Dutch settlement in the Americas
Following the exploration of the American East Coast by Henry Hudson on behalf of the Dutch East India Company in 1609, Dutch settlement in the Americas started in 1613. From then on a number of villages, including New Amsterdam on the East Coast, which would become the future world metropolis of New York City, were established by Dutch immigrants. According to the 2000 United States Census, more than 5 million Americans claim total or partial Dutch heritage. Today the majority of the Dutch Americans live in Michigan, California, Montana, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Idaho, Utah, Iowa, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Dutch presence in the present-day territory of the United StatesEarly explorationBecause of huge losses of trade ships on their long routes circumnavigating the African Cape, the so-called "
spice trade" with the Dutch East Indies was very dangerous and of high risk for sailors, and for investors providing resources to commission and equip a vessel, and provide trade goods. The individual traders that had bid against each other for over a century thus realised that greater profit and a better distribution of the risk could be attained by joining forces, which led to the world's first corporate, publicly traded multinational firm, the VOC, founded in 1602. This took away the biggest financial risk, but the long and dangerous voyage remained. To reduce this risk as well, many explorers sought a northern passage, not knowing of its then-impossibility due to ice blockage. Returning, however, from another failed expedition to find a northern route to the Pacific Ocean, the first Dutch vessel arrived at what is now New York Harbor.
In 1602, Dutch government chartered the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC) with the mission of exploring a passage to the Indies and claiming any uncharted territories for the Dutch Republic. The first Dutchmen to come to the Americas were explorers under the command of the English captain Henry Hudson (himself in Dutch service) who arrived in 1609 and mapped what is now known as the Hudson River on the ship De Halve Maen. Their initial goal was to find an alternative route to Asia, but they found good farmland and plenty of wildlife instead.
Oldest Dutch settlement Principal Dutch colonies in North AmericaThe earliest Dutch settlement was built around 1613, it consisted of a number of small huts built by the crew of the "
Tijger" (Tiger) a Dutch ship under the command of Captain Adriaen Block which had caught fire while sailing on the Hudson in the winter of 1613. The ship was lost and Block and his crew established a camp ashore. In the spring, Block and his men did some explorations along the coast of Long Island. Block Island still bears his name. Finally, they were sighted and rescued by another Dutch ship and the settlement was abandoned.
Seventeenth-century migrationIn 1629, Dutch officials tried to expand the northern colony through a plan that promised "
Liberties and Exemptions" to anyone who would ship fifty colonists to America at his own expense. Anyone who did this would be allowed to buy a stretch of land along the Hudson from the Dutch West India Company of about twelve miles, extending as far inland as the owner wanted. These landowners were called patroons and had complete jurisdiction over their domains as well as extensive trading privileges. They also received these rights in perpetuity. In this way, a form of feudalism, which had vanished in the Dutch Republic, was introduced in North America. The Patroonships were not a success; by 1635, the Dutch West India Company had bought back four of the five patroon ships originally registered in Amsterdam.
The Indians were, at this time, no longer consulted or offered/asked to sell their lands and the Dutch were confronted with a new phenomenon: Indian raids. As the local tribes had now realized that the Dutch were not simply visitors but people set to take over their land.
The Dutch realized that they had gone with the wrong approach as they offered great privileges to wealthy citizens instead of the poor ones. It was not until 1656 that the Dutch state abandoned its passivity and decided to actively support New Netherland. The Dutch state issued a proclamation which stated that "
all mechanics and farmers who can prove their ability to earn a living here shall receive free passage for themselves, their wives and children".
The result of all this was an increase in population from an estimated 2,000 in 1648 to 10,000 in 1660. Although the New Netherland were Dutch, only about half the settlers were ethnically Dutch (the other half consisted mainly of Walloons and French Huguenots), and Manhattan grew increasingly multicultural. The rural areas, however, remained overwhelmingly Dutch for over two centuries. In 1664, the English seized the colony and renamed it New York. The Dutch briefly recaptured the colony, but during peace talks decided (under English pressure) to trade it for Suriname in South America which was more profitable.
Eighteenth and nineteenth-century migrationIn the hundred years of British rule that followed the change of ownership of New Netherland, Dutch immigration to America came to an almost complete standstill. The only major group of organized settlers after the British takeover were a colony of two hundred Dutchmen and women who founded what is now Germantown in 1683.
Most of these settlers were Quakers who had come over in response to the appeal of William Penn. Penn, himself a Dutch Briton (his mother being from Rotterdam), had paid three visits to the Netherlands, where he published several pamphlets. Germantown is now generally thought to be of German origin, but it remained almost exclusively Dutch until the beginning of the eighteenth century. Only then did German immigration gain momentum, and soon dominated the area.
During the early nineteenth century, large numbers of Dutch farmers, forced by high taxes and low wages, started immigrating to America. They mainly settled down in the Midwest, especially Michigan, Illinois and Iowa. In the 1840s, Calvinist immigrants desiring more religious freedom immigrated. West Michigan in particular has become associated with Dutch American culture, and the highly conservative influence Dutch Reformed Church, centering on the cities of Holland and (to a lesser extent) Grand Rapids.
Typical Dutch homestead in Northeast Wisconsin, circa 1855Waves of Catholic Dutch emigrants, initially encouraged in the 1840s by Father Theodore J. Van den Broek, emigrated from southern Netherlands to form communities in Wisconsin, primarily to Little Chute, Hollandtown, and the outlying farming communities. Whole families and even neighborhoods left for America. Most of these early emigrants were from villages near Uden, including Zeeland, Boekel, Mill, Oploo and Gemert.
The Dutch economy of the 1840s was stagnant and much of the motivation to emigrate was economic rather than political or religious. The emigrants were not poor, as the cost of passage, expenses and land purchase in America would have been substantial. They were not, however, affluent and many would have been risking most of their wealth on the chance of economic improvement. There were also political pressures at the time that favored mass emigrations of Catholics.
Twentieth-century migrationA significant number of Dutchmen emigrating to the USA after World War II arrived from Indonesia via the Netherlands. After Indonesia, formerly known as the Dutch East Indies, gained independence its Indo-European (Eurasian) population known as Indies Dutchmen (Dutch: Indische Nederlanders) repatriated to the Netherlands. Around 60,000 continued their diaspora to the USA. This particular group is also known as Dutch-Indonesians, Indonesian-Dutch, or Amerindos.
"Nine tenths of the so called Europeans (in the Dutch East Indies) are the offspring of whites married to native women. These mixed people are called Indo-Europeans… They have formed the backbone of officialdom. In general they feel the same loyalty to Holland as do the white Netherlanders. They have full rights as Dutch citizens and they are Christians and follow Dutch customs. This group has suffered more than any other during the Japanese occupation.” Official US Army publication for the benefit of G.I.’s, 1944.
These Dutch Indos mainly entered the U.S.A. under legislative refugee measures and were sponsored by Christian organizations such as the Church World Service and the Catholic Relief Services. An accurate count of Indo immigrants is not available, as the U.S. Census classified people according to their self-determined ethnic affiliation. The Indos could have therefore been included in overlapping categories of "country of origin”, “other Asians," "total foreign”, “mixed parentage”, "total foreign-born” and “foreign mother tongue". However the Indos that settled in the USA via the legislative refugee measures number at least 25,000 people.
The original post-war refugee legislation of 1948, already adhering to a strict 'affidavit of support' policy, was still maintaining a colour bar making it difficult for Indos to emigrate to the USA. By 1951 American consulates in the Netherlands registered 33,500 requests and had waiting times of 3 to 5 years. Also the Walter-McCarren Act of 1953 adhered to the traditional American policy of minimizing immigrants from Asia. The yearly quota for Indonesia was limited to a 100 visas, even though Dutch foreign affairs attempted to profile Indos as refugees from the alleged pro-communist Sukarno administration.
The 1953 flood disaster in the Netherlands resulted in the Refugee Relief Act including a slot for 15,000 ethnic Dutch that had at least 50% European blood (one year later loosened to Dutch citizens with at least 2 Dutch grandparents) and an immaculate legal and political track record. In 1954 only 187 visas were actually granted. Partly influenced by the anti-Western rhetoric and policies of the Sukarno administration the anti-communist senator Francis E. Walter pleaded for a second term of the Refugee Relief Act in 1957 and an additional slot of 15,000 visas in 1958.
In 1958 the Pastore-Walter Act (Act for the relief of certain distressed alliens) was passed allowing for a one off acceptance of 10,000 Dutchmen from Indonesia (excluding the regular annual quota of 3,136 visas). It was hoped however that only 10% of these Dutch refugees would in fact be racially mixed Indos and the American embassy in The Hague was frustrated with the fact that Canada, where they were more strict in their ethnic profiling, was getting the full blooded Dutch and the USA was getting Dutch "all rather heavily dark". Still in 1960 senators Pastore and Walter managed to get a second two-year term for their act which was used by a great number of Dutch Indos.
Dutch influence on the United StatesDuring the American war of Independence the Dutch were active allies of the American rebels. From the island of Sint Eustatius they gave the Thirteen colonies one of the few opportunities to acquire arms. In 1778, British Lord Stormont claimed in parliament that "
if Sint Eustatius had sunk into the sea three years before, the United Kingdom would already have dealt with George Washington".
The Dutch were the first to salute the flag, and therefore the first to acknowledge the independence of, the United States on 16 November 1776.
The Louisiana Purchase, also known as the "
Great Land Acquisition", of 1803, is often seen as one of the most important events in American history after the Declaration of Independence. At the time it had a total cost of $15.000.000,- and it was financed in three ways. First of all by a down payment of $3.000.000,- in gold by the US government, and then two loans, one by the London-based Barings Bank, and one by
the Amsterdam based Hope Bank. The original receipt still exists and is currently property of the Dutch
ING Group, which has its headquarters in Amsterdam.
According to tradition, in 1626 Peter Minuit obtained the island of Manhattan from the Indians in exchange for goods with a total value of 60 guilders ($24); most aspects of the story have been called into question by experts. Minuit, a Walloon, was employed by the Dutch West India Company to manage its colony of New Amsterdam, the future New York. The names of some other settlements that were established still exist today as boroughs and neighborhoods of New York: Brooklyn (Breukelen), Staten Island (named after the Dutch parliament, the 'Staten Generaal'), Harlem (Haarlem), Coney Island (Konijnen Eiland, means Rabbit Island) and Flushing (Vlissingen) .
At least five American presidents had Dutch ancestry:
Martin van Buren, was the eighth President of the United States. He was a key organizer of the Democratic Party and the first president who was not of English, Irish, Scottish, or Welsh descent. He is also the only president not to have spoken English as his first language, but rather grew up speaking Dutch.
Theodore Roosevelt, was the 26th President of the United States. Roosevelt is most famous for his personality; his energy, his vast range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his “cowboy” persona. In 1901, he became President after the assassination of President William McKinley. Roosevelt was a Progressive reformer who sought to move the Republican Party into the Progressive camp.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, was the 32nd President of the United States. Elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. A central figure of the twentieth century, he has consistently been ranked as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents in scholarly surveys.
George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, were the 41st and 43rd Presidents of the United States respectively. They count members of the Schuyler family and the related Beekman family among their ancestors.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands%E2%80%93United_States_relationsen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_history_of_the_Dutch_Republicen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Streeten.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmen_Jansen_Knickerbockeren.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Knickerbockeren.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Schuyler
