Dutch colonization of the Americas
In 1602, the government of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands chartered the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie), or VOC with the mission of exploring it for a passage to the Indies and claiming any uncharted areas for the United Provinces, which led to several significant expeditions. The two Dutch settlements in the Americas are, New Netherlands and New Amsterdam.
In 1609, the VOC commissioned English explorer Henry Hudson who, in an attempt to find the so-callednorthwest passage to the Indies, discovered and claimed for the VOC parts of the present-day United States and Canada. In the belief that it was the best route to explore, Hudson entered the Upper New York Bay sailing up the Hudson River which now bears his name. In 1614, Adriaen Block led an expedition to the lower Hudson in the Tyger, and then explored the East River aboard the Onrust, becoming the first known European to navigate the Hellegat enter Long Island Sound. Block Island and its sound were named after him. Upon returning, Block compiled a map, the first to apply the name "New Netherland" to the area between English Virginia and French Canada, where he was later granted exclusive trading rights by the Dutch government.
After some early trading expeditions, the first Dutch settlement in the Americas was founded in 1615: Fort Nassau, on Castle Island in the Hudson, near present-day Albany. The settlement served mostly as a trade post for fur trade with the natives and was later replaced by Fort Oranje (in English: Fort Orange) at present-day Albany. Both forts were named in honor of the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau.
In 1621, a new company was established with a trading monopoly in the Americas and West Africa: theDutch West India Company (Westindische Compagnie or WIC). The WIC sought recognition for the area in the New World – which had been called New Netherland – as a province, which was granted in 1623. Soon after, the first colonists, mostly from present-day Belgium and Germany, arrived in the new province. That same year the construction of several fortified trading posts began including the Fort Huys de Goede Hoop (in English, Fort House of Good Hope), now known as Hartford, Connecticut.
In 1626, Director-General of the WIC Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from Indians and started the construction of fort New Amsterdam. In the same year, another Fort Nassau (not the one near Albany) was built on theDelaware River in southern New Jersey. Other settlements were Fort Casimir (Newcastle) and Fort Beversrede(Philadelphia). Fort Huys de Goede Hoop was completed in 1633. By 1636, the English from Newtown now known as Cambridge, Massachusetts settled on the north side of the Little River, now buried under the Whitehead Highway of Hartford. By 1653, the English had overtaken this Dutch trading post. In 1655, the main settlement of New Sweden, Fort Christina, was captured after the Swedes had briefly occupied Fort Casimir.
Many of the inhabitants of these settlements were not ethnically Dutch, but came from a variety of other European countries. A significant number of immigrants to New Netherland were Protestants of English or French Huguenotbackground, including the Louis Dubois colony, which settled New Paltz, making a private treaty with the local Native Americans to purchase a large tract of land from the Hudson River to the mountains. Later, under English rule, this self-governing colony, ruled by Dubois and 11 others on their unique duzine, continued to prosper and today the village boasts the oldest street in North America with the original stone houses.
In 1664, English troops under the command of the Duke of York and Albany (later James II of England) attacked the New Netherland colony. Being greatly outnumbered, Director-General Peter Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam, with Fort Orange following soon. New Amsterdam was renamed New York (from James's English title), Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany (from James's Scottish title).
The loss of the New Netherland province led to the Second Anglo–Dutch War during 1665–1667. This conflict ended with the Treaty of Breda in which the Dutch gave up their claim to New Netherland in exchange for Suriname.
From 1673 to 1674, the territories were once again briefly captured by the Dutch in the Third Anglo–Dutch War, only to be returned to England at the Treaty of Westminster. In 1674, Dutch navy captain Jurriaen Aernoutsz also briefly captured two forts in the French colony of Acadia, which he claimed as the Dutch territory of New Holland. However, Aernoutsz's appointed administrator, John Rhoades, quickly lost control of the territory after Aernoutsz himself left for Curaçao to seek out new settlers, and with effective control of Acadia remaining in the hands of France, Dutch sovereignty existed only on paper until the Netherlands surrendered their claim in the Treaties of Nijmegen.
