During the early part of the seventeenth century, the
English focused on developing their colonies in New England and the
Chesapeake, thereby largely neglecting the land between the two
settlements. So, the Dutch and the Swedes began to settle the
mid-Atlantic region along the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. After the
Restoration, Charles II and James II hoped to build the power of the
English monarchy by expanding their overseas empire at the expense of
the Dutch. By the early 1680s, the English had turned New Netherland
into several proprietary colonies, including New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and Delaware. In the years after the English takeover, the
middle colonies became the most diverse and fastest-growing region in
North America.
5.4.1 The Dutch in the New World
After the Dutch asserted their independence from
Spain in the late sixteenth century, the Netherlands set up a republican
government. Unlike other European nations at the time, the Dutch
allowed both intellectual and religious freedom. Soon, dissidents from
other countries flocked to the tiny nation along the North Sea. The
liberal government, coupled with the immigration, made the country a
powerful force in Europe as well as in the race for overseas empire. The
Dutch also expanded their navy in an attempt to attack Spanish and
Portuguese trade. After the founding of the Dutch East India Company
(DEIC), the Dutch became the primary shippers of spices from Asia,
slaves from Africa, and sugar from the Americas.
Initially, the Netherlands focused on
establishing its control over the carrying trade. Like the other sea
powers, it hoped to find an alternate route to Far Eastern markets. In
1609, the DEIC sent Henry Hudson to the New World to find the Northwest
Passage. Hudson sailed into the Delaware Bay and the North River, known
later as the Hudson River. He realized, of course, that neither inlet
was the Northwest Passage, but he recorded the possibilities for fur
trading and farming. Hudson also established a friendly relationship
with the Iroquois Nations. Following these discoveries, the DEIC sent
several expeditions to explore the land and trade with the Iroquois.
Dutch merchants also persuaded the government to charter the New
Netherland Company to handle the fur trade.
By 1614, the company established a trading post,
Fort Nassau, near present-day Albany. From there, traders travelled by
canoe westward toward the Great Lakes and northward toward the St.
Lawrence River. The New Netherland Company possessed a monopoly over the
trade; however, the government opted not to renew the charter in 1618.
Soon, merchants formed the Dutch West India Company (DWIC). In 1621, the
Dutch government granted it a broad charter. Subsequently, the company
had the authority to trade and settle anywhere in America as well as to
govern new territories as it saw fit. Thus, the company could appoint
officials, make laws, administer justice, make war, and negotiate
treaties.
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At the outset, the DWIC did not plan to colonize
in the New World. Rather, it hoped to continue the lucrative fur trade.
Company officials believed they could keep costs down and discourage
illegal trade if they did not establish permanent settlements. For
several years, their plan worked. The DWIC then decided permanent
settlements would help protect the fur trade from English and French
piracy. It sent the first settlers in late 1624. The company recruited
Protestants from the Spanish Netherlands to populate their colony
because it thought these Protestants, or Walloons, had the stamina and
work ethic to survive pioneer life.
Under the direction of Cornelius May, the
migrants built Fort Orange on the Hudson River to replace Fort Nassau,
which had been destroyed by constant flooding. They also established a
new Fort Nassau on the Delaware River. Under the direction of Peter
Minuet, they settled New Amsterdam at the mouth of the Hudson River. The
DWIC told Minuet not to expel the Indians with violence; it did not
want the fur trade interrupted. In 1626, Minuet purchased Manhattan
Island for sixty guilders from the local Indians. New Amsterdam
subsequently served as a major seaport and seat of government for New
Netherland. The colony shared the mother country’s religious toleration,
but not its liberal republican government.
