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In 1602, the government of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands
chartered the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische
Compagnie), or VOC with the mission of exploring it for a passage to the
Indies and claiming any uncharted areas for the United Provinces, which
led to several significant expeditions.
In 1609, the VOC commissioned English explorer Henry Hudson who, in
an attempt to find the so-called northwest passage to the Indies,
discovered and claimed for the VOC parts of the present-day United
States and Canada. In the belief that it was the best route to explore,
Hudson entered the Upper New York Bay sailed up the river that now bears
his name. In 1614, Adriaen Block led an expedition to the lower Hudson
in the Tyger, and then explored the East River aboard the Onrust,
becoming the first known European to navigate the Hellegat enter Long
Island Sound. Block Island and its sound were named after him. Upon
returning, Block compiled a map, the first to apply the name "New
Netherland" to the area between English Virginia and French Canada,
where he was later granted exclusive trading rights by the Dutch
government. Area claimed by the Dutch in 1660
After some early trading expeditions, the first Dutch settlement in
the Americas was founded in 1615: Fort Nassau, on Castle Island in the
Hudson, near present-day Albany. The settlement served mostly as a trade
post for fur trade with the natives and was later replaced by Fort
Oranje (in English: Fort Orange) at present-day Albany. Both forts were
named in honor of the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau.
In 1621, a new company was established with a trading monopoly in the
Americas and West Africa: the Dutch West India Company (Westindische
Compagnie or WIC). The WIC sought recognition for the area in the New
World – which had been called New Netherland – as a province, which was
granted in 1623. Soon after, the first colonists, mostly from
present-day Belgium and Germany, arrived in the new province. That same
year the construction of several fortified trading posts began including
the Fort Huys de Goede Hoop (in English, Fort House of Good Hope), now
known as Hartford, Connecticut.
In 1626, Director-General of the WIC Peter Minuit purchased the
island of Manhattan from Indians and started the construction of fort
New Amsterdam. In the same year, another Fort Nassau (not the one near
Albany) was built on the Delaware River in southern New Jersey. Other
settlements were Fort Casimir (Newcastle) and Fort Beversrede
(Philadelphia). Fort Huys de Goede Hoop was completed in 1633. By 1636,
the English from Newtown now known as Cambridge, Massachusetts settled
on the north side of the Little River, now buried under the Whitehead
Highway of Hartford. By 1653, the English had overtaken this Dutch
trading post. In 1655, the main settlement of New Sweden, Fort
Christina, was captured after the Swedes had briefly occupied Fort
Casimir.
Many of the inhabitants of these settlements were not ethnically
Dutch, but came from a variety of other European countries. A
significant number of immigrants to New Netherland were Protestants of
English or French Huguenot background, including the Louis Dubois
colony, which settled New Paltz, making a private treaty with the local
Native Americans to purchase a large tract of land from the Hudson River
to the mountains. Later, under English rule, this self-governing colony,
ruled by Dubois and 11 others on their unique duzine, continued to
prosper and today the village boasts the oldest street in North America
with the original stone houses.
In 1664, English troops under the command of the Duke of York and
Albany (later James II of England) attacked the New Netherland colony.
Being greatly outnumbered, Director-General Peter Stuyvesant surrendered
New Amsterdam, with Fort Orange following soon. New Amsterdam was
renamed New York (from James's English title), Fort Orange was renamed
Fort Albany (from James's Scottish title).
The loss of the New Netherland province led to the Second Anglo–Dutch
War during 1665–1667. This conflict ended with the Treaty of Breda in
which the Dutch gave up their claim to New Netherland in exchange for
Suriname.
From 1673 to 1674, the territories were once again briefly captured
by the Dutch in the Third Anglo–Dutch War, only to be returned to
England at the Treaty of Westminster. In 1674, Dutch navy captain
Jurriaen Aernoutsz also briefly captured two forts in the French colony
of Acadia, which he claimed as the Dutch territory of New Holland.
However, Aernoutsz's appointed administrator, John Rhoades, quickly lost
control of the territory after Aernoutsz himself left for Curaçao to
seek out new settlers, and with effective control of Acadia remaining in
the hands of France, Dutch sovereignty existed only on paper until the
Netherlands surrendered their claim in the Treaties of Nijmegen. |
