New Netherland Nieuw Nederland | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1614–1667 1673–1674 | |||||||||||||||||||
 New Netherland map published byNicolaes Visscher II (1649–1702) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Colony (Dutch colonial empire) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | New Amsterdam | ||||||||||||||||||
| Official languages | Dutch[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Minority languages | Low Saxon,French,English,Algonquian,Delaware | ||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Dutch Reformed[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Demonyms | New Netherlander New Dutch | ||||||||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||||||||
• Director | (List) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Establishment | |||||||||||||||||||
• Establishment of the first settlers | 1614 | ||||||||||||||||||
| August 27, 1664 | |||||||||||||||||||
| July 23, 1667 | |||||||||||||||||||
| August 9, 1673 | |||||||||||||||||||
| February 19, 1674 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||||
• Estimate | 350 (in 1630)[4] 4,301 (in 1650)[4] 9,000 (in 1674) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Dutch rijksdaalder,leeuwendaalder | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||||||||||
| New Netherland series |
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| Exploration |
| Fortifications: |
| Settlements: |
| The Patroon System |
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| People of New Netherland |
| Flushing Remonstrance |
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New Netherland (Dutch:Nieuw Nederland), also called theNew Netherlands[5] was acolony of theDutch Republic located on theEast Coast of what is now theUnited States. The claimed territories extended from theDelmarva Peninsula toCape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ofNew York,New Jersey,Delaware, andConnecticut, with small outposts inPennsylvania andRhode Island.[6]
The colony was originally conceived by theDutch West India Company (GWC) in 1621 to capitalize on theNorth American fur trade. Settlement initially stalled because of policy mismanagement by the GWC and conflicts withNative Americans. The settlement ofNew Sweden by theSwedish South Company encroached on its southern flank, while its eastern border was redrawn to accommodate the English colonies of an expandingNew England Confederation.
The colony experienced dramatic growth during the 1650s and became a major center for trade across theNorth Atlantic. The Dutchconquered New Sweden in 1655 but, during theSecond Anglo-Dutch War, surrendered New Netherland to the English following the capture ofNew Amsterdam. In 1673, theDutch retook the colony but relinquished it under theTreaty of Westminster (1674) that ended theThird 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, the colonial population, many of whom were not of Dutch descent,[7][8][9] was 4,301 in 1650[4] and 8,000 to 9,000 at the time of transfer to England in 1674.
_Blaeu_Map_c1634.jpg)
In the 17th century, Europe was undergoing expansive social, cultural, and economic growth, known as theDutch Golden Age in the Netherlands. Nations vied for domination of lucrative trade routes around the globe, particularly those to Asia.[10] Simultaneously, philosophical and theological conflicts were manifested in military battles throughout the European continent. TheDutch Republic had become a home to many intellectuals, international businessmen, and religious refugees. Inthe Americas, the English had a settlement atJamestown, Virginia, the French had small settlements atPort Royal andQuebec, and the Spanish were developing colonies in South America and the Caribbean.[11]
In 1609, English sea captain and explorerHenry Hudson was hired by theDutch East India Company (VOC) to find aNortheast 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 aNorthwest Passage rather than return home. He ended up exploring the waters off the northeast coast ofNorth America aboard theflyboatHalve Maen. His first landfall was atNewfoundland and the second atCape Cod.
Hudson believed that the passage to the Pacific Ocean was between theSt. Lawrence River andChesapeake Bay, so he sailed south to the Bay, then turned northward, traveling close along the shore. FromDelaware Bay, he began to sail upriver looking for the passage. This effort was foiled by sandy shoals, and theHalve Maen continued north along the coast. After passingSandy Hook, Hudson and his crew enteredthe Narrows into theUpper New York Bay.[12] Hudson believed that he had found the continental water route, so he sailed up themajor river that now bears his name. He found the water too shallow to proceed several days later at the site ofTroy, New York.[13]
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 was first published in 1611 byEmanuel van Meteren, the Dutch Consul at London. This stimulated interest[14] 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, theAdmiralty of Amsterdam sent two covert expeditions to find a passage to China with the yachtsCraen andVos, captained by Jan Cornelisz Mey and Symon Willemsz Cat respectively.Adriaen Block,Hendrick Christiaensen, andCornelius Jacobsen Mey explored, surveyed, and mapped the area betweenMaryland andMassachusetts in four voyages made between 1611 and 1614. These surveys and charts were consolidated in Block's map, which used the nameNew Netherland for the first time; it was also calledNova Belgica on maps. During this period, there was some trading with theNative American population.
Fur traderJuan 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.[15][16][17]
The immediate and intense competition among Dutch trading companies in the newly charted areas led to disputes in Amsterdam and calls for regulation. TheStates 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 the award. TheNew Netherland Company was an alliance of trading companies, and they usedAdrian Block's map to win a patent that expired on 1 January 1618.[18]
The New Netherland Company also ordered a survey of theDelaware Valley, andCornelis Hendricksz ofMonnickendam explored theZuyd Rivier (South River) in 1616 from its bay to its northernmost navigable reaches. His observations were preserved in a map drawn in 1616. Hendricksz made his voyages aboard theIJseren 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.[19]
The States General issued patents in 1614 for the development of New Netherland as a private, commercial venture. Soon after, traders builtFort Nassau onCastle Island in the area ofAlbany up Hudson's river. The fort was to defend river traffic against interlopers and to conductfur 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[20] when the patent expired.
The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands granted a charter to theDutch West India Company (GWC) (Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie) on 3 June 1621,[21] which gave the company the exclusive right to operate in West Africa (between theTropic of Cancer and theCape of Good Hope) and the Americas.[21]
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 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 surrenderDutch Brazil and forfeit the richest sugar-producing area in the world.
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The first trading partners of theNew Netherlanders were theAlgonquins who lived in the area.[22] 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 theMahicans encouraged them to establishFort Nassau in 1614, the first of many garrisoned trading stations. In 1628, theMohawks, members of theIroquois 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 upstateAdirondacks andMohawk Valley through the center of New York.[23]
The AlgonquinLenape population aroundNew York Bay and along the lowerHudson River were seasonally migrational people. The Dutch called the numerous band collectively the River Indians,[23][24] known the exonyms associated with place names as theWecquaesgeek,Hackensacks,Raritans,Canarsee, andTappans. These groups had the most frequent contact with the New Netherlanders. The Munsee inhabited theHighlands, Hudson Valley, andnorthern New Jersey,[23] while theSusquehannocks lived west of theDelaware River along the Susquehanna River, which the Dutch regarded as their boundary with Virginia.
Company policy required land to be purchased from 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 thesachem or high chief. The Indians referred to the Dutch colonists asSwannekins, orsalt water people; they had vastly different conceptions of ownership and use of land than the colonists did, and difficulties sometimes arose concerning the expectations on both sides.[23]
The colonists thought that their proffer of gifts in the form ofsewant 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 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.[25]
Like the French in the north, the Dutch focused their interest on thefur 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 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 theCharter 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 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 CaptainAdriaen Block, which had caught fire while sailing on the Hudson.[26] Soon after, the first of twoFort Nassaus was built at the confluence of the Hudson (North River) and Mohawk rivers, and smallfactorijen or trading posts went up, where commerce could be conducted with theAlgonquian andIroquois population, possibly atSchenectady,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 to42 degrees latitude in acknowledgment of the claim by the English north of Cape Cod.[nb 2] The Dutch named the three main rivers of the province theZuyd Rivier (South River), theNoort Rivier (North River), and theVersche 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 atFort Orange andNoten Eylant (today'sGovernors Island) at the mouth of the North River. They disembarked from the shipNieu Nederlandt, under the command ofCornelis Jacobsz May, the firstDirector of the New Netherland. He was replaced the following year byWillem Verhulst.
In June 1625, 45 additional colonists disembarked onNoten Eylant from three ships namedHorse,Cow, andSheep, which also delivered 103 horses, steers, cows, pigs, and sheep. Most settlers were dispersed to the various garrisons built across the territory: upstream toFort Orange, toKievits Hoek on the Fresh River, andFort Wilhelmus on the South River.[27][28][29] Many of the settlers were not Dutch butWalloons, FrenchHuguenots, orAfricans (most as enslaved labor, some later gaining "half-free" status).[30][31]
Peter Minuit becameDirector 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,[32] but it 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 ofManhattan at the mouth of the river explored byHudson, at that time called theNorth 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 the construction ofFort Amsterdam at its southern tip, around which grew the heart of the province calledThe Manhattoes in the vocabulary of the day, rather than New Netherland.[33][34] According to a letter by Pieter Janszoon Schagen,Peter Minuit and Walloon colonists of theWest India Company acquired the island of Manhattan on May 24, 1626, from unnamed native people, who are believed to have beenCanarsee Indians of theManhattoe, in exchange for traded goods worth 60guilders,[35] often said to be worth US$24. The figure of 60 guilders comes from a letter by a representative of theDutch Estates General and member of the board of theDutch West India Company, Pieter Janszoon Schagen, to the Estates General in November 1626.[36]
In 1846, New York historianJohn Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 (or 60 guilders) toUS$24 (he arrived at $24 = Fl 60/2.5, because the US dollar was erroneously equated with theDutch rijksdaalder having a standard value of 2.5 guilders).[37] "[A] variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars," as authorsEdwin G. Burrows andMike Wallace remarked in their history of New York.[38]
In 1626, sixty guilders were valued at approximately $1,000 in 2006 and $963 in 2020, according to the Institute for Social History of Amsterdam.[39] Based on theprice of silver, "The Straight Dope"newspaper column calculated an equivalent of $72 in 1992.[40] 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.[41] According to the writerNathaniel Benchley, Minuit conducted the transaction with Seyseys, chief of theCanarsee, who were willing to accept valuable merchandise in exchange for the island that was mostly controlled by theWeckquaesgeeks, a band of theWappinger.[42]
The port city ofNew 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. Sanctionedprivateering contributed to its growth. It was given its municipal charter in 1653,[43] by which time theCommonality of New Amsterdam included the isle of Manhattan,Staaten Eylandt,Pavonia, and theLange Eylandt towns.[44]
In the hope of encouraging immigration, the Dutch West India Company established theCharter of Freedoms and Exemptions in 1629, which gave it the power to offer vast land grants and the title ofpatroon to some of its invested members.[45] The vast tracts were calledpatroonships, and the title came with powerfulmanorialrights andprivileges, such as the creation ofcivil andcriminalcourts and the appointing of local officials. In return, apatroon was required by theCompany to establish a settlement of at least 50 families within four years[46] who would live as tenant farmers. Of the original five patents given, the largest and only truly successful endeavor wasRensselaerswyck,[47] at the highest navigable point on the North River,[48] 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 didWiltwyck, south of thepatroonship inEsopus country.
Willem Kieft wasDirector 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 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,[49] as was common among the various dominant tribes, but his demands were simply ignored by theTappan andWecquaesgeek. Subsequently, 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, theCouncil of Twelve Men.
The Council did not rubber-stamp his ideas, as he had expected them to, but took 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 atPavonia andCorlear's Hook, even though they had sought refuge from their more powerfulMohican enemies per their treaty understandings with 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 whenKieft's War ended with a treaty, in a large part brokered by theHackensacksagamoreOratam.[23]
The colonists were disenchanted with Kieft, his ignorance of Indigenous peoples, and the unresponsiveness of the GWC to their rights and requests, and they submitted the Remonstrance of New Netherland to theStates General.[50] This document was written byLeiden-educated New Netherland lawyerAdriaen van der Donck, condemning the GWC for mismanagement and demanding full rights as citizens of the province of the Netherlands.[25]
Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam in 1647, the onlygovernor of the colony to be calledDirector-General.Some years earlier, land ownership policy was liberalized, and trading was somewhat deregulated, and manyNew Netherlanders considered themselvesentrepreneurs in afree market. The population had reached about 15,000, including 500 on Manhattan Island.[25]
During the period of his governorship, the province experienced exponential growth.[47] Demands were made upon Stuyvesant from all sides: the GWC, the States General, and the New Netherlanders. The English were nibbling at Dutch territory to the north and theSwedes to the south, while in the heart of the province, theEsopus 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, the Dutch Government came down against the GWC, granting the colony a measure of self-government and recalling Stuyvesant in April 1652. The orders were rescinded with the outbreak of theFirst Anglo-Dutch War a month later.[25]
Military battles were occurring in theCaribbean and along theSouth Atlantic coast. In 1654, the Netherlands lostNew Holland in Brazil to Portugal, encouraging some of its residents to emigrate north and making the North American colonies more appealing to some investors. TheEsopus Wars are so named for the branch ofLenape that lived around Wiltwijck, today'sKingston, which was the Dutch settlement on the west bank ofHudson River betweenBeverwyk andNew Amsterdam. These conflicts were generally over settlement of land by New Netherlanders for which contracts had not been clarified, and were seen by the natives as an unwanted incursion into their territory. Previously, the Esopus, a clan of theMunsee Lenape, had much less contact with theRiver Indians and theMohawks.[51]According to historian Eleanor Bruchey:
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1630 | 350 | — |
| 1640 | 2,030 | +480.0% |
| 1650 | 4,301 | +111.9% |
| 1660 | 5,476 | +27.3% |
| Source: 1630–1660[4] | ||
New Netherlanders were not necessarily Dutch, and New Netherland was never a homogeneous society.[2] GovernorPeter Minuit was aWalloon born in what is now Germany who also spoke English and worked for a Dutch company.[53] The termNew Netherland Dutch generally includes all the Europeans who came to live there,[1] 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.[2]
There wereAlgonquian languages. Walloons andHuguenots tended to speak French, and Scandinavians and Germans brought their own tongues. It is likely that the Africans in Manhattan spoke their mother tongues but were taught Dutch from 1638 by Adam Roelantsz van Dokkum.[54] The arrival of refugees fromNew Holland in Brazil may have brought speakers of Portuguese, Spanish, andLadino, with Hebrew as a liturgical language. Commercial activity in the harbor could have been transacted simultaneously in any of a number of tongues.[55]
The Dutch West India Company introduced slavery in 1625 with 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 the colony fell, the company freed the slaves, establishing early on a nucleus of free blacks.[56]
TheUnion 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". TheDutch West India Company, however, established the Reformed Church as the official religious institution of New Netherland.[3] Its successor church 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." 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 the rule prevailed: the official granting of full residency for bothAshkenazi andSephardi Jews in New Amsterdam in 1655, and theFlushing Remonstrance involvingQuakers in1657.It was located in areas ofCanada all the way toDelaware[57][58]
Apart from the secondFort Nassau, and the small community that supported it, settlement along theZuyd Rivier was limited. The settlement sponsored by thepatroons ofZwaanendael,Samuel Blommaert andSamuel Godijn was destroyed by the local Indigenous population soon after its founding in 1631 during the absence of their agent,David Pietersen de Vries.[59]
Peter Minuit, who had obtained a deed forManhattan 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 theLenape. After gaining support from the Queen ofSweden, Minuit chose the west bank of theDelaware River to establish a colony there in 1638, calling itNew Sweden. As expected, the government in New Amsterdam took no action other than to protest. Small settlements centered onFort Christina sprang up as the colony slowly grew, mostly populated bySwedes,Finns, andDutch.[60]
In 1651, the Dutch dismantled Fort Nassau and constructedFort 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).[61] While Stuyvesant was conquering New Sweden, some villages and farms at theManhattans (Pavonia andStaten Island) were attacked in an incident that is known as thePeach 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.[25][62][63]
In 1663, a new experimental settlement onDelaware Bay was begun, just before theBritish takeover in 1664.Franciscus van den Enden had drawn up a charter for a utopian society that included equal education of all classes, joint ownership of property, and a democratically elected government.[25]Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy attempted such a settlement near the site of Zwaanendael, but it was largely destroyed in 1664 by the British.[64]
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A few Dutch settlers to New Netherland made their home atFort Goede Hoop on theFresh River. As early as 1637, English settlers from theMassachusetts Bay Colony began to settle along its banks and onLange 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. Thewal or rampart at New Amsterdam (Wall Street) was originally built due to fear of an invasion by the English.[59]
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. TheNew England Confederation was formed in 1643 as a political and military alliance of the English colonies ofMassachusetts,Plymouth,Connecticut, andNew Haven.[65] Connecticut andNew Haven were on land claimed by 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.[59]
With the 1650Treaty of Hartford, Stuyvesant provisionally ceded the Connecticut River region to New England, drawing New Netherland's eastern border 50 Dutch miles (approximately250 km) west of Connecticut's mouth on the mainland and just west ofOyster 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 thede facto border. Connecticut was mostly assimilated into New England.[59]
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 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-GeneralPeter 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 a government from which they had formerly fled.[66]
On 27 August 1664, four English frigates led byRichard Nicolls sailed intoNew Amsterdam's harbor and demanded New Netherland's surrender.[67][68] They met no resistance to thecapture of New Amsterdam, since requests for troops to protect the Dutch colonists from their English neighbors andNative Americans had been ignored. This left New Amsterdam effectively defenseless, but Stuyvesant negotiated good terms from his "too powerful enemies".[69]
Article VIII of theseterms confirmed thatNew Netherlanders "shall keep and enjoy 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 theconquest of New Netherland along the Delaware River, whereColonel Sir Robert Carr expropriated property for his own use and sold Dutchprisoners of war into slavery. Nicolls eventually forced Carr to return some of the confiscated property.[70][71] In addition, aMennonite settlement led byPieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy nearLewes, Delaware was destroyed.[72]
The 1667Treaty of Breda ended theSecond Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch did not press their claims on New Netherland, and thestatus quo was maintained, with the Dutch occupyingSuriname and the nutmeg island ofRun.
Within six years, the nations were again at war. In August 1673, the Dutchrecaptured New Netherland with a fleet of 21 ships led by Vice AdmiralCornelis Evertsen the Youngest and CommodoreJacob Binckes, then the largest ever seen in America.[73] They choseAnthony Colve as governor and renamed the city New Orange, reflecting the installation ofWilliam of Orange asStadtholder of Holland in 1672. He became KingWilliam III of England in 1689.[74]
The Dutch Republic needed money after the conclusion of theThird Anglo-Dutch War in 1672–1674, the historic"disaster years" in which the French simultaneously attacked the republic underLouis XIV, the English, thePrince-Bishop of Münster, andArchbishop-Elector of Cologne. TheStates of Zeeland had tried to convince theStates of Holland to take on the responsibility for the New Netherland province, but to no avail. In February 1674, theTreaty of Westminster concluded the war. It took until 10 November 1674 for the new English governorEdmund Andros to take over from governor Anthony Colve.[75]
New Netherland grew into the largestmetropolitan area in the United States, and it left an enduring legacy on American cultural and political life,[76] "a secular broadmindedness and mercantile pragmatism"[17] greatly influenced by the social and political climate in theDutch Republic at the time, as well as by the character of those who immigrated to it.[77] It was during the earlyBritish colonial period that theNew Netherlanders actually developed the land and society that had an enduring impact on theCapital District, theHudson Valley,North Jersey, westernLong Island,New York City, Fairfield County, and ultimately the United States.[17]
The concept of tolerance was the mainstay of the province's Dutch mother country. TheDutch 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 developingglobal economy. Concepts of religious freedom and free trade (including a stock market) wereNetherlands imports.[78] In 1682, visiting Virginian William Byrd commented about New Amsterdam that "they have as many sects of religion there as at Amsterdam".
The Dutch Republic was one of the firstnation-states of Europe wherecitizenship andcivil liberties were extended to large segments of the population. The framers of theU.S. Constitution were influenced by the Constitution of theRepublic of the United Provinces, though that influence was more as an example of things to avoid than of things to imitate.[79]
TheUnited States Declaration of Independence (1776), is strikingly similar to theAct of Abjuration (1581), which is essentially a declaration of independence of the United Provinces from the Spanish throne,[80] though there is no concrete evidence that the one influenced the other.John Adams went so far as to say that "the origins of the two Republics are so much alike that the history of one seems but a transcript from that of the other."[81]TheArticles of Capitulation (outlining the terms of transfer to the English) in 1664[69] provided for the right to worship as one wished, and were incorporated into subsequent city, state, and national constitutions in the United States, and are the legal and cultural code that lies at the root of theNew York Tri-State traditions.[82]
TheFlushing Remonstrance was a 1657petition to Director-General Peter Stuyvesant, in which some thirty residents of the small settlement atFlushing requested an exemption to his ban onQuaker worship. It is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision onfreedom of religion in theBill of Rights.[83][84]
Many prominent U.S. citizens areDutch American directly descended from the Dutch families of New Netherland.[85] TheRoosevelt family produced twoPresidents and are descended from Claes van Roosevelt, who emigrated around 1650.[86] The Van Buren family of PresidentMartin Van Buren, who even spoke Dutch as his first language, also originated in New Netherland.[10] TheBush family descendants from Flora Sheldon are descendants from theSchuyler family.
The blue, white, and orange on the flags ofNew York City,Albany andJersey City are those of thePrinsenvlag ("Prince's Flag"), introduced in the 17th century as theStatenvlag ("States Flag"), the naval flag of theStates General of the Netherlands.[citation needed] The flag and seal ofNassau County depicting the arms of theHouse of Nassau in the middle. The seven arrows in the lion's claw in the Dutch Republic's coat of arms was a precedent for the thirteen arrows in the eagle's claw in theGreat Seal of the United States.[87]
Washington Irving's satiricalA History of New York and its famous fictional authorDiedrich Knickerbocker had a large impact on the popular view of New Netherland's legacy. Irving's romantic vision of a Dutch yeomanry dominated the popular imagination about the colony since its publication in 1809.[88] The tradition ofSanta Claus is thought to have developed from a gift-giving celebration of the feast ofSaint Nicholas on December 5 each year by the settlers of New Netherland.[25][89] The DutchSinterklaas was changed to "Santa Claus", a name first used in the American press in 1773,[90] when Nicholas was used as a symbol of New York's non-British past.[91] However, many of the "traditions" of Santa Claus may have simply been invented by Irving in his 1809Knickerbocker's History of New York from The Beginning of the World To the End of The Dutch Dynasty.[89]
Dutch continued to be spoken in the region for some time. PresidentMartin Van Buren grew up inKinderhook, New York speaking only Dutch, becoming the only president not to have spoken English as a first language.[92] A dialect known asJersey Dutch was spoken in and around ruralBergen andPassaic counties in New Jersey until the early 20th century.[93]Mohawk Dutch was spoken aroundAlbany.[94]
Early settlers and their descendants gave many place names that are still in use throughout the region of New Netherland.[10] They adaptedIndian names for locations such asManhattan,Hackensack,Sing-Sing, andCanarsie.Peekskill,Catskill, andCresskill all refer to the streams, orkils, around which they grew. Among those that usehoek, meaningcorner,[95] areConstable Hook,Kinderhook,Paulus Hook,Red Hook, andSandy Hook.
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Both in the way it was set up and in the extent of its rights, the council of Twelve Men, as did the two later advisory bodies ...
date = April and May 1911
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