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New Amsterdam

Russell Shorto: The Dutch-American Perspective

January 29, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Children playing in the churchyard of St. Mark’s-in-the-Bowery, 1994The work that historians do influences their lives, especially if they spend a considerable time in a foreign land that they write about. Slowly, their topic of choice becomes an essential part of their identity. Russell Shorto, a renowned writer of narrative history, writes about his own evolution at the intersection of Dutch-American history.

This essay concerns itself with the intersection of Dutch and American history. Previous posts have explored slavery in New Amsterdam, the naming – and renaming – of that city, and John Adams’ role as unofficial ambassador to the Netherlands during the American war of independence. As I pondered the task of contributing to that lineup, and scrolled through a mental list of possible topics, it occurred to me that, as I have lived at the intersection of Dutch and American history for more than twenty years, my own identity, and its evolution over that time, might be a relevant topic. [Read more…] about Russell Shorto: The Dutch-American Perspective

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Academia, Dutch History, Henry Hudson, Museums, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New Netherland Institute, New Netherland Project, New Netherland Research Center, New York City, Public History, Publishing, Writing

The First Slave Traders in New York

September 28, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

West India Company warehouse in Amsterdam. Engraving, ca. 1663.The first direct shipment of enslaved Africans arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1655. The voyage of the White Horse came in the wake of significant changes in the Dutch Atlantic.  In this eessay, American historian Dennis Maika outlines how family and business connections shaped the development of a slave-trading center in Manhattan.

New Amsterdam’s residents would have immediately noticed something different about the arrival of the Witte Paert (White Horse) in the early summer of 1655. The stench of human excrement and illness emanating from the newly arrived “scheepgen” (small ship), left little doubt that a slaver had arrived after a long voyage. [Read more…] about The First Slave Traders in New York

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Atlantic World, Black History, Chesapeake, Dutch History, Economic History, Financial History, Legal History, Maritime History, Maryland, New Amsterdam, New Netherlands, New York City, New York Harbor, Slavery, Virginia

Early Distilling History: Puritan Bibles, Gin & Schnapps

September 12, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

nineteenth century English print of A Dutch Gin MerchantFor the first decade of its existence, New Amsterdam was a rough place. Located on the tip of Manhattan Island, it was a haven for pirates and smugglers. Many of the earliest rules and regulations were an attempt to control the unruly citizens of a backwater outpost, but officials proved unable to lay down the law. Intemperate drinking was one of the problems.

In 1640 permission was granted by Willem Kieft, Director of the New Netherland Colony, for liquor to be distilled on Staten Island – in contemporary Dutch: Staaten Eylandt – where what is believed to have been the first commercial distillery in North America was built (today Staten Island is home to the Booze History Museum). [Read more…] about Early Distilling History: Puritan Bibles, Gin & Schnapps

Filed Under: Food, History, New York City Tagged With: Brooklyn, Culinary History, Dutch History, liquor, London, Medical History, Netherlands, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, Prohibition, Spain, Staten Island, Vice

The 19th Century Hunt for New York’s Dutch History

August 23, 2022 by Jaap Jacobs Leave a Comment

parade of His Majesty the King of the NetherlandsOver the centuries, numerous American visitors to the Netherlands produced travel accounts, filled with their fresh insights and observations as they viewed the familiar from a foreigner’s perspective. John Romeyn Brodhead is no exception, but he was not a regular tourist. He was, or rather became, a man with a mission, hunting for American history in Dutch archives. [Read more…] about The 19th Century Hunt for New York’s Dutch History

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Dutch History, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, Religious History

Kieft’s War: Mass Murder on Manhattan

July 20, 2022 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Manatus Map, depicting Manhattan in about 1639In the evening of February 25th, 1643, soldiers and settlers of the colony of New Netherland massacred a large number of Native American men, women, and children belonging to Munsee nations on and around Manhattan. The victims were surprised in their sleep. They had assumed they were safe because they had recently sought shelter near New Amsterdam from Indigenous enemies. Dutch sources indicate that at least eighty and perhaps up to one hundred and twenty Munsees were murdered. [Read more…] about Kieft’s War: Mass Murder on Manhattan

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Corlaer’s Hook, Dutch History, Fort Amsterdam, Hudson River, Indigenous History, Kieft’s War, Lenape - Munsee - Delaware, Manhattan, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City

New Amsterdam & New York: What’s In A Name?

June 22, 2022 by Jaap Jacobs Leave a Comment

detail of the Figurative Map of 1614, with a triangular island labeled ManhatesThe small colonial town that the Dutch founded in North America was called New Amsterdam. We now know it as New York City. The story of how the name evolved has many twists and turns and is, in fact, a tale of war and peace. [Read more…] about New Amsterdam & New York: What’s In A Name?

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Atlantic World, Connecticut, Dutch History, Fort Amsterdam, Governors Island, Indigenous History, Long Island, Manhattan, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, Political History

Mayken van Angola’s Life Under New Netherland Slavery

May 24, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Request of Mayken van Angola, LucretiaOn December 28th, 1662, a woman named Mayken van Angola pursued freedom in New Amsterdam. She did not stand alone. Two other women — Susanna and Lucretia — stood with her and together, they petitioned the colonial government for their freedom. It was granted with the caveat that they must clean the Director General Petrus Stuyvesant’s house once a week as a condition of that freedom. [Read more…] about Mayken van Angola’s Life Under New Netherland Slavery

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Black History, Dutch History, Dutch-American History Series, Labor History, Material Culture, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, Slavery, womens history

Dutch-American Stories: The “Patron Saint of New York”

May 3, 2022 by Jaap Jacobs Leave a Comment

treaty of friendship and trade between the United States and the Dutch RepublicThe bonds that connect the American and Dutch peoples have been commemorated in various ways and at various levels. Dutch-American Friendship Day is a well-established annual event at the governmental level. In New York City, the historical memory of Petrus Stuyvesant has recently become controversial, but in the twentieth century his image was iconic.

On April 19th, 1782, the Dutch States General decided to recognize John Adams as the envoy of the United States of America. It was the culmination of a contentious political process in which the Dutch Republic’s constituent provinces (Friesland being the first) instructed their delegates to vote in favor of accepting Adams’s nomination. With Adams in place as America’s minister plenipotentiary, the Dutch Republic reciprocated by naming Pieter Johan van Berckel as its first ambassador. [Read more…] about Dutch-American Stories: The “Patron Saint of New York”

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Dutch History, Dutch-American History Series, Manhattan, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, Peter Stuyvesant, sculpture

Simeon DeWitt: America’s Surveyor General

April 25, 2022 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

The Roemer map of Albany 1698 showing fort orange and BeverwyckTjerck Claeszen DeWitt immigrated to New Amsterdam (now New York City) from Grootholt in Zunterlant in 1656. Grootholt means Great Wood and Zunterland was probably located on the southern border of East Friesland, a German territory on the North Sea only ten miles from the most northerly province of the Netherlands.

By 1657, Tjerck DeWitt married Barber (Barbara) Andrieszen (also Andriessen) in the New Amsterdam Dutch Church and moved to Beverwyck (now Albany). While in Beverwyck, he purchased a house. At this time Albany contained 342 houses and about 1,000 residents, about 600 of whom were members of the Dutch Church. [Read more…] about Simeon DeWitt: America’s Surveyor General

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, American Revolution, Aurelius, Brutus, Camillus, Cato, Cayuga County, Cicero, Cincinnatus, Dryden, Fabius, Galen, Geography, George Washington, Greece, Hannibal, Hector, Homer, Ithaca, Junius, Kingston, Locke, Lysander, Manlius, Maps, Marcellus, Military History, Milton, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, Onondaga County, Ovid, Pompey, Rome, Romulus, Schenectady County, Scipio, Sempronius, Seneca County, Simeon DeWitt, Solon, Stirling, surveying, Syracuse, Thompkins County, Tully, Ulster County, Ulysses, Virgil, West Point, Yorktown

New Netherland: Slavery and Resistance in Dutch New York

March 23, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben franklins world podcastIn this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World Podcast, Andrea Mosterman, an Associate Professor of History at the University of New Orleans and author of Spaces of Enslavement: A History of Slavery and Resistance in Dutch New York (Cornell Univ. Press, 2021), joins us to explore what life was like in New Netherland and early New York, especially for the enslaved people who did much of the work to build this Dutch, and later English, colony. [Read more…] about New Netherland: Slavery and Resistance in Dutch New York

Filed Under: Books, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Colonialism, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, NYC, Podcasts, Political History, Slavery

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