A windmill dominated the Manhattan skyline
When I toured Ellis Island and the US Federal Bank vaults,
before starting my writing career, I did not know the origins of New York’s
distinctive traits. The financial capital and historic ‘melting pot’ was originally
a Dutch colony, called Amsterdam in the New Netherlands or New
Amsterdam. The Republic established the settlement in 1624, to protect the Dutch
West India Company’s fur trade and establish a foothold on the coast already home
to English Puritans and Pilgrims.
As with its namesake on the River Amstel, New Amsterdam
welcomed migrants fleeing poverty and persecution elsewhere. French Huguenots
and Norwegian Lutherans were among the first to raise families there. By 1643, records
show 18 languages were spoken in the original streets.
Manhattan became an island of opportunity as settlements
spread north from its southern tip. In his book Amsterdam, Russell Shorto
tells the story of Joris and Catalina, who rented a cow when they arrived, and
went on buy land for a hamlet which subsequently grew into Brooklyn.
The British took the settlement after the Restoration, as part
of Charles II plan to bring order to the mainly Cromwell-supporting colonies. Although
renamed New York, after the King’s brother, the city maintained its reputation
business and finance and trade, and welcoming immigrants. The Holland Society of
New York, founded in 1885, continues to preserve the memory of its origins. About – Holland Society
Karen Haden’s historical crime novel Naming the Dead, set in early 1600s Amsterdam, is available from Sharpe Books on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at Karen Haden Books