52 A HISTORY OF AMERICA IN 100 MAPS
We generally think of New York as an English
settlement, but this overlooks its earlier Dutch
history. In 1609 the Englishman Henry Hudson
contracted with the Dutch to search for a Northwest
Passage by sailing up the river that later bore his
name. The New Netherland Company sent another
explorer a few years later to claim all territory
between Virginia and New England as “New
Netherland.” In 1624 the Dutch began to settle a
small part of that as “New Amsterdam.” Yet the
English never recognized these Dutch claims.
The claims of the Dutch were indeed tenuous,
for New Netherland was sandwiched between more
densely populated English colonies to the north and
south. Moreover, the colony was primarily geared
to the fur trade, making it less densely settled
than other coastal colonies. The short supply of
Dutch settlers drove the West India Company to
invite Belgians, English, French, Germans, and
Scandinavians into the colony. This also enhanced its
tolerant culture, which was home to Puritans as well
as Catholics. To make up for a labor shortage, the
Dutch also began to import slaves. By the 1660s, free
and enslaved blacks made up nearly a quarter of the
local population of 1,500 Europeans, 300 slaves, and
75 free blacks.
Ongoing conflict with the English on the seas led
to the “conquest” of New Amsterdam by the English.
Once restored to the throne, King Charles II granted
New Netherland—and the island of Manhattan—to
his brother James. This exuberant map was drawn
by Commodore Robert Holmes to commemorate
England’s seizure of the island. The map is oriented
horizontally, with north at lower left. Holmes used
lively color and a bird’s-eye approach to celebrate this
new English colony, now renamed in honor of James,
duke of York. He crowded the rivers and harbors with
English warships to mark the moment in September
1664 when his and other British squadrons forced
the Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant to surrender to
Colonel Richard Nicolls. Holmes himself arrived in
the harbor from the African coast, where he had been
fighting the Dutch for control of the slave trade. Soon
the English would displace the Dutch in West Africa,
just as they had in North America.
I’LL TAKE MANHATTAN
Robert Holmes, “A Description of the
Towne of Mannados or New Amsterdam
as it was in September 1661,” 1664