History

Eye witness account of the English takeover of New Amsterdam:
(recently discovered, courtesy Leiden University)

Schenectady in Nieuw Nederland, den 5 Oktober 1664

Original Dutch: 
Voort soo laet ijck ul weeten dat daer drie engelse Schepen gecomen sijn aen de mijnatus met soldaten ende hebben het lant op geeijst ende seggen dat het haer conijn  toe comt ende stuuesant  heeft het ouer gegeuen soonde[r] eens te schieten met accoort maar de engelse soldaten seggen dat stuuesant ende decker het lant ouer twe ijaer al vercoft hebben. op den 28 september sijnder hondert soldaten meet haer offe sijers ende sijn met accoort ijn het fort oranien  gegaen ende ijn het wacht huijs ende de engelsee houden nu de wacht sij hebben een goet accort gemaeckt als de engelse het maer behouden maer wij hoopen dat de hollanders comen sallen ende haer het lant wederom af sallen nemen […]  sij hebben het accoort gemaeckt dat daer noch schepen uijt hollant moogen koomen met haer koomen schap.
Heinderick Meessen Vrooman

 


Schenectady, October 5th 1664 
Furthermore I let you know that three English ships have come to Manhattan with soldiers and they claimed the land and said that it belongs to their king and Stuyvesant has has given it with consent, without even shooting. The English soldiers say that Stuyvesant and de Decker have sold the land already two years ago. On the 28th of September a hundred soldiers with their officers went into Fort Orange with approval and in the guardhouse. And the English now stand watch there. The English made a good deal, if they can keep it. But we hope that the Dutch will come again and retake the land from them. The English made a deal that no ships from Holland may come into the harbor with her business.
Heinderick Meessen Vrooman




New Netherland, or Nieuw -Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod. The settled areas are now part of the Mid-Atlantic States of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The provincial capital, New Amsterdam, was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan on upper New York Bay.

The colony was conceived as a private business venture to exploit the North American fur trade. During its first decades, New Netherland was settled rather slowly, partially as a result of policy mismanagement by the Dutch West India Company (WIC), and conflicts with Native Americans. The settlements of New Sweden developed on its southern flank and its northern border was re-drawn in recognition of early New England expansion. During the 1650s, the colony experienced dramatic growth and became a major port for trade in the North Atlantic. The surrender of Fort Amsterdam to English control in 1664 was formalized in 1667, contributing to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. In 1673 the Dutch re-took the area, but later relinquished it under the 1674 Treaty of Westminster ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The inhabitants of New Netherland were Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans, the latter chiefly imported as enslaved laborers. Descendants of the original settlers played a prominent role in colonial America. For two centuries New Netherland Dutch culture characterized the region (today's Capital District around Albany, the Hudson Valley, western Long Island, northeastern New Jersey, and New York City). The concepts of civil liberties and pluralism introduced in the province became mainstays of American political and social life.