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The colony of New Netherland with the coastline marked as the West India Company wanted it to be.
After the first voyages from the Dutch Republic to the East Indies had been completed, the idea also arose in the Netherlands that there might be a shorter and safer sea route to the Indies than around Africa. After Heemskerk and Barendsz had attempted to sail past Siberia via the northern route in the late 16th century, the English sailor Henry Hudson was engaged by the Dutch East India Company to try, as the French and English had done previously, to find a sea route along the north-east coast of North America. In 1609 he set off on his ship the Halve Maen. On his first voyage he explored the Hudson River, now named after him but in the Dutch era known as North River, but he failed to find the passage he was looking for. His second voyage was even more disastrous. He sailed further north and discovered Hudson Bay, but mutiny among his crew resulted in his death. After this the Dutch East India Company’s interest in the continent rapidly waned, although Dutch merchants traded with the Indians. In 1613 and 1614 the eastern coast from Maine to Delaware was explored by Hendrick Christiaensz, Adriaen Block and then Cornelis May. On the map produced by Block after this voyage the area between the French colonies in present-day Canada and the English colony of Virginia is shown for the first time as New Netherland. In 1614 the New Netherland Company was even granted a charter of trading privileges. In the same year a fort called Fort Nassau was built near present-day Albany, but it was abandoned in 1618. When the Dutch West India Company was set up after the Twelve Years’ Truce in 1621, the chance of founding a viable colony in New Netherlands increased considerably. In 1624 the first colonists arrived on Nut Island, and Fort Orange near present-day Albany and the settlement of New Amsterdam with Fort Amsterdam were founded on the tip of the island of Manhattan. Two years later Peter Minuit bought that whole island from the Indians for goods worth 60 guilders. To make the colony attractive to more people, in 1629 the Dutch West India company issued a ‘Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions’ which enabled entrepreneurs to establish settlements known as ‘patroonships’ in New Netherland. People interested in joining these colonies entered into agreements with a patroon or a trading company which funded and led the enterprise in question. These patroonships included Rensselaerswijk, Swanendael, Pavonia, Colendonck and Conratz Bay, of which only two lasted any length of time. In 1632 Minuit was dismissed as director-general due to internal conflicts and because the colony was not making a profit. Out of spite he entered the service of King Gustav of Sweden and founded the colony of New Sweden on the South River (Delaware). In spite of all the setbacks the population increased steadily; twenty-five settlements were founded in the New Netherland region and on the coast and further inland many forts were built to protect the colony’s interests against foreign competition and Indians. The population growth really came from all over the world, though with a certain emphasis on Western and Northern Europe and West Africa.
The other settlements besides New Amsterdam, which was granted town status in 1653, were:
Altena (in the Swedish period Christinaham, later known as Wilmington)
Amersfoort (Flatlands)
Bergen
Beverwijck
Boswijck (Bushwick)
Breuckelen (Brooklyn)
Colen Donck or Jonkers Land (Yonkers)
’s-Gravensande (Gravesend)
Haarlem (Harlem)
Heemstede (Hempstead)
Jonas Broncks Bouwerij (The Bronx)
Kievitshoeck or Zeebroeck (Seabrook)
Middelburgh (Newtown)
Midwout (Vlacke Bos, Flatbush)
Nieuw-Amstel (New Castle in Delaware)
Nieuw-Utrecht (New Utrecht)
Noortwijck, also known as Greenwijck (Greenwich Village)
Noten Eiland (Governors Island)
Oostdorp (Freedland)
Rustdorp (Jamaica)
Schenectady
Stuyvesants Bouwerij (Bowery)
Swaanendael
Turk’s Island (Coney Island)
Vlissingen (Flushing)
Wiltwijck (Esopus, now Kingston)
The main forts were:
Fort Amsterdam
Fort Altena
Fort Beversreede
Fort Casimir (in the Swedish period Fort Christina)
Fort Christina
Fort Goede Hoop
Fort Nassau North
Fort Nassau South
Fort Nya Korsholm
Fort Orange
Fort Wilhelmus
The main rivers were:
North River (Hudson River)
Fresh River (Connecticut River)
South River (Delaware River)
The distribution of the settlements and forts (that of the forts can be seen on the adjacent map) shows that the Dutch influence extended far beyond the present state of New York and in fact covered a large portion of what would later be the first thirteen states of the United States.
In the meantime outside pressure on the colony increased. Relations with the Indians became increasingly difficult and the English complained constantly about infringements of their rights, since they had declared the entire area English in the previous century. Director-General Peter Minuit was succeeded by Wouter van Twiller and Bastiaen Jansz Krol and then by Willem Kieft, who led an attack on the Indians in 1643. The ensuing war dragged on for years. It was only when Kieft was succeeded in 1647 by Peter Stuyvesant that peace was made with the Indians. Stuyvesant governed the colony with a firm hand and in 1655 also conquered New Sweden. This gave the town of Amsterdam the idea of founding a sort of patrons’ colony called Nieuw Amstel, situated near Fort Casimir on the South River.
To the north and south New Netherland was surrounded by English colonies, which adopted a policy of population growth they referred to as ‘crowding out the Dutch’. The pressure increased steadily, from the north in particular. Eventually this even resulted in the English being able to take over Fort De Goede Hoop. When an English squadron appeared at the roadstead of New Amsterdam in 1664, the town surrendered without a shot being fired. The Dutch made all sorts of conditions in the Articles of Capitulation and retained many of their rights. There were too few colonists (about 7000) in the colony to justify faith in its continued existence. Although New Amsterdam was recaptured by a Dutch fleet in 1673 and renamed New Orange, in the Treaty of Westminster in 1674 the colony was given back to the English by the States-General in exchange for Suriname. From that point onwards New Amsterdam was called New York.
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