The Island at the Center of the World
Russell Shorto

This book is an excellent account of the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, which of course we now know as New York City. We all know how the story of how the Dutch bought Manhattan Island from the Indians for $24, and how the city was once known as New Amsterdam, but beyond that, my knowledge of the early history of the Dutch settlement there was nearly zero. Apparently I was not alone in my ignorance; I picked up a compact history of North America in Costco the other day, and there was absolutely no mention of the Dutch influence in the settlement of this great land.

As the author points out, this lack of notice in the history books is not because the colony made no important contributions to America, but for a couple of very major reasons: first, it was taken over by the English, and the English writers of history tend to credit the Pilgrims as the true founding fathers, and secondly, because practically all the records of the original Dutch colony, some 80,000 pounds of documents, were sold for scrap paper by the Dutch government in 1821. Still, tantalizing documents and bits of evidence continue to emerge, some as recently as a few years ago, that shed light on the important role that the Dutch played in shaping what was to become the United States of America.

The end of the sixteenth century was truly an age of exploration. The Spanish and Portuguese empires that had had their way with South America and the East Indies for almost a century were in decline, while the English and Dutch were becoming more and more powerful. When Spain and Portugal closed the port of Lisbon to Dutch traders in 1580, the Dutch loaded their merchant ships with cannon and shot, and sailed for the East Indies. Though the voyage took over a year, they arrived with guns blazing, and captured the Portuguese military trading posts in Java, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula, converting that part of the world to a new trading empire, and giving rise to the Dutch East India Company.

Europe in the early seventeenth century was a land of nobles and commoners, and the aristocrats were determined to keep it that way. But something strange seemed to be happening in the Dutch provinces. Foreign visitors complained that it was “impossible to tell the difference between a city magistrate and a simple shopkeeper”. Although Amsterdam had a few grand houses, most of the well to do lived in more modest homes. The Dutch also seemed to get along quite well without fleets of servants. Even a wealthy family might have only one or two. In Amsterdam, power belonged not to noble families, but to businessmen and local officials. In the Dutch provinces, more than any other place in Europe, smart, hard-working men were able to rise in stature. To quote the author, “Today [upward mobility] is a byword of a healthy society; in the seventeenth century it was weird.”

Perhaps the most striking difference between the Dutch provinces and the rest of Europe in the age of monarchies was that in contrast to the systems of England, France and Spain, the government formed by the seven united Dutch provinces was not a monarchy, but a Republic. The Dutch were disdainful of monarchy and ostentation. They believed in hard work, personal modesty, and earning an honest living. Although they were united with England in their opposition to Catholic Spain, they thought that the English preoccupation with witches was crazy.

Another characteristic of the Dutch of the time was tolerance. Religious and class differences did not interfere with commerce, and Dutch society was not closed to those with wildly different beliefs. Even the Pilgrims, in their escape from religious persecution in England, spent twelve years in Holland before moving on to the New World.

Henry Hudson was the English navigator who first explored the region around New York and for whom Hudson Bay and the Hudson River are named. He was once employed by the Muscovy Company, an English trading company principally interested in opening a new route to China. Hudson was a respected and experienced skipper who was determined to discover a northwest passage to Asia, but after two unsuccessful voyages for the Muscovy Company, they let him go. Almost immediately, however, the Dutch, who were also looking for a northern route to China, approached him and he was given a ship, crew, and orders to sail northeast in search of a passage to the Orient.

Hudson was no doubt grateful to have another chance to become famous, but not grateful enough to obey orders. Convinced that the fabled passage lay to the west, he took advantage of favorable winds and sailed for North America. He made landfall somewhere near Newfoundland, then sailed south for six weeks to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Hudson knew that he was close to the English settlement at Jamestown, but probably feeling that his Dutch ship would not be welcome there, and knowing that the area south of Jamestown had already been explored, he turned north and began to explore the coast.

He soon reached Delaware Bay, the first European ever to do so, but determined that the river was too small and shallow to represent a passage to the Far East. So he continued north, up the coast of what was then a dark and virtually unknown continent. Entering what is now New York Harbor, he noted the broad river and it's high banks, and probably thought it had the potential to be a channel to the Far East. He sailed upriver as far as possible, noting the peaceful natives, the agricultural possibilities of the land, and the abundance of furs, but when the river eventually became too shallow, it became clear that it was not the sought after passage. Hudson then sailed back down the river, no doubt disappointed that he had again failed to discover a new route to the Far East. His journal refers to a side of the river known as “Manna-hata” but it is not clear if he even knew that it was an island.

When the reports of his voyage reached his Dutch employers, their eyes lit up at the mention of the fine harbor and the abundance of pelts. Russia had been supplying furs to England and Holland for fifty years, and the demand was outstripping the supply. Furthermore, the Dutch had been unable to crack the French fur monopoly in Canada.

Hudson's voyage presented an immediate opportunity for the Dutch to set up a trading post in a virgin part of the new world, and enjoy a new and unrestricted supply of furs. So the Dutch claimed the territory that Hudson had explored, a vast area encompassing the systems of three rivers, later to be known as the Hudson, the Delaware, and the Connecticut. They called the new territory “New Netherland”.

So the Dutch came to the new world not to colonize, but to do business. Even so, it took 14 years after Hudson's voyage for them to organize and fund the Dutch West India Company, and to get serious about settling the area. The company planned to exploit the area for furs and timber, and to establish a trading hub that would attract ships trading in South America and the Caribbean to New Amsterdam before they set sail for home in Europe.

Since Amsterdam was probably the most comfortable place in Europe at the time, and New Amsterdam promised to be among the most uncomfortable in the world, it was hard for the company to recruit Dutch settlers willing to travel to the new settlement. Consequently, the first European settlers in New York were primarily Walloons, French-speaking refugees from what is now Belgium. They were offered land in exchange for six years of service, and were recruited in equal numbers, so that there was a woman for every man and a man for every woman. Mostly illiterate young country kids, they were accustomed to hard work and poor conditions, so they were well suited for what lay ahead.

In its natural state, Manhattan Island was a place of clear streams and abundant wildlife. The Indians were peaceful, and there was plenty of fish and game. The first settlers missed their hogs and dairy cows, but those were not long in coming. Once the original settlers began to write letters praising their new home, it became easier to interest other Dutch citizens in becoming settlers.

Although it became quite prosperous over the next 40 years, the West India Company never reinvested enough of the profits in the settlement itself, and never fortified it adequately. With the English presence growing larger and stronger in New England, it was only a matter of time before New Amsterdam fell to the superior armed strength of the English.

In 1664, King Charles of England granted his brother, James, Duke of York, vast tracts of land in the new world, including all of those claimed by the Dutch. The Duke quickly assembled a small fleet and sent it to New Amsterdam to demand the surrender of the colony. Without a fleet or a realistic way to defend the settlement, its last governor, Peter Stuyvesant, declined to resist, and New Netherland fell without siege or bloodshed.

For me, the great lesson of this book is that the Dutch colony set Manhattan on a course of tolerance and free trade, qualities totally absent in the English colonies of Virginia and New England. Though much is made in history of our “Puritan Fathers”, the religious settlements of New England were notorious for their narrow attitudes and intolerance of those who did not subscribe to their strict religious doctrine. Indeed, many of the settlers of what was to become New York ended up there because they and their families found themselves unwelcome in the New England colonies.

So what remains of the Dutch colony that so briefly inhabited Manhattan? One doesn't have to look far to find a rich legacy. Wall Streetis the site of the defensive wall built by the original settlers. Over the years the names of the Burroughs that make up today's greater New York have been anglicized, but not enough to hide their origins. “Breuckelen” has become Brooklyn. “Vlissingen” is now known as Flushing. “Vlacenbos” is Flat bush. The former plantation of Jonas Bronck is now The Bronx. Adriaenn Van der Donck, one of the most important men in the city's history, was a Dutch squire, or “Jonker”. His plantation was always referred to as “the Jonker's place”. Now it's simply called “Yonkers”. “Nieuw Haarlem” is now just Harlem. The village of “Greenwyck” is now Greenwich Village. Governor Peter Stuyvesant' farm, or “bouwerie” is now The Bowery.

The significance of the Dutch colony didn't just evaporate after the English takeover in 1664. As late as the middle of the following century, English officials were seeking Dutch translators to deal with the local Indians, since Dutch was the only European language that the tribes understood. And of course, many of the great families of modern America, names like Van Buren, Roosevelt, and Vanderbilt, trace their origins to New Netherland.

Ever wonder why folks in Britain eat “biscuits”, while we Americans call them “cookies”? It's because the Dutch bakeries in New Amsterdam baked a small cake called a “koekje”. And don't bother to look for coleslaw on the menu during your next visit to England. Now one of America's most common menu items, its origin is the Dutch “koolsla” and it was introduced to America in New Amsterdam.

Another word – baas – Dutch for “master”, has transplanted especially well, and no Americanism is more American – or more New York, than “the boss”. And speaking of The Boss, even though Bruce Springsteen is a New Jersey icon, New Jersey was part of the Dutch colony, and there were Springsteens among the original Dutch settlers of New Netherland.

After the Dutch surrendered the colony to them, the English found that many of the Dutch institutions worked especially well, and they left them in place. A good example of this is the Dutch system of justice, which includes an official known as a “Schout” or public prosecutor. The English system had no such official, but the English governor recognized the usefulness of the position, and left it alone. The position remains to this day, in an office we now refer to as the District Attorney.

Still another Dutch custom that has thrived in the ensuing centuries is the tradition of St. Nicholas. Originally celebrated by the Dutch in early December, it didn't take long for the non-Dutch kids of New Amsterdam to realize that they were missing out on something good. Parents were pressured and the Dutch tradition was gradually adopted by all, and ultimately pushed ahead a couple of weeks to coincide with the Christmas festival. And so “Sinterklaas” began his American odyssey.

Fred