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On the 8th of September, 1664, the Dutch surrendered their colony New Netherland, located somewhere between the English colonies of Virginia and Plymouth, to the English. The English renamed the colony New York, after the English King’s brother, James II, the Duke of York. New Amsterdam, the capital of the small colony, was renamed New York, and eventually became New York City. 350 years after the Dutch surrendered the small colony, Dutch cultural influence remains in the area, despite the fact that their presence in the area is hardly mentioned in history books as more than a footnote. I recently came across an article that discusses some interesting facts about the small colony.
The first person to discover the area that is now New York was Henry Hudson, an explorer hired by English merchants to find a Northeast Passage to Asia in 1609, during which he sailed up the Hudson River. While he failed to find a Northeast Passage, and ultimately died during his voyage, the Dutch claimed parts of present-day New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware for the New Netherland colony.
Almost immediately after Hudson’s 1609 voyage, Dutch fur-trading expeditions began sailing up the Hudson river, although the first major group of settlers didn’t arrive until 1624, when 30 French-speaking Protestant families landed. Most of them came to Fort Orange in present-day Albany, but by 1626 they founded the city of New Amsterdam, on the southern tip of Manhattan Island, after purchasing the island from the local Indians. Contrary to popular legend, they didn’t buy the island for $24, but rather gifted the Indians such trade goods as iron kettles and axes, items that they couldn’t produce themselves. However, Indians had a completely different concept of land ownership, and almost certainly believed that they were simply “renting out” Manhattan. Such cultural misunderstandings meant that the Dutch and Indians were repeatedly at odds with each other.
From the very beginning, the city of New Amsterdam was indeed diverse. Most of the settlers who came to the colony were the poor and misfit of the Netherlands, as well as religious refugees from around Europe. While the Dutch made up the largest portion of settlers, there were significant numbers of African (both free and slave), Scottish, English, German, French, Scandinavian, Jewish and even Muslim settlers in the tiny trading post. Back in 1643, a Jesuit priest who visited the settlement reported that the few hundred people in New Amsterdam spoke 18 different languages between them. Not surprisingly, these various groups didn’t always get along, and Peter Stuyvesant, the last governor of New Amsterdam, was frequently at odds with Quaker, Lutheran and Jewish settlers.
At New Netherland’s peak, only about 9,000 people lived there, leaving it vulnerable to attack by the English colonies, who grossly outnumbered them. During the mid-to-late 17th century, the Dutch and English were fierce commercial rivals, and fought three wars with each other between 1652 and 1674. In 1664, English King Charles II awarded the lands in New Netherland to his brother, the Duke of York, even though the two countries were technically at peace with each other at the time. Just a few months later, four warships with several hundred soldiers arrived in the harbor of New Amsterdam, demanding the surrender of the Dutch. Although Stuyvesant didn’t want to give up the city without a fight, prominent residents urged him to stand down. On September 8, Stuyvesant signed the colony over to the English without a single drop of blood being shed. During the third Anglo-Dutch War in 1673, the Dutch re-conquered Manhattan, but gave it up the following year as part of a peace treaty in exchange for the wealthy colony of Suriname. At the time, Suriname seemed like a much better deal, but that ultimately proved false.
When the English took over New Netherland, they didn’t expel any of the Dutch colonists or seized their property; even during the English era, much of the upper class in New York was of Dutch descent. This meant that the Dutch maintained a cultural and linguistic presence in the area; up until the 19th century, there were still parts of New York state that spoke Dutch, and many Dutch words creeped into American vernacular, including “cookie”, “coleslaw” and “boss”, to name a few. The Dutch also brought such things as sledding, ice skating, painting Easter eggs and banking to America. Many place names in New York City and New York state as a whole are of Dutch origin, including Brooklyn, Harlem, Coney Island and even Broadway. The street pattern of Manhattan below Wall Street, as well as those of Kingston and Albany (the other two important cities in New Netherland) stayed the same, and hasn’t changed to this day.
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Yesterday, the City Council passed a law that requires the city of New York to track what happens to children after leaving foster care. According to officials, an average of 1,000 18 to 21 year-old children leave foster care in the city. Unfortunately, a large number of this foster children tend to struggle after they’ve been sent out on their own. With the passing of this law, New York will now have to issue public reports with data, including how many foster children end up in public housing or receive housing subsidies, how many go to college or get jobs and how many of them ultimately reunite with their families.
Maria Haymandou 