The Jesuit missionary Isaac Jogues famously described New Amsterdam as a place where eighteen different languages were spoken. Although he meant to suggest that the Dutch colony was a confused and confusing place, he did put his finger on an important characteristic of New Netherland.
While it may have been a relatively small colony, it was also global in reach.
The New Netherland Institute’s annual conference, at the New York State Museum in Albany on November 7-8, 2026, will explore some of the ways New Netherland connected to the world beyond its borders.
New Netherland’s connections to its English, French, and Indigenous neighbors as well as to the Caribbean and the Netherlands will be discussed in some half-dozen sessions with scholars and experts in their fields.
For over four decades, the Annual Conference of the New Netherland Institute (previously known as the Rensselaerswyck Seminar and subsequently the New Netherland Seminar) has brought the best research on New Netherland to a venue in the northeast in the fall.
You can learn more about the conference and register online here.
Read More About New Netherland
Illustration: Jan Brandes’ “West-Indiëvaarder onder zeil” (West Indies Ship Under Sail), late 18th century (Rijksmuseum).
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