Slide 4 of 14
Notes:
Let me take you briefly back to 1609. In that year Henry Hudson sailed to the Americas for the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch had intensified their trade with the East Indies and were now sarching for a quicker, less dangerous way. Hudson tried to find a passage through America. Two of his attempts, a bay and a river, (which he called the North River) were not successful. It will not come as a surprise to you that Hudson did not succeed at all in finding this passage. However, the Dutch were informed that the North River area had much potential for trade and colonisation. The Heeren Zeventien (Lords Seventeen), the people in control of the Dutch East India Company, were not immediately convinced, but a few Amsterdam merchants heard of it and became interested. This marks the beginning of the Dutch involvement in the colonisation of North America. Both sides of the North River (Hudson River) including Long Island and Manhattan became known as New Netherland. Dutch, Swedes and English were the first inhabitants of settlements, or fortresses, like Beverwijck and New Amsterdam. (New York). The Dutch rule of New Netherland ended in 1664, when its last governor, Peter Stuyvesant handed the colony over to the English.
