New Netherland settlements
{{short description|Colonial American settlements}}
{{New Netherland}}
New Netherland (Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch) was the 17th century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory was the land from the Delmarva Peninsula to southern Cape Cod. The settled areas are now part of the Mid-Atlantic states of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, with small outposts in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Its capital of New Amsterdam was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan on the Upper New York Bay.
The region was initially explored in 1609 by Henry Hudson on an expedition for the Dutch East India Company. It was later surveyed and charted, and was given its name in 1614. The Dutch named the three main rivers of the province the Zuyd Rivier (South River, now the Delaware River), the Noort Rivier (North River, now the Hudson River), and the Versche Rivier (Fresh River, now the Connecticut River). They intended to use them to gain access to the interior, the indigenous population, and the lucrative fur trade.
International law required discovery, charting, and settlement to perfect a territorial claim. Large scale settlement was rejected in favor of a formula that was working in Asia of establishing factories (trading posts with a military presence and a small support community). This period is sometimes referred to as the Dutch Golden Age, despite on-going wars on the European continent, and it was difficult to recruit people to leave the economic boom and cultural vibrancy of Europe. Mismanagement and under-funding by the Dutch West India Company hindered early settlement, as well as misunderstandings and armed conflict with Indians. Liberalization of trade, a degree of self-rule, and the loss of Dutch Brazil led to exponential growth in the 1650s. Transfers of power from the Netherlands to England were peaceful in the province, the last one formalized in 1674.
Forts and Factorijen
{{main article|Forts of New Netherland}}
The first of two Forts Nassau was built in Mahican territory during the first decade, where commerce could be conducted with Indians, and factorijen (small trading posts) went up at Schenectady, Schoharie, Esopus, Quinnipiac, Communipaw,{{cite web
| title = The English and Dutch Towns of New Netherland
| work = American Historical Review Vol. 6 No. 1 (Oct. 1900), pp1‑18
| publisher = penelope.uchicago.edu (University of Chicago)
| url =https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/AHR/6/1/English_and_Dutch_Towns_of_New_Netherland*.html
| access-date = 2011-12-15}} Ninigret, Totoket,The Dutch set up a trading post at the mouth of the Branford River in the 1600s, the source of the name "Dutch Wharf." {{cite web |url=http://www.branfordct.com/guide_history.htm |title=Branford Chamber of Commerce, Branford Connecticut |access-date=2006-06-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20060626090236/http%3A//www.branfordct.com/guide_history.htm |archive-date=2006-06-26 }} Branford Chamber of Commerce Schuykill, and elsewhere. Trapper Jan Rodrigues is believed to have been the first non-Indian to winter on the island of Manhattan in 1613.
Nut Island
{{main article|Governors Island}}
The States General of the Dutch Republic awarded the newly formed Dutch West India Company a trade monopoly for the region in 1621, and New Netherland became a province of the Dutch Republic in 1624. The South River was initially chosen as the site of the capital because the colonists felt that it had the best climate. However, summer humidity, mosquitos, and winter freezing made the North River more appealing. A number of ships brought settlers to the New World, at first to Noten Island and soon after to the tip of Manhattan, and the colonists began construction of Fort Amsterdam, around which the colony began to grow. Small groups of the early arrivals were dispersed to Fort Orange, to Fort Wilhelmus, or to Kievets Hoek, but those who went to Fort Wilhelmus and Kievets Hoek were later recalled. Among those who made the crossing were many Walloons and 11 Africans as company-owned slaves.
Patroonships
{{main article|Patroon|Rensselaerswyck|Zwaanendael Colony|Pavonia, New Netherland}}
In 1629, the Dutch West India Company introduced the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions, a series of inducements commonly known as the patroon system. Invested members could receive vast land patents and manorial rights, somewhat reminiscent of a feudal lord, if they were willing to fulfill certain conditions, including transporting and settling at least 50 persons. A number of attempts were made, but the only notable success was the Manor of Rensselaerswyck.{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4068/ |title = Freedoms, as Given by the Council of the Nineteen of the Chartered West India Company to All those who Want to Establish a Colony in New Netherland |website = World Digital Library |date = 1630 |access-date = 2013-07-28 }} Pavonia, across the river from New Amsterdam, was returned to the company and became a company-managed holding. In 1640, company policy was changed to allow land purchases by individuals in good standing.
South River
{{see also|New Sweden}}
{{see also|New Amstel}}
Another patroon patent was Zwaanendael Colony later named by the British, Lewes, Delaware (the town is still known as such), the first Dutch colonial settlement on the Zuyd Rivier (Delaware Bay), but it was plundered soon after its founding in 1631.{{Cite web|url=https://history.delaware.gov/museums/zm/zm_main.shtml|title=State of Delaware - Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs - Zwaanendael Museum|website=history.delaware.gov}} After 1638, settlement was mostly in New Sweden, and these were brought under New Netherland control in 1655 when Fort Casimir was built. In 1663, Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy attempted to create a utopian settlement in the region, but it expired under English rule.Bart Plantegna. (April 2001) "[http://www.mcusa-archives.org/MHB/Plantenga-Plockhoyt.htm The Mystery of the Plockhoy Settlement in the Valley of Swans] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221043517/http://www.mcusa-archives.org/mhb/Plantenga-Plockhoyt.htm |date=2010-12-21 }}". Mennonite Historical Bulletin.
Fresh River (Connecticut)
{{see also|Connecticut Colony|New Haven Colony}}
The Dutch established a short-lived factorij trading post at Kievits Hoek (or Plover's Corner) in present-day Old Saybrook, Connecticut, shortly after constructing their first settlement on the island of Manhattan. They abandoned it soon after, however, in order to focus on the trading post at Fort Goede Hoop on the Connecticut River, which was completed in 1633. The Dutch also had a trading post and possible fort at the mouth of the Branford River in Branford, Connecticut, which still contains a wharf called "Dutch Wharf."{{Cite web|url=https://livingplaces.com/CT/New_Haven_County/Branford_Town/Branford_Point_Historic_District.html|title=Branford Point Historic District, Branford Town, New Haven County, Branford CT, 06405|website=livingplaces.com}}{{Cite journal | title=The Archaeology of 17th-Century New Netherland Since 1985: An Update | author=Paul R. Huey | journal=Northeast Historical Archaeology |volume=34 | url=https://orb.binghamton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1083&context=neha}} Soon after, settlers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony formed the Connecticut Colony in 1636,{{Cite web|url=https://www.langeonline.com/Webster/webster1.html|title=Gov. John Webster|website=www.langeonline.com}} and the New Haven Colony in 1638. Petrus Stuyvesant attempted to prevent further competition for the area and agreed to a border 50 miles west of the river in the Treaty of Hartford (1650). This did not stem the flow of New Englanders to Long Island and the mainland along Long Island Sound, however.
North River
{{main article|New Amsterdam}}
{{see also|History of Brooklyn|History of Albany, New York|Rondout, New York|Bergen, New Netherland}}
The port called the Manhattans grew up at the mouth of the North River (Hudson River). New Amsterdam was the capital of the province and received its municipal charter in 1652; this included the isle of Manhattan, Staaten Eylandt, Pavonia, and the Lange Eylandt towns, including Gravesend, Breuckelen, and Nieuw Amersfoort.
A municipal charter was also granted to Beverwijck in 1652, which had grown from a trading post to a bustling town in the midst of Rensselaerswyck.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/beverwyck.html |title=Beverwyck |access-date=2009-01-03 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202414/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/beverwyck.html |url-status=dead }} In 1657, the homesteads scattered along the west bank of the Hudson Valley in Esopus country were required to build a garrison that became the province's third largest town of Wiltwijk.
The Dutch Belt
Colonial settlers spread throughout the region after the final transfer of power to the English with the Treaty of Westminster (1674), establishing many of the towns and cities that exist today.{{Cite web |url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/E/newnetherlands/nlxx.htm |title=From Revolution to Reconstruction: Essays: The United States of America and the Netherlands: Index |access-date=2009-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518074217/http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/E/newnetherlands/nlxx.htm |archive-date=2011-05-18 |url-status=dead }} The Dutch Reformed Church played an important role in this expansion.{{Cite web | url=http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc09/htm/iv.vii.c.htm | author=Schaff, Philip | title=Reformed (Dutch) Church | via=The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedeia of Religious Knowledge}} Settlers followed the course of the Hudson River in the north via New York Harbor to the Raritan River in the south along what George Washington called the "Dutch Belt".*Lucas Litchenberg, De Nieuwe Wereld van Peter Stuyvesant: Nederlandse voetsporen in de Verenigde Staten, {{ISBN|90-5018-426-X}}, NUGI 470, Uitgeverij Balans, 1999
Demographics
Population estimates do not include Native Americans.
- 1628: 270
- 1630: 300
- 1640: 500
- 1650: 800 {{Cite web|url=http://www.kbr.be/america/nl/nl22.html|title=Joan Blaeu, Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova}}-1,000
- 1664: 9,000 {{Cite web|url=https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Netherlands.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713064126/http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Netherlands.html|url-status=dead |title=A Brief Outline of Dutch History and the New Netherland Colony|archivedate=July 13, 2009|website=www.coins.nd.edu}}
List of settlements
File:Castle Island and Fort Orange Albany, New York 1629.jpg and Castle Island]]
File:Manatvs gelegen op de Noot Riuier.jpg (c. 1639) Manhattan situated on the North Rivier]]
File:Map-Novi Belgii Novæque Angliæ (Amsterdam, 1685).jpg
File:Delaware Bay Vinckeboons 14.jpg, 1639]]
File:Kartskiss över Nya Sverige.png
File:Stad Amsterdam in Nieuw Nederland (City Amsterdam in New Netherland) Castello Plan 1660.jpg
Reformed Congregations pre-1776 (selection)
File:HackensackChurchOnTheGreen.jpg]]
File:ReformedChurchofTappan 2007 02.jpg]]
File:Tarrytown Old Dutch Church crop.JPG]]
- 1683 - New Pfaltz {{Cite web|url=http://www.reformedchurchofnewpaltz.org/history|title=New Paltz Reformed Church - Church History|website=www.reformedchurchofnewpaltz.org}} (Huguenot)
- 1684 - Sleepy Hollow
- 1686 - Hackensack{{Cite web|url=https://academized.com/njchurchscape-com|title=New Jersey Churchscape|website=academized.com}}
- 1693 - Acquackanonk{{Cite web |url=http://www.jerseyhistory.org/findingaiddirnb.php?dir=EAD%2Ffaid1000&aid=mg0644 |title=New Jersey Historical Society |access-date=2018-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624035750/http://www.jerseyhistory.org/findingaiddirnb.php?dir=EAD%2Ffaid1000&aid=mg0644 |archive-date=2016-06-24 |url-status=dead }} in Passaic
- 1694 - Tappan{{Cite web|url=http://www.tappantown.org/index.html|title=Tappantown Historical Society|website=www.tappantown.org}}
- 1699 - Brick in Marlborohttp://www.oldbrickchurch.org/history.html{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- 1700 - Second River in Belleville
- 1703 - Six Mile Run{{Cite web|url=http://www.sixmilerun.org/history.cfm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728025423/http://www.sixmilerun.org/history.cfm|url-status=dead|title=Our Historic Church – Six Mile Run Reformed Church|archivedate=July 28, 2011}}
- 1710 - Ponds[http://www.pondsreformedchurch.org/ Home] in Oakland
- 1716 - Claverack
- 1716 - Fishkill{{Cite web | title = Our History | publisher = Frishkill Reformed Church | url = http://www.fishkillreformed.org/Our%20History.html | access-date = 2011-07-27 | quote = By 1716 they wanted their own Dutch Reformed church so they would not have to cross the river to Kingston or New Paltz to worship. In that year two congregations were established on October 10th: one in Poughkeepsie and one in Fishkill. Poughkeepsie's church building was finished in 1723 | archive-date = 2011-07-26 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110726055916/http://www.fishkillreformed.org/Our%20History.html | url-status = dead }}
- 1716 - Poughkeepsie
- 1717 - New Brunswick[http://blog.firstreformedchurch.net/ First Reformed Church — New Brunswick, New Jersey] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120707052814/http://blog.firstreformedchurch.net/ |date=2012-07-07 }}
- 1717 - Schaghticoke {{Cite web |url=http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/na/sgtke.html |title=Schaghticoke |access-date=2009-01-12 |archive-date=2009-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420210151/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/na/sgtke.html |url-status=dead }}
- 1719 - North Branch{{Cite web|url=https://readingtonreformed.org/rrc|title=Readington Reformed Church|first=Readington Reformed|last=Church|website=Readington Reformed Church}}
- 1720 - Fairfield{{Cite web | title = A Brief History of Fairfield Reformed Church | url = http://churches.rca.org/fairfield/history.htm | access-date = 2011-07-27 }}
- 1723 - Herkimer{{Cite web|url=http://threerivershms.com/oldfortherkimer1.htm|title=Old Fort Herkimer Church, First Settlers|website=threerivershms.com}} (German Palatines)
- 1724 - Schraalenburgh now Dumont
- 1725 - Paramus{{Cite web | title = Paramus Reformed Church | publisher = New Jersey Churchscape | url = http://www.njchurchscape.com/Ridgewood%20Old%20Paramus%20Reformed.html | access-date = 2011-07-27 }}
- 1725 - Stone Arabia in Palatine (German Palatines){{cite web | url=http://www.fortklock.com/StoneArabia.htm | title=Stone Arabia Reformed Church }}
- 1727 - Harlingen{{Cite web|url=https://harlingenchurch.org/|title=Harlingen Church |}}
- 1731 - Rhinebeck{{Cite web|url=http://www.frontiernet.net/~rhinebeckreformed/|title=Index of /~rhinebeckreformed|website=www.frontiernet.net}}
- 1736 - Pompton Plains
- 1740 - Ramapo in Mahwah
- 1750 - Canajoharie{{Cite web|url=http://www.fortklock.com/greenech4.htm|title=Three Rivers - The Story of Old Fort Plain and the Middle Mohawk Valley| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124072933/http://www.fortklock.com/greenech4.htm | archive-date=2010-11-24}}
- 1750 - Clarkstown[http://www.dutchdoorgenealogy.com/dutch_reformed_church_records_clarkstown_new_york.html Dutch Reformed Church Records Clarkstown New York]
- 1755 - Totowa {{Cite web|url=http://www.lambertcastle.org/Dutch_churches.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219010811/http://www.lambertcastle.org/Dutch_churches.html|url-status=dead|title=The Reformed Dutch Churches of Paterson, NJ (1930) - Passaic County Historical Society|first=Annita|last=Zalenski|archivedate=December 19, 2015|website=www.lambertcastle.org}} in Paterson
- 1756 - Schodack
- 1756 - Montvlle{{cite web |url=http://mrcchurch.org/id11.html |title=Montville Reformed Church History |access-date=2011-05-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125101447/http://mrcchurch.org/id11.html |archive-date=2009-01-25 }}
- 1758 - Caughnawaga now Fonda{{Cite web |url=http://www.fondareformedchurch.org/history.htm |title=History |access-date=2009-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828045629/http://www.fondareformedchurch.org/history.htm |archive-date=2008-08-28 |url-status=dead }}
- 1758 - New Hackensack{{Cite web|url=http://nhrc-church.org/|title=New Hackensack Reformed Church|website=nhrc-church.org}} in Town of Wappinger
- 1758 - Bedminster
- 1763 - Betlehem
- 1765 - Ghent
- 1770 - English Neighborhood, now RidgefieldBeck, Henry Charleton, Tales and Towns of Northern New Jersey, Rutgers University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8135-1019-4}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a2ahXkwF2O8C&dq=henry+charles+beck+places+and+towns+of+northern+New+jersey&pg=PA82|title=Tales and Towns of Northern New Jersey|first=Henry Charlton|last=Beck|date=June 1, 1983|publisher=Rutgers University Press|via=Google Books}}
- 1774 - Kakiat now West New Hempstead[http://www.dutchdoorgenealogy.com/dutch_reformed_church_marriage_records_kakiat_west_new_hempstead_new_york.html Marriage Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of Kakiat West New Hempstead New York 1774-1898]{{Cite web|url=http://maddiesancestorsearch.blogspot.com/2011/01/kakiat-rockland-co-ny-dutch-reformed.html|title = Maddie's Ancestor Search: Kakiat, Rockland Co., NY, Dutch Reformed Church Records: Part 1|date = 20 January 2011}}
- 1776 - Hillsdale{{Cite web|url=https://usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/columbia/hill/hiskrumchr.htm|title=THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF HILLSDALE|website=usgennet.org}}
See also
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
Sources
- [http://www.ristenbatt.com/genealogy/dutch_ch.htm Dutch Reformed Church Records]
- [http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc09/htm/iv.vii.c.htm History of Dutch Reformed Church]
- [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycoloni/nntmaps.html Colonial Maps]
- {{cite book |last=Jacobs |first=Jaap |title=New Netherland: A Dutch Colony In Seventeenth-Century America |year=2005 |publisher=BRILL | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uex2budtSOUC&pg=RA1-PA136 |isbn=90-04-12906-5 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/19990218090641/http://home.eznet.net/%7Edminor/NYNY1630.html NNL chronology]
{{Dutch colonies}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Netherland Settlements}}
Category:Colonial settlements in North America
Category:History of the Thirteen Colonies
Category:Former Dutch colonies
Category:1614 establishments in the Dutch Empire
Category:1674 disestablishments in the Thirteen Colonies
Category:1670s disestablishments in the Dutch Empire
Category:1674 disestablishments
Category:Populated places established in the 17th century
Category:Dutch-American culture in New Jersey