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Introduction
Despite the constant wars, the XVII-th century was very good for the economy of the Netherlands. Netherlands merchants dominated the European markets, the Baltic and Mediterranean seas, in Germany and the UK. Squeezing Antwerp, Amsterdam became the center of European trade. Dutch fishing vessels predominated in the North Sea.
In the late XVI – early XVII-th century Dutch sailors made a lot of geographical discoveries in Asia, North America and Australia, which marked the beginning of the period of colonial conquest. Thanks to the enterprising East and West India Company Republic invaded the colony in Southeast Asia (starting with the capture of the Portuguese possessions) and in America. Founded in 1602 the Netherlands East India Company enjoyed a monopoly of trade in the Indian and Pacific oceans, it competed with the British and sent large shipments of spices and other exotic goods to Europe.
On behalf of the General States of the Netherlands, East India Company had the right of declaring war and concluding peace, could build cities and fortress, coin money, enter into treaties with the native authorities, appoint officials in the colonies. Huge profits were of great importance for the accelerated economic growth in the country. Netherlands West India Company was originally engaged in the slave trade and the seizure of Spanish and Portuguese ships. It invaded large areas of Brazil, several West Indian islands. The strong points of this company are located in settlements in the Caribbean Sea and in the colony of New Netherlands. (Burrows, 2000, p78)
From the history of Manhattan
In 1626 the Indians sold the island of Manhattan to Dutch settlers for 60 guilders. And in April of 1624 Florentine navigator on his ship “Dauphin” sailed into the mouth of the North River and the Indians met the explorer very friendly.
Fearing a storm, the sailor went to the sea and he saw a fresh stream flowing into the sea. This stream, flowing through the Staten Island, then got great fame: all the sailors knew it and called it “the place where the water”. Probably this became the first European visit to the island of Manhattan, which later grew into the city of New York.
After the Florentine, the banks of the island were visited by several sailors, and in 1609 G. Hudson, the English sailor employed by the East India Company was contracted to explore the legendary Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. His ship went up the North River, which now bears the name of the navigator. Five years later a map with the first engraved borders of the island of Manhattan appeared, and since 1625 the island is systematically visited by the Dutch merchants. The sailors and merchants were the first settlers of the island, they built log cabins, and the settlement itself was called New Netherlands. (Sanderson, 2009, p124)
In 1626 the island has got its first governor, Peter Ming, famous for his legendary deal: he “bought” the island from gullible Indians for a few knives, bright trinkets and blankets – a total cost of 60 guilders.
New Amsterdam and economical peculiarities
The fort of New Amsterdam became the center for New Netherlands, it was located on the southern tip of Manhattan. The fort had four bastions with a garrison of 60 soldiers, and only on the island, there was a population of about 500 people, speaking 18 different languages. Inside the fort, there was a stone church, Governor’s House, warehouses and barracks. By the mid-century, the buildings of the New Amsterdam went beyond the bounds of the fort, and although the East India Company was prohibited from selling land in private ownership, the settlers took it without permission. (Burrows, 2000, p96)
In the southern part of Manhattan Island, there were a lot of creeks, swamps and stones, but the settlers were accustomed at home to the reclamation, drained their plots, and made the drainage channels. Some settlers simply moved to neighbor islands.
Over some time, New Amsterdam stood out among other trade settlements and became the administrative center of the New Netherlands. Around it, there are other settlements, and in 1639 on the eastern side of the bay, there was founded a village, which became the area of Brooklyn later. Three years later, the Dane Johannes Bronk, moving from the island across Harlem, lived on the mainland, where he began to grow tobacco (later this evolved the Bronx). In 1643 the first settlement appeared on the territory of modern Queens, and in another 20 years – on Staten Island.
Life in the city was not safe. The attacks of settlers against the Indians initiated a war between them, and then the governor had to defend the city and he built around a wooden defensive wall, which cut the southern tip of the island. However, this wall was more of a symbolic significance, as the townspeople constantly pulled down the planks to repair their homes, as well as for their heating. As a result, the end of XVII-th century on the place of finally demolished wall future of Wall Street appeared.
Conclusion
The colony of New Amsterdam did not bring the expected revenue among its inhabitants and gradually there appeared apathy and confusion, and by the early 1660-ies the colony actually went into bankruptcy. When the rivalry between Holland and England in the sea trade routes grew into an undeclared war, ruined New Amsterdam in 1664, without the slightest resistance capitulated to the British fleet. The same year, the English King Charles II gave to his brother Jacob, Duke of York and Albany, the part of the lands of New Netherlands, it was then New Amsterdam and was renamed in honor of its new owner to New York.
References
Burrows, E., &Wallace, M. (2000). Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. Oxford University Press: USA.
Sanderson, Eric W. , Boyer, M. (2009). Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City. Abrams: 1St Edition edition.
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