing Sandy Hook , Hudson and his crew entered
9047-484: The ship's boat with five crew members ventured to the vicinity of present-day Albany . On 23 September, Hudson decided to return to Europe. He put in at Dartmouth , England on 7 November, and was detained by authorities who wanted access to his log. He managed to pass the log to the Dutch ambassador to England, who sent it, along with his report, to Amsterdam. While exploring the river, Hudson had traded with several native groups, mainly obtaining furs. His voyage
9156-400: The shores of James Bay , located on the southern end of Hudson Bay—while this was discounted at the time by Samuel de Champlain , historians believe it may have credence. British-born Canadian author Dorothy Harley Eber (1925–2022) collected Inuit testimonies that she thought made reference to Hudson and his son after the mutiny. According to these, an old man with a long white beard and
9265-585: The skins came. The Dutch encouraged a kind of feudal aristocracy over time to attract settlers to the region of the Hudson River in what became known as the system of the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions . Further south, a Swedish trading company that had ties with the Dutch tried to establish its first settlement along the Delaware River three years later. Without resources to consolidate its position, New Sweden
9374-518: The strait on 2 August, the ship entered Hudson Bay . Excitement was very high due to the expectation that the ship had finally found the Northwest Passage through the continent. Hudson spent the following months mapping and exploring its eastern shores, but he and his crew did not find a passage to Asia. In November, the ship became trapped in the ice in James Bay , and the crew moved ashore for
9483-517: The summer, the ice would melt, and a ship could make it across the "top of the world". On 1 May 1607, Hudson sailed with a crew of ten men and a boy on the 80-ton Hopewell . They reached the east coast of Greenland on 13 May, coasting northward until 22 May. Here the party named a headland "Young's Cape", a "very high mount, like a round castle" near it "Mount of God's Mercy" and land at 73° north latitude " Hold with Hope ". After turning east, they sighted "Newland" ( Spitsbergen ) on 27 May near
9592-449: The title came with powerful manorial rights and privileges , such as the creation of civil and criminal courts and the appointing of local officials. In return, a patroon was required by the Company to establish a settlement of at least 50 families within four years who would live as tenant farmers. Of the original five patents given, the largest and only truly successful endeavor
9701-541: The two ships in Franklin's lost expedition , HMS Erebus and HMS Terror , in the 2010s. Charles Francis Hall , who searched for Franklin in the mid-19th century, also collected Inuit stories that he interpreted as references to the even earlier expedition of Martin Frobisher , who explored the area and mined fool's gold in 1578. In the late 1950s, a 150-pound (68 kg) stone near Deep River, Ontario , which
9810-513: The unresponsiveness of the GWC to their rights and requests, and they submitted the Remonstrance of New Netherland to the States General . This document was written by Leiden-educated New Netherland lawyer Adriaen van der Donck , condemning the GWC for mismanagement and demanding full rights as citizens of the province of the Netherlands. Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam in 1647,
9919-502: The voyage". Pricket's narrative tells how the mutineers set Hudson, his teenage son John, and seven crewmen—men who were either sick and infirm or loyal to Hudson—adrift from the Discovery in a small shallop , an open boat, effectively marooning them in Hudson Bay. The Pricket journal reports that the mutineers provided the castaways with clothing, powder and shot, some pikes, an iron pot, some food, and other miscellaneous items. After
10028-523: The winter. When the ice cleared in the spring of 1611, Hudson planned to use his Discovery to further explore Hudson Bay with the continuing goal of discovering the Passage; however, most of the members of his crew ardently desired to return home. Matters came to a head and much of the crew mutinied in June. Descriptions of the successful mutiny are one-sided, because the only survivors who could tell their story were
10137-517: The world. The first trading partners of the New Netherlanders were the Algonquins who lived in the area. The Dutch depended on the native nations to capture, skin, and deliver pelts to them, especially beaver. It is likely that Hudson's peaceful contact with the Mahicans encouraged them to establish Fort Nassau in 1614, the first of many garrisoned trading stations. In 1628, the Mohawks (members of
10246-682: The writer Nathaniel Benchley , Minuit conducted the transaction with Seyseys, chief of the Canarsee , who were willing to accept valuable merchandise in exchange for the island that was mostly controlled by the Weckquaesgeeks , a band of the Wappinger . The port city of New Amsterdam outside the fort walls became a major hub for trade between North America, the Caribbean, and Europe, and where raw materials were loaded, such as pelts, lumber, and tobacco. Sanctioned privateering contributed to its growth. It
10355-707: The year of election: New Netherland New Netherland ( Dutch : Nieuw Nederland ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States . The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod . Settlements were established in what became the states of New York , New Jersey , Delaware , and Connecticut , with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island . The colony
10464-488: Was Rensselaerswyck , at the highest navigable point on the North River, which became the main thoroughfare of the province. Beverwijck grew from a trading post to a bustling, independent town in the midst of Rensselaerwyck, as did Wiltwyck , south of the patroonship in Esopus country. Willem Kieft was Director of New Netherland from 1638 until 1647. The colony had grown somewhat before his arrival, reaching 8,000 population in 1635. Yet it did not flourish, and Kieft
10573-571: Was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the Northeastern United States. In 1607 and 1608, Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a rumoured Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle . In 1609, he landed in North America on behalf of the Dutch East India Company and explored
10682-568: Was chosen by merchants of the Dutch East India Company in the Netherlands to find an easterly passage to Asia. While awaiting orders and supplies in Amsterdam, he heard rumours of a northwest route to the Pacific through North America. Hudson had been told to sail through the Arctic Ocean north of Russia, into the Pacific and so to the Far East . Hudson departed Amsterdam on 4 April, in command of
10791-524: Was first published in 1611 by Emanuel van Meteren , the Dutch Consul at London. This stimulated interest in exploiting this new trade resource, and it was the catalyst for Dutch merchant-traders to fund more expeditions. Merchants such as Arnout Vogels sent the first follow-up voyages to exploit this discovery as early as July 1610. In 1611–1612, the Admiralty of Amsterdam sent two covert expeditions to find
10900-653: Was given its municipal charter in 1653, by which time the Commonality of New Amsterdam included the isle of Manhattan, Staaten Eylandt , Pavonia , and the Lange Eylandt towns. In the hope of encouraging immigration, the Dutch West India Company established the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions in 1629, which gave it the power to offer vast land grants and the title of patroon to some of its invested members. The vast tracts were called patroonships , and
11009-667: Was gradually absorbed by New Holland and later in Pennsylvania and Delaware. In 1613, temporary camp comprising a number of small huts was built by the crew of the " Tijger " ( Tiger ), a Dutch ship under the command of Captain Adriaen Block , which had caught fire while sailing on the Hudson. Soon after, the first of two Fort Nassaus was built at the confluence of the Hudson (North River) and Mohawk rivers, and small factorijen or trading posts went up, where commerce could be conducted with
11118-468: Was hired by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to find a Northeast Passage to Asia, sailing around Scandinavia and Russia. The ice of the Arctic turned him back in his second attempt, so he sailed west to seek a Northwest Passage rather than return home. He ended up exploring the waters off the northeast coast of North America aboard the flyboat Halve Maen . His first landfall was at Newfoundland and
11227-537: Was killed by natives with an arrow to his neck. Hudson sailed into the Upper New York Bay on 11 September, and the following day encountered a group of 28 Lenape canoes , buying oysters and beans from the Native Americans, and then began a journey up what is now known as the Hudson River. Over the next ten days his ship ascended the river, reaching a point near Stuyvesant Landing (Old Kinderhook), and
11336-497: Was originally built due to fear of an invasion by the English. There initially was limited contact between New Englanders and New Netherlanders, but the two provinces engaged in direct diplomatic relations with a swelling English population and territorial disputes. The New England Confederation was formed in 1643 as a political and military alliance of the English colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth , Connecticut , and New Haven . Connecticut and New Haven were on land claimed by
11445-614: Was originally conceived by the Dutch West India Company (GWC) in 1621 to capitalize on the North American fur trade . Settlement initially stalled because of policy mismanagement by the GWC and conflicts with Native Americans . The settlement of New Sweden by the Swedish South Company encroached on its southern flank, while its eastern border was redrawn to accommodate the English colonies of an expanding New England Confederation . The colony experienced dramatic growth during
11554-464: Was soon realized that the location was susceptible to mosquito infestation in the summer and the freezing of its waterways in the winter. He chose instead the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the river explored by Hudson , at that time called the North River . Minuit traded some goods with the local population and reported that he had purchased it from the natives, as was company policy. He ordered
11663-562: Was the mainstay of the province's Dutch mother country. The Dutch Republic was a haven for many religious and intellectual refugees fleeing oppression, as well as home to the world's major ports in the newly developing global economy . Concepts of religious freedom and free trade (including a stock market) were Netherlands imports. In 1682, visiting Virginian William Byrd commented about New Amsterdam that "they have as many sects of religion there as at Amsterdam". Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( c. 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611)
11772-463: Was under pressure to cut costs. At this time, Indian tribes that had signed mutual defense treaties with the Dutch were gathering near the colony due to widespread warfare and dislocation among the tribes to the north. At first, he suggested collecting tribute from the Indians, as was common among the various dominant tribes, but his demands were simply ignored by the Tappan and Wecquaesgeek . Subsequently,
11881-535: Was used to establish Dutch claims to the region and to the fur trade that prospered there when a trading post was established at Albany in 1614. New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island became the capital of New Netherland in 1625. In 1610, Hudson obtained backing for another voyage, this time under the English flag. The funding came from the Virginia Company and the British East India Company . At
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