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The Dutch former Colonies

Forts in Nieuw Nederland

Forts

Fort Amsterdam

Fort Nassau 1617

http://www.answers.com/topic/fort-nassau

 Fort Oranje  1617

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Fort_Oranje

Orange-fort Albany

Fort Nassau South -Fort Christina -Fort Altena 1631

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Nassau_(South)

The Dutch, as part of the New Netherland colony, had previously attempted a settlement along Delaware Bay at Zwaanendael (near present-day Lewes) in 1631, but the colony had been massacred the following year by Native Americans. Following plans by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden to establish a Swedish colony in North America, the Swedes arrived in Delaware Bay on March 29, 1638 aboard the ships Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip under the command of Peter Minuit, the former director general of the New Netherland colony. They landed at a spot along the Christina River at the present site of Old Swedes Church in Wilmington. Minuit selected the site on the Christina River near the Delaware as being optimal for trade in beaver pelts with the local Lenape.

At the time, the Dutch had claimed the area south to the Delaware (then called "South River"). The Swedes claimed an area for the Realm of Sweden on the south side of the Delaware that encompassed much of the present-day U.S. state of Delaware, eventually including parts of present-day southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey on the north side of the river.

The colony remained in constant friction with the Dutch. In 1651, the Dutch under Peter Stuyvesant established Fort Casimir at present-day New Castle, only 7 mi (12 km) south of Fort Christina, in order to menace the Swedish settlement. In 1654, the Swedes captured Fort Casimir, but the following year in 1655, the Dutch took control of New Sweden, ending the official Swedish colonial presence in North America and renaming the fort 'Fort Altena'. The land remained as part of New Netherland until it became part of the British Empire when an English fleet invaded the area in 1664.

The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. It is now preserved as Fort Christina State Park on E. 7th Street in Wilmington, along with a replica of the Kalmar Nyckel. The Fort Christina monument, designed by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, stands on the site.

Fort Hoop (Dutch: Fort Huys de Goede Hoop 1623

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Goede_Hoop

In 1623, the Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie (GWC), commonly known in English as the Dutch West India Company 1621-1793 of the United Netherlands Dutch Republic built a fortified trading house of the Roman Castra design with a praetorium, castra ways, and gates. Fort Hoop was located on the south bank of the Little River (now Park River), a tributary river of the Versche or Fresh River (now the Connecticut River). The directors at Fort Orange (now Albany) and Fort Amsterdam (now New York City) had planned Fort Hoop to be the northeastern fortification and trading center of the GWC. Peter Minuit, Governor of the New Netherland, did not follow the line of building fortifications as in Roman design, possibly out of haste & lack of resources, poor leadership, or a combination of both.

The land on which Fort Huys de Goede Hoop was situate was part of a larger tract purchased on June 8, 1633, by Jacob van Curler on behalf of the company from the Sequins, one of the clans of Connecticut Indians.[1] Curler added a block house and palisade to the post while New Amsterdam sent a small garrison and a pair of cannons. Because of a perceived violation of an agreement, the Dutch seized the principal Pequot sachem Tatobem. They paid the Dutch a large ransom and received Tatobem's murdered body in return. Tatobem's successor was Sassacus.

The fort was commended by 1654 by the settlers to New England. English settlers from other New England colonies moved into the Connecticut Valley in the 1630s. In 1633, William Holmes led a group of settlers from Plymouth Colony to the Connecticut Valley, where they established Windsor, a few miles north of the Dutch trading post. In 1634, John Oldham and a handful of Massachusetts families built temporary houses in the area of Wethersfield, a few miles south of the Dutch outpost. In the next two years, thirty families from Watertown, Massachusetts joined Oldham's followers at Wethersfield. The English population of the area exploded in 1636 when clergyman Thomas Hooker led 100 settlers, including Richard Risley, with 130 head of cattle in a trek from Newtown (now Cambridge) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the banks of the Connecticut River, where they established Hartford directly across the Park River from the old Dutch fort. In 1637, the three Connecticut River towns -- Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield -- set up a collective government in order to fight the Pequot War.

The location of this confluence of rivers is at contemporary Sheldon Street in Hartford. The fort is recalled today with a nearby avenue called Huyshope[2]

In July of 1652, war broke out between England and the Netherlands. As battle commenced in Europe and on the high seas, it also affected relations between the two nations’ respective North American colonies. Many New Englanders thought the time was right to overrun the Dutch colony to the south. In New Amsterdam, meanwhile, Director-General Petrus Stuyvesant, hunkered down within the walls of Fort Amsterdam, read dispatches from his superiors in the Netherlands telling him of recent events and instructing him to prepare for the worst.

It happened that the citizens of New Amsterdam had finally won from Stuyvesant and the government in the Netherlands a city charter. At last, after thirty years, New Amsterdam was a true city. As such, its first municipal governing body—the burgomasters and schepens—sat in February 1653. A few weeks later, on March 13, Stuyvesant called an extraordinary meeting consisting of his own council as well as the burgomasters and schepens—in effect, every political representative in the city and surrounding areas. The matter was simple: the English to their north were strong, and the Dutch defenses were weak. How could they protect themselves in the event of an invasion?

They quickly agreed to repair the fort, and to begin round-the-clock guards. But this wasn’t enough to ensure defense. They decided they needed to wall themselves in. The city was clustered at the southern tip of the island, and they decided that they would create a wall across the northern reaches of town. Thomas Baxter was charged with the task of producing logs for palisades. They were to be twelve feet high and eighteen inches thick. The wall would stretch from the East River straight across to the North (or Hudson) River. There would be a gate at de Heere Straat (later, Broadway).

Fort Wilhelmus was a fort in the 17th century colonial province of New Netherland, located on what had been named Verhulsten Island on the Zuyd Rivier, today's Delaware River. More a trading post more military installation, it was built in 1625 by colonialists from The Netherlands in the employ of the Dutch West India Company, with the intention of establishing a physical claim to the new territory and to engage in the fur trade with the indigenous population of Lenape and Minqua. The Walloon families had originally arrived at Noten Island (Governors Island) across from Fort Amsterdam in the Upper New York Bay, They had been sent south in order to begin the population of the province of New Netherland. They were later recalled back to New Amsterdam since the Dutch West India Company had decided to concentrate their settlement efforts along the North River, or Hudson River The fort was likely so called from Het Wilhelmus (Nl-Het Wilhelmus2.ogg pronunciation (help·info)) (English translation: The William), a song which tells of Willem van Oranje, his life and why he is fighting for the Dutch people. It became, in 1932, the national anthem of the Netherlands and is the oldest national anthem in the world Although it was not recognized as the official national anthem until 1932, it remained popular with the Dutch people since its creation.

A possible translation of Beversreede could be Beavers Gap, from bever or beaver and reet meaning opening or cleft, which would speak to the location of the fort.

Though never recognized by the Dutch, the region along the southern Delaware River was effectively under control of New Sweden which was first settled in 1638.

The fort was abandoned after being vandalized by Swedish settlers several times. The Swedes had built the stockaded 30-by-20-foot Fort New Korsholm directly in front of the Dutch fort in 1648 to intimidate its residents. It was not until 1655 that control of the area was regained in a military expedition led by Director-General of New Netherland Petrus Stuyvesant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Casimir

Fort Casimir was established in 1651, the structure that had been Fort Nassau having been dismantled and relocated. It was briefly known as Fort Trefaldigheets, and later became New Amstel, and eventually New Castle

On Trinity Sunday in 1654, Johan Risingh, Commissary and Councilor to New Sweden Governor Lt. Col. Johan Printz, officially assumed his duties and began to extricate all Dutch from the Deleware River. Fort Casimir surrendered and was renamed Fort Trinity (in Swedish Fort Trefaldigheten). The Swedes were now in complete possession of their colony. On June 21, 1654, the Indians met with the Swedes to reaffirm their ownership.

Peter Stuyvesant led a Dutch force which retook the fort on September 11, 1655, renaming it New Amstel (in Dutch Nieuw Amstel). Subsequently, Fort Christina also fell on September 15th and all New Sweden came under the control of the Dutch. John Paul Jacquet was immediately appointed Governor, making New Amstel the capital of the Dutch-controlled colony.

In 1664, Stuyvesant peacefully surrendered control of Fort Amsterdam, and thereby, all of New Netherland to the British. They gave the settlement yet another name, New Castle.

But Fort Elfsborg-near the present city of Salem, New Jersey, was no nirvana. That area of the river was mostly swamp, and the soldiers garrisoned there were inundated by mosquitos, so much so, wrote a commander, that "From the continued stinging and sucking of the mosquitos the people were so swollen, that they appeared as if they had been affected with some horrible disease." "Fort Myggenborgh" (Fort Mosquito), as it was not-so-affectionately nicknamed, was eventually abandoned, the soldiers succumbing not to enemy cannonfire but bites.

The name of the Rondout Creek comes from the fort, or redoubt, that was erected near its mouth. The Dutch equivalent of the English word redoubt (meaning a fort or stronghold), is reduyt. In the Dutch records of Wildwyck, however, the spelling used to designate this same fort is invariably Ronduyt during the earliest period, with the present form rondout (often capitalized) appearing as early as November 22, 1666.

The Dutch word ronduyt is an adjective meaning "frankly" or "positively." The word could also be broken down into its components and translated, literally, "round-out." Most likely, this corrupting process merely represented the simplification of a word (reduyt).

Incorporated on April 4, 1849, Rondout served as a Hudson River port for the city of Kingston located about a mile distant. In 1828 it became the eastern terminus of the Delaware and Hudson Canal. From that time, it grew rapidly, until in 1872 it was merged with and became a part of the city of Kingston.

Prior to its incorporation, Rondout was known variously as "The Strand", "Kingston Landing" and "Bolton". "The Strand" is a Dutch derived reference to the beach once located on the north shore of the Rondout Creek. Its usage persists to the present (2006). "Kingston Landing" speaks for itself. "Bolton" was used to honor a president of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company.

Much of the former village's central area has survived intact and is part of the Rondout-West Strand Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The Rondout borders the Rondout creek. The creek empties into the Hudson through a large, protected tidal area which was the terminus of the Delaware & Hudson canal built to haul coal from Pennsylvania to New York City.

Fort Ninigret is an historic fort or trading post site at Fort Neck Road in Charlestown, Rhode Island purportedly built and occupied by either Native Americans or early European settlers in the seventeenth century.

Archaeological excavations have shown that people lived on Fort Neck long before the Europeans arrived, although this was never a large village. But around 1620, many Niantic people (cousins and allies of the larger Narragansett Tribe) settled at this place—growing corn, making wampum (shell beads used as money by the Europeans), and trading with the Europeans for such things as beads, pipes, and copper kettles. By the 1630s, the Niantics had a young and powerful sachem—Ninigret, for whom the fort was later named.

Some historians have alleged that the fort was built by the Dutch West India Company or by Portuguese explorers prior to 1637 (in addition to the earlier trading post on nearby Dutch Island). One of the first printed references to Dutch forts in Rhode Island was Samuel Arnold's 1858 "History of the State of Rhode Island." According to historian Manuel da Silva:

"The fort is rectangular with the corners terminating in five-sided bastions, except for the one facing the water. It measures 152 feet long (from bastion to bastion) and 137 feet wide. The angles of the bastions are approximately 130 degrees. No one doubts that the style in which the fort is built clearly shows the influence of European civilization."^[2]

In 1921-22 a European sword, cannnon and four skeletons were found near the site, allegedly lending credence to the theory that this was a European fort or a trading post used by Native Americans for trading with Europeans. The artifacts are now in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society.

King Philip’s War (1675-76) cemented English rule over most of the Indian lands of Rhode Island, but a reservation encompassing much of today’s Charlestown was set aside for the tribe. Many Narragansetts had joined Ninigret’s people for safety, and soon the name Niantic fell out of use. Here at Fort Ninigret, tribal members lived in wigwams into the 18th century. Nearby stood the European style house of the sachems, who sold off tribal property to Englishmen to pay their debts. By the 19th century Fort Neck was the last piece of land held in common by the Narragansett Tribe that had access to salt water.

In the 1880s, the state declared the Narragansett Tribe extinct. As part of this detribalization, the state transformed the remains of Fort Ninigret into a monument to the now ‘vanished’ tribe. They planted trees, reshaped the earthen banks of the fort, and put up the iron fence, and in the middle of the fort they set a boulder, inscribed with these words:

Memorial to the Niantics and Narragansetts Unwavering friends and allies of our forefathers.

Ironically, a member of the Tribe spoke at the monument’s dedication. In 1983 the Federal Government acknowledged that the Narragansetts were still alive and well in Rhode Island, and they were once again recognized as a tribe. Today Fort Ninigret is maintained by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the Charlestown Historical Society.

Fort Ninigret was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. During the 1970s, archaeological excavations were conducted at Fort Ninigret by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission and by archaeologists from New York University.

Construction was undertaken over a period of time after 1613 by Claude de Saint-Étienne de la Tour with probable assistance from his son, Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour. The fort was a combined fortified trading post and fishing station. The location is often described as the first permanent settlement in New England.

About 1626, the French were routed on behalf of the Plymouth Colonists and possession remained in British hands until 1635, although control of the area had formally been given back to France by treaty, and more specifically to the control of the Compagnie des Cent-Associés, in 1630. In 1635, Acadian governor, Isaac de Razilly sent Charles de Menou d'Aulnay to re-establish French control.

Some details about ensuing years are well documented. On September 2, 1654, British colonial troops under Robert Sedgwick drove the French out and sacked the fort. The Treaty of Breda in 1667, returned Acadian territory to the French but because the settlements were not specified, Pentagouet was finally under French rule again on 17 July 1670. We also know that In 1671, the Intendant of New France, Jean Talon, sent Hugues Randin to the western boundary of Acadia do a condition report on the fort.

The fort was captured by Dutch navy captain Jurriaen Aernoutsz in 1674 during the Franco-Dutch War. Aernoutsz also captured Fort Jemseg, and claimed Acadia as the Dutch colony of New Holland. However, once Aernoutsz himself left Acadia in search of new Dutch settlers, administrator John Rhoades was unable to maintain control of Acadia, which quickly reverted back to France after Rhoades was captured by the English. The Netherlands continued to claim sovereignty over the region on paper, appointing Cornelius Van Steenwyk as governor in 1676. Steenwyk sent a Dutch expedition to reclaim Pentagouet, although this attempt was rebuffed by three British warships from Boston. The Dutch colonial claim over Acadia was surrendered in 1678 by the Treaties of Nijmegen.

Two directors of the Amsterdam chamber of the Dutch West India Company, Samuel Blommaert and Samuel Godyn, bargained with the natives for a tract of land reaching from Cape Henlopen to the mouth of Delaware river. This was in 1629, three years before the charter of Maryland, and is the oldest deed for land in Delaware. Its water-front nearly coincides with the coast of Kent and Sussex Counties.. The purchase was ratified in 1630 by Peter Minuit and his council at Fort Amsterdam.

A company including, besides the two original proprietors, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, De Laet, the historian, and David Pietersen de Vries was formed to colonize the tract. A ship of eighteen guns was fitted out to bring over the colonists and subsequently defend the coast, with incidental whaling to help defray expenses. A colony of more than thirty people was planted on Lewes creek, a little north of Cape Henlopen, and its governorship was entrusted to Gillis Hosset. This settlement antedated by several years any in Pennsylvania, and the colony at Lewes practically laid the foundation and defined the singularly limited area of the state of Delaware, the major part of which was included in the purchase. A palisaded fort was built, with the "red lion, rampant," of Holland affixed to its gate, and the country was named Swaanendael or Zwaanendael Colony, while the water was called Godyn's bay. The estate was further extended, on May 5, 1630, by the purchase of a tract twelve miles square on the coast of Cape May opposite, and the transaction was duly attested at Fort Amsterdam.

The existence of the little colony was short, for the Indians came down upon it in revenge for an arbitrary act on the part of Hosset, and it was destroyed, with no Dutch escaping to tell the tale. The details of the attack were recounted to Dutch observers by Nanticoke Indians:

"He then showed us the place where our people had set up a column to which was fastened a piece of tin, whereon the arms of Holland were painted. One of their chiefs took this off, for the purpose of making tobacco-pipes, not knowing that he was doing amiss. Those in command at the house made such an ado about it that the Indians, not knowing how it was, went away and slew the chief who had done it, and brought a token of the dead to the house to those in command, who told them that they wished that they had not done it; that they should have brought him to them, as they wished to have forbidden him not to do the like again. They went away, and the friends of the murdered chief incited their friends, as they are a people like the Indians, who are very revengeful, to set about the work of vengeance. Observing our people out of the house, each one at his work, that there was not more than one inside, who was lying sick, and a large mastiff, who was chained, - had he been loose they would not have dared to approach the house, - and the man who had command standing near the house, three of the stoutest Indians, who were to do the deed, bringing a lot of bear-skins with them to exchange, sought to enter the house. The man in charge went in with them to make the barter, which being done, he went to the loft where the stores lay, and in descending the stairs one of the Indians seized an axe and cleft his head so that he fell down dead. They also relieved the sick man of life, and shot into the dog, who was chained fast, and whom they most feared, twenty-five arrows before they could dispatch him. They then proceeded towards the rest of the men, who were at work, and, going amongst them with pretensions of friendship, struck them down. Thus was our young colony destroyed, causing us serious loss."[1]

In 1633, de Vries negotiated a treaty with the Indians and sailed up the Delaware River, attempting to trade for beans and corn. Failing his objective there, de Vries sailed to Virginia, where was successful in obtaining provisions for the colonists in Zwaanendael, to which he returned.[2] He subsequently took the colonists to New York and then back to Europe.

According to acknowledged precedent, occupancy of the wilderness served to perfect title ; but before the Dutch could reoccupy the desolated site at Lewes, the English were practically in possession.

Later Blommaert assisted with the fitting out of the first Swedish expedition to New Sweden in 1637 and engaged Peter Minuit to command it.

Franciscus van den Enden had drawn up charter for a utopian society (that included equal education of all classes, joint owership of property, and a democratically elected government. [3]. Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy attempted such a settlement near the site of Zwaanendael, but it soon expired under English rule.

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