From New Amsterdam to New York

The history of a Dutch trading colony

Everyone probably knows New York City and also knows that it is located in the state of New York (NY). However, it was founded over 400 years ago as a fortress and trading post called New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam) in the Dutch province of New Netherland (Nieuw Nederland).

A look back at 40 years (1624 to 1664) of Dutch colonial history.

In this article

1. 1. The early Netherlands
2. 2. The Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam – the first joint-stock company?
3. 3. After the VOC comes the WIC
4. 4. Letters of trade for the WIC
5. 5. Economic competition with Spain, France, and England
6. 6. Henry Hudson appears
7. 7. From Amsterdam to New Amsterdam
8. 8. The province of New Nederland gets its administrative structure
9. 9. The myth of the Manhattan purchase
10. 10. Peter Minuit, third Director-General of the Province of New Netherland
11. 11. The Dutch and the indigenous inhabitants
12. 12. Conflicts in the shadow of the fur trade
13. 13. Meanwhile in England – King Charles II
14. 14. James, Duke of York, conquers Fort New Amsterdam
15. 15. Pieter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General
16. 16. New Amsterdam becomes New York
17. 17. Surrender is not the same as peace
18. 18. List of the seven Dutch governors
19. 19. How can we imagine New Amsterdam?
20. 20. A dark spot – the West India Company in the slave trade
21. 21. Place names from New Amsterdam in present-day New York
22. 21. What became of the West India Company?

The early Netherlands

From around 1100 onwards, the area that now comprises Belgium and the Netherlands was referred to as terra inferior, meaning low-lying land.

From 1556 onwards, it was part of the Spanish branch of the Habsburg Empire. However, from 1567 onwards, the Dutch attempted to drive out the Spanish. Seven provinces, specifically Friesland, Groningen, Overijssel, Holland, Gelderland, Utrecht, and Zeeland, joined forces to form the States General.

In 1648 (as part of the Peace of Westphalia), the Republic of the United Netherlands was finally acknowledged by Spain.

The present-day kingdom, ruled by the House of Orange-Nassau, has only existed since 1815.

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The Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam – the first joint-stock company?

The history of the city of Amsterdam can be traced back to around 1150. In 1595, the Nieuwe Compagnie op der Vaart op Oost-Indie was founded there, better known as the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC for short.

The first shares in this company were issued in Amsterdam in 1602. It was probably also the world's first joint-stock company. This would make Amsterdam the city with the first stock exchange. The company was managed by 17 governors, known as de Heren XVII (seventien).

After the VOC comes the WIC

The company was granted the exclusive right by the States General—originally for 24 years—to trade and sail within the republic in the concession area between two meridians specified by the States General.

The western border was the meridian passing through the easternmost point of New Guinea, and the eastern border was the meridian passing through the Cape of Good Hope.

Letters of trade for the WIC

As was customary in other European countries, both companies were granted trade monopolies by the government. Other terms for this are charter or free trade charter.

Among other things, the WIC was granted a monopoly for South and North America. Plans included the fur trade, the Caribbean spice trade, and the African slave trade.

In addition to exclusive trading rights, the charter also included the right to seize land, wage war, administer the territory, and administer justice. This allowed a profit-oriented group of shareholders to act like the government of a nation. The inhabitants of the affected areas were neither consulted nor involved.

Economic competition with Spain, France, and England

At that time, Spain (around 1513, mainly through Ponce de Leon, from Florida), France (from around 1562) and England (Jamestown, Virginia, 1607) were already actively trading and colonising North America. The first Dutch explorations began with the Dutch East India Company. From 1609 onwards, an area comprising parts of the present-day states of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania was mapped.

Henry Hudson appears

The English captain Henry (in Dutch: Hendrick) Hudson (~ 1570 to presumably 1611, lost after a mutiny) explored the northern east coast of North America in the service of the VOC with the ship Halve Moen (Half Moon).

Bereits 1587 war er Teilnehmer einer englischen Expedition unter Kapitän John Davis gewesen, die einen nördlichen Seeweg nach Indien suchte, die sogenannte Nordwestpassage. Danach war er von 1607 bis 1609 Kapitän für die englische Muscovy Company im Russlandhandel.

He was also commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to search for this Northwest Passage in 1609.

He also mapped a river that the Mahican people living there called Mahicannituck (water that always flows). Hudson marked it on his map as Noord Rivier and later named it Mauritius Rivier in honor of Maurits van Nassau, Prince of Orange, one of the Heren XVII. Today, this river bears his name, Hudson River. Further north, he also explored an area in what is now Canada that we know as Hudson's Bay.

From Amsterdam to New Amsterdam

From 1612 onwards, regular trading voyages from Amsterdam to North America began, also through the VOC, starting with Captain Arnout Vogels.
Another captain named Adriaen Block was probably the first to use the name Nieuw Nederland (New Netherland) for the area between the French colony of Quebec (now Canada) and English Virginia in 1614. The fortified post of Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam) was also established that year.

Novum Amsterodamum 1650 (New Amsterdam) Painting by Laurens Block

The province of New Nederland gets its administrative structure

New Nederland was officially founded as a province in 1623, now by the West India Company.

Systematic settlement began in 1624. The settlers were mainly Walloons who had fled from the southern Netherlands, now Belgium, which was temporarily under Spanish rule at the time. Their motives were predominantly religious, as they did not want to accept the Roman Catholic faith demanded by the Spanish.

In 1624, New Amsterdam officially became the administrative seat for the province of New Netherland.

That is why the WIC purchased the island located between the Noort and Oost Rivers (Hudson River and East River) in 1626. The sellers were the Lenni Lenape, also known as the Delaware, who lived there. In their language, which belongs to the Algonquin language group, the island was called Manna-hata, meaning “hilly land.” The spellings vary, as the Lenni Lenape did not have a written language.

The myth of the Manhattan purchase

It is often said that Peter Minuit, the third governor or Director Generaal of the province of New Nederland from 1626 to 1632, purchased the island from the Canarse Band of the Lenni Lenape for 60 guilders. In today's purchasing power, that would be about 1,200 US dollars.

In fact, there is no conclusive documentation on how this trade was conducted.

Neither the archives of the former WIC in Amsterdam nor any surviving documents by or about Peter Minuit mention the purchase of Manhattan.

Only in the State Archives in The Hague is there a report dated November 5, 1626, written by Pieter Schagen. In it, he informs the Staten Generaal, i.e., the Dutch Congress, that Minuit has acquired the island of Manhattan for the WIC. The report contains no further details. At the time, Pieter Schagen was both a member of Congress and, as its representative, one of the Heren XIX, the governing body of the WIC.

We can safely assume that the Dutch had a different idea of land purchase than the Lenni Lenape. The idea that someone could own land was completely foreign to them. They probably assumed that they had merely granted the Dutch the right to use the island.

For us, the name Peter Minuit will always be associated with the purchase of Manhattan.

Peter Minuit, third Director-General of the Province of New Netherland

In 1626, he was sent to New Netherland with the task of developing other trade opportunities alongside the fur trade and investigating which items from the Netherlands could be profitably exported to New Netherland.

In 1626, he succeeded Willem Verhalst as Director-General and held this position until 1632.

The Dutch and the indigenous inhabitants

As with all white people who settled in North America, when discussing Dutch activities, one must also consider their relationship with the original inhabitants, the Native Americans.

Unlike the English, for example, Dutch enterprises were not aimed at colonization in the sense of gaining new habitat. The intention of the West India Company was trade, not the permanent settlement of farmers or craftsmen. The systematic extermination of the indigenous population carried out by the English settlers was alien to the Dutch, as they did not want their land, but their trade goods.

Henry Hudson lands at Verplanck Point, New York, in 1609 to trade with the indigenous population.

In 1648 alone, approximately 80,000 beaver pelts were traded in Manhattan. Very few Dutch trappers were involved in this trade; most of the pelts were traded by Native Americans.

Thus, the natives were seen by the WIC as exotic trading partners. The Dutch were not interested in their culture, nor in imposing the Dutch way of life on them, and certainly not any Christian religion. The explicit statement that missionaries were undesirable because they caused unrest in relations between Indians and whites can be found in various correspondence between the governors and the WIC headquarters in Amsterdam.

The Dutch therefore pursued a policy of live and let live without imperialist strategies.

However, one of the founders of the WIC, Willem Usselincx, presented a concept for colonization. But he was unable to get it accepted by the Heren XIX.

Conflicts in the shadow of the fur trade

The Native Americans living in the province, some of whom were Algonquin and some Iroquois, did not have peaceful relations with each other. Other European parties, primarily the English, also attempted to incite individual groups against the WIC.

It should not be assumed that the Dutch behaved in a tolerant and benevolent manner toward the indigenous population. Theft and breaches of contract on the part of the Native Americans usually resulted in punitive expeditions by the WIC.

Some chronicles report that Hendrick Hudson already behaved very arrogantly towards the Lenni Lenape. The unjustified war waged by the penultimate Director-General, Willem Kieft (1638 to 1647), against the Indians is another negative example.

Alcohol, especially jenever, was banned as a commodity by the West India Company. However, many traders did not comply with this ban, partly because demand from local trading partners was high.

Meanwhile in England – King Charles II

In 1658, following the death of Oliver Cromwell and the end of the short-lived republic, Charles II became king of England.

James, Duke of York, conquers Fort New Amsterdam

As already reported, King Charles II of England gave the territories administered by the Dutch to his brother James, Duke of York, who later became King James II himself.

He equipped four warships and ordered an attack on Fort New Amsterdam.

They placed trade far above politics and refused to support their governor.

Pieter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General

New Amsterdam becomes New York

Surrender is not the same as peace

However, the armed conflict did not end there and continued into the Second Anglo-Dutch War from 1665 to 1667. This war was fought outside North America, however. In the Treaty of Breda, the Dutch States General officially ceded all North American territories to England and in return received Suriname in South America, formerly known as Dutch Guiana.
The respective indigenous peoples were ignored by both sides and not involved.

List of the seven Dutch governors

The seven Dutch Directors-General were:

1. Cornelis Jacobszoon (from 1624 to 1625)
2. Willem Verhalst (from 1625 to 1626)
3. Peter Minuit (from 1626 to 1632)
4. Sebastiaen Jansen (from 1632 to 1633)
5. Wouter van Tuiller (from 1633 to 1638)
6. Willem Kieft (from 1638 to 1647)
7. Pieter Stuyvesant (from 1647 to 1664)

How can we imagine New Amsterdam?

In Stuyvesant's time, New Amsterdam probably closely resembled its Dutch model.

People lived and dressed like they did there.

New Year's Day in New Amsterdam 1636 by George Henry Boughton

The houses in the center were three stories high with narrow gabled fronts (a necessity in cramped Amsterdam, unnecessary in New Amsterdam, but due to the mindset of the homeland).

The street front was usually built of brick, while the side and rear walls were mostly made of wood.

The covered front doors high above street level with their steep open staircases, known as stoops, were also adopted from their Dutch homeland. Small windows and high stepped gables emphasized this impression.

During the Stuyvesant era, the population is estimated to have been around 1,500 white people, including approximately 600 Dutch and Walloons, around 300 Germans and the same number of English, as well as various other nationalities, primarily French, Spanish, and various Eastern Europeans.

A dark spot – the West India Company in the slave trade

Slave auctions were held regularly in New Amsterdam, as depicted here in Howard Pyle's painting “First Slave Auction 1655.”

Place names from New Amsterdam in present-day New York

Various place names in present-day New York have their origins in the Dutch colonial period, to name just a few examples:

Broadway began its existence as Breede Weg. Long Island was previously called Lange Eylandt. Brooklyn takes its name from Broke Lande, meaning broken land. Bowery comes from Bouwerij, meaning farm or estate. The Bronx is reminiscent of the merchant Jonas Bronck, Block Island of the captain and surveyor Adriaen Block. Yonkers comes from de Jonker's Land, where this Junker was the lawyer van de Donck, a political opponent of Pieter Stuyvesant.

What became of the West India Company?

In contrast to the VOC, the WIC is largely forgotten today, even in the Netherlands. Its original headquarters, the West-Indisch-Huis on Herenmarkt in Amsterdam, is now used by the John Adams Institute, which is dedicated to cultural exchange between the Netherlands and the USA.

The building dates back to 1617 and was originally a wholesale meat market on the ground floor and the headquarters of the civil guard on the floors above.

From 1623 to 1647, it was leased to the WIC administration. The latter then moved out for financial reasons in order to save on the rent for an administrative building. The administration offices were integrated into the large warehouse complex on the IJ, the West-Indisch Pakhuis, which still exists today.

The VOC was dissolved in 1798.

The WIC underwent restructuring in 1674; this is also referred to as the 2nd WIC. Until its dissolution in 1791, it was once again heavily involved in the trade of African slaves.

This article is based on a chapter from the book Spotlights On American History (2021 tredition Verlag).

Wolf H. Reblin – Beaver Creek Pioneer