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History 1609-1674
Henry Hudson, the English explorer, was employed by the Dutch East India to locate a northwest passage to the Far East, however, having made landfall off Cape Cod in 1609, he made his way toward the present day Fort Orange (Albany) area, and returning thereafter to Europe, claimed the entire Hudson River Valley for his Dutch employers.
In 1624 thirty Dutch families arrived in North America and established a settlement in Manhattan and Governors Island. Unlike the British settlers of Jamestown Virginia, these Dutch colonists had little interest in agriculture, and maintained a mercantile sensibility, which established the core sociological direction and identity of the colony.
Manhattan was formerly established by Director General Peter Minuet in 1626, that “purchased” the island from the Native people who resided there for 60 guilders. The 1630s and early 1640’s were marked by corruption, lax enforcement of policy and conflict with the Native tribes…in particular the Iroquois.
Meanwhile, the economic wealth of the community grew and settlements expanded northward, bringing the Dutch into close proximity and conflicting claims with the English over the Connecticut valley.
In 1647 Director General Peter Stuyvesant took control of the New Netherlands colony, solidifying the enforcement of law and bringing further investment into New Amsterdam. Conflict with the Esopus Indians convinced Stuyvesant in the practicality of establishing a new fort half way between New Amsterdam and Fort Orange, and in 1657 established the settlement of Wiltwyck; present day Kingston.
By 1664, entire European families had settled in affluent New Amsterdam, and the population of the colony had grown to about 9000 persons, about half of them not Dutch. Relative peace and prosperity was clearly evident. Stuyvesant himself professed his frustration at the heterogeneity of his civilian body…which included English, Scots, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and notably, one of the first immigrations of Jews to the “New World”; these being a small contingent of Sephardim who had left their Iberian lands of exile, gaining entry to Holland and Brazil, and thence establishing a triangle communities in Manhattan, Providence Rhode Island, and Sag Harbor Long Island.
Ironically, the wealth of the colony was one of the main reasons for its eventual assumption by the British Empire, as the other powers were envious of its position and status. In addition, the colonies territory clearly divided the two English settlements to the north and south which had their respective inceptions from Plymouth and Jamestown.
Overseas, the second Anglo-Dutch war had commenced, stimulated by merchant marine conflicts primarily off the West coast of Africa, stemming from profitable trade right issues regarding the European representation in regard to African goods such as ivory, gold and slaves. However, it should be pointed out that the history of the era demanded that conflicts such as these, including the sinking of the Spanish armada had more to do with which power intended.
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