A Small Investment The Dutch Settlement of America

This sounds familiar….  The Dutch were also interested in finding the Northwest Passage  The Dutch hired Henry Hudson, and Englishman, sailed to North America in 1609  He discovered the Connecticut River as well as the river that now bears his name, the Hudson River.

A colony is born  The area was claimed as New Netherlands.  Here, the Dutch West India Company set up the most successful fur trade south of the St. Lawrence.  Unlike the Spanish who merely took the land, the Dutch (like many other Europeans) wanted to buy the land.

A cheap piece of land  Peter Minuit was New Netherlands’ first governor  Minuit purchased a tiny island from the Manhattan Indians in 1626 for the current value of $24.00  However, the native americans did not believe in land ownership, so they just felt like they got some free goods.  Nevertheless, Minuit set up a fort on the tip of the island and called it New Amsterdam.

Good times and bad  Through the 1620’s and 1630’s, the Dutch had a profitable fur trade with the native americans.  New England settlers were in wars with native americans because they were trying to farm and needed land.  Eventually, the beaver population dwindled and the Dutch, too, started farming which resulted in strained native american relations.

Not a pretty picture.  Later governors slaughtered native americans.  Eventually, relations between New England and New Netherlands became strained  By 1660’s, New Netherlands was weak and torn by dissention.

Start spreading the news!  1664, Dutch handed basically handed over their colony without a fight.  The colony was named after the crown prince, the Duke of York (would be James II)  The new colony of New York would become the greatest colonial presence on the East Coast of North America