THE FIRST TRADERS on the ISLAND
For several years after the return of Hudson, Dutch merchants sent their
ships to the Island of Manhattan, and each ship returned to Holland
laden with costly furs which the Indians had traded for glass beads and
strips of gay cloth. The Indians cared a great deal more for glittering
glass and highly colored rags than they did for furs.
One trader above all others whose name should be remembered, was Adrian
Block. He came in a ship called the Tiger. This ship was anchored in the
bay close by what is now called the Battery, and directly in the course
that the ferry-boats take when they go to Staten Island.
[Illustration: Indians Trading for Furs.]
On a cold night in November it took fire and was burned to the water's
edge. Block and those who were with him would all have been burned to
death had they not been strong and hardy men who were able to swim
ashore in the ice-cold water. Even when they reached the shore they were
not safe, for there were no houses or places of shelter; the winter was
coming on, and the woods were filled with wild beasts. But Block and his
men very soon built houses for themselves; rude and clumsy buildings to
look at, but warm and comfortable within. They were the first houses of
white men on the Island of Manhattan. If you wish to see where they
stood, take a walk down Broadway, and just before you reach the Bowling
Green, on a house which is numbered 41, you will find a tablet of brass
which tells that Block's houses stood on that self-same spot.
As soon as the hard winter was over, Block and his men began to build a
new ship, and before another winter had come they had one larger than
the Tiger. It was the first vessel to be built in the new world, and was
called the Restless.
That same year the Dutch merchants decided that they were giving too
many glass beads for the furs, and that if all the merchants combined
into one company they might not have to give so many. So they did
combine, and called themselves the United New Netherland Company. It
was in this way that the name New Netherland first appeared.
When the first ships of the new company reached the island, a house was
built for the use of the fur-traders, just south of where the Bowling
Green Park is. This structure was called Fort Manhattan. It was of
wood, and did not take long to build because the traders did not intend
to live in it a great while. They felt quite sure that all the furs
would be collected in a few years, and that then the island would be
abandoned. No one thought at that time that the little wooden stockade
was the commencement of a great city.
But after a few years it was found that the new country was a much
richer place than had been supposed. Shipload after shipload of otter
and beaver skins were sent across the ocean and still there were otters
and beavers without number. The fur-traders were growing rich, and after
a few years there came a decided change, when a new company was formed
in Holland; a great body of men this time, who had a vast amount of
money to build ships and fit them out. This organization was the West
India Company, and was to battle with Spain by land and by sea (for the
Netherlands was at war with Spain) and was to carry on trade with the
West Indies, just as the East India Company carried on trade with the
East Indies. As the West Indies included every country that could be
reached by sailing west from Holland, you will see that all the Dutch
land in America, which land was called New Netherland, came under the
control of this new company.
The territory called New Netherland was the country along the Atlantic
Ocean which now makes up the States of New Jersey, New York, and
Connecticut. But its limits at this time were uncertain as it extended
inland as far as the Company might care to send their colonists.
Within a few years, the seventy ships sailing under the flag of the West
India Company, fought great battles with the Spaniards, and won almost
every one of them. There were branches of the Company in seven cities of
Holland, and the branch in Amsterdam had charge of New Netherland. So it
will be only of the doings of this branch that we shall read. Colonists
were to be carried to New Netherland from Holland; farms were to be laid
out and cultivated; cities were to be built, and the West India Company
was to have absolute control over all, and was to rule all the people.
To do these things they had authority from the States-General of
Holland, which was the name given to the men who made the laws for that
country. The Company was to make regular reports to the States-General,
and tell of the growth of the colony and the progress of the people in
it. But as the years went on the Company was not as particular as it
should have been about what it told the States-General.
[Illustration: Hall of the States-General of Holland.]
It was not until the West India Company took charge of New Netherland
that it was decided to make the settlement on the Island of Manhattan a
city. Up to this time it had been merely a trading station. In order to
build up a city, the Company knew that it would be necessary to send
people in sufficient numbers so that no matter how many were killed by
the Indians the settlement would not be wiped out. Many inducements were
offered, and men with their families soon began to flock to New
Netherland. With the ship that brought the first families was Cornelius
Jacobsen May, who was to live on the Island of Manhattan and look after
affairs for the Company. Rude houses were set up about the fort, and the
first street came into existence. This is now called Pearl Street.
Cornelius Jacobsen May cared for the colony for less than a year, when
his place was taken by William Verhulst. Before the year was out,
Verhulst decided that the new country never would suit him, and he
sailed away to Holland. Then came in his place, in the year 1626, Peter
Minuit, under appointment as the first Dutch Governor of New Netherland.
[Illustration: Seal of New Netherland.]