New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America (The Atlantic World) (The Atlantic World)

This volume covers the history of the Dutch colony New Netherland on the North American continent. Based on extensive research of archival material on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, much of which has not been previously used, this work provides the most complete overview yet of a colony that has been generally neglected by historians. The chapters deal with themes such as patterns of immigration, government and justice, economy, religion, social structure, material culture, and mentality of the colonists. This book will be very useful not just for students of Dutch colonial history, but also for scholars in early American history. The Dutch involvement in North America started after Henry Hudson, sailing under a Dutch flag in 1609, traveled up the river that would later bear his name. The Dutch control of the region was short-lived, but had profound effects on the Hudson Valley region. In The Colony of New Netherland, Jaap Jacobs offers a comprehensive history of the Dutch colony on the Hudson from the first trading voyages in the 1610s to 1674, when the Dutch ceded the colony to the English. As Jacobs shows, New Netherland offers a distinctive example of economic colonization and in its social and religious profile represents a noteworthy divergence from the English colonization in North America. Centered around New Amsterdam on the island of Manhattan, the colony extended north to present-day Schenectady, New York, east to central Connecticut, and south to the border shared by Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, leaving an indelible imprint on the culture, political geography, and language of the early modern mid-Atlantic region. Dutch colonists' vivid accounts of the land and people of the area shaped European perceptions of this bountiful land; their own activities had a lasting effect on land use and the flora and fauna of New York State, in particular, as well as on relations with the Native people with whom they traded. Sure to become readers' first reference to this crucial phase of American early colonial history, The Colony of New Netherland is a multifaceted and detailed depiction of life in the colony, from exploration and settlement through governance, trade, and agriculture. Jacobs gives a keen sense of the built environment and social relations of the Dutch colonists and closely examines the influence of the church and the social system adapted from that of the Dutch Republic. Although Jacobs focuses his narrative on the realities of quotidian existence in the colony, he considers that way of life in the broader context of the Dutch Atlantic and in comparison to other European settlements in North America. "This volume covers the history of the Dutch colony New Netherland on the North American continent. Based on extensive research of archival material on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, much of which has not been previously used, this work provides the most complete overview yet of a colony that has been generally neglected by historians. The chapters deal with themes such as patterns of immigration, government and justice, economy, religion, social structure, material culture, and mentality of the colonists. This book will be very important not just for students of Dutch colonial history, but also for scholars in early American history."--BOOK JACKET Contents 8 Preface 10 Glossary 16 List of Abbreviations 18 Introduction 22 Chapter One 'A Blessèd Country, where Milk and Honey Flow' 28 Chapter Two 'The Peopling of Such Empty and Unfurnished Lands' 66 Chapter Three 'The Exercise of Justice and Government' 116 Chapter Four 'The Trade, that Really Concerns us' 212 Chapter Five 'God's Church and Honor Should be Cared for' 284 Chapter Six 'Each According to his Condition, State, and Circumstances' 348 Chapter Seven 'In Such a Far Distant Country, Separated from all the Friends' 424 Conclusion 496 Appendixes 504 List of Archival Sources 516 Bibliography 528 Illustrations 554 Index 578 This volume covers the history of the Dutch colony New Netherland on the North American continent, dealing with themes such as the patterns of immigration, government and justice, the economy, religion, social structure, material culture, and mentality of the colonists. By Jaap Jacobs. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [507]-532) And Index.