Dutch and Indigenous Communities in Seventeenth-Century Northeastern North America

Description

This volume of essays by historians and archaeologists offers an introduction to the significant impact of Dutch traders and settlers on the early history of Northeastern North America, as well as their extensive and intensive relationships with its Indigenous peoples. Often associated with the Hudson River Valley, New Netherland actually extended westward into present day New Jersey and Delaware and eastward to Cape Cod. Further, New Netherland was not merely a clutch of Dutch trading posts: settlers accompanied the Dutch traders, and Dutch colonists founded towns and villages along Long Island Sound, the mid-Atlantic coast, and up the Connecticut, Hudson, and Delaware River valleys. Unfortunately, few nonspecialists are aware of this history, especially in what was once eastern and western New Netherland (southern New England and the Delaware River Valley, respectively), and the essays collected here help strengthen the case that the Dutch deserve a more prominent position in future history books, museum exhibits, and school curricula than they have previously enjoyed.

The archaeological content includes descriptions of both recent excavations and earlier, unpublished archaeological investigations that provide new and exciting insights into Dutch involvement in regional histories, particularly within Long Island Sound and inland New England. Although there were some incidences of cultural conflict, the archaeological and documentary findings clearly show the mutually tolerant, interdependent nature of Dutch-Indigenous relationships through time. One of the essays, by a Mohawk community member, provides a thought-provoking Indigenous perspective on Dutch–Native American relationships that complements and supplements the considerations of his fellow writers. The new archaeological and ethnohistoric information in this book sheds light on the motives, strategies, and sociopolitical maneuvers of seventeenth-century Native leadership, and how Indigenous agency helped shape postcontact histories in the American Northeast.
List of Abbreviations

Introduction
Lucianne Lavin

1. Henry Hudson Goes Ashore on Castle Hill
Shirley W. Dunn

2. Sources Relating to Dutch-Indian Relations
Charles T. Gehring

3. Declarations of Interdependence: The Nature of Native–Dutch Relations in New Netherland, 1624–1664
Stephen T. Staggs

4. Building Forts and Alliances: Archaeology at Freeman and Massapeag, Two Native American Sites
Anne-Marie Cantwell and Diana diZerega Wall

5. Mohawk and Dutch Relations in the Mohawk Valley: Alliance, Diplomacy, and Families from 1600 to the Two Row Treaty Renewal Campaign
Paul Gorgen

6. The Dutch and the Wiechquaeskeck: Shifting Alliances in the Seventeenth Century
Marshall Joseph Becker

7. Early Seventeenth-Century Trade in Southern New England
Kevin A. McBride

8. Roduins: A Dutch Fort in Branford, Connecticut
John Pfeiffer

9.The Fresh River and the New Netherland Settlement: "House of Good Hope"
Richard Manack

10. Dutch–Native American Relationships in Eastern New Netherland (That's Connecticut, Folks!)
Lucianne Lavin

Bibliography
Contributors
Index

Sujets

• États-Unis
• Regional
• History of the Americas
• Indigenous peoples
• Region
• Local history
• United States of America
• USA

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438483184
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

DUTCH AND INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NORTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA
DUTCH AND INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NORTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA

What Archaeology, History, and Indigenous Oral Traditions Teach Us about Their Intercultural Relationships

Edited by
Lucianne Lavin
Cover Image: L. F. Tantillo. Curiosity of the Magua. Mohawk warriors approach the ship of Arent Van Curler , 1650. Oil on canvas. 26″ x 38″. © L. F. Tantillo
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lavin, Lucianne, editor.
Title: Dutch and indigenous communities in seventeenth-century northeastern North America : what archaeology, history, and indigenous oral traditions teach us about their intercultural relationships / Lucianne Lavin.
Description: Albany : State University of New York, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020048642 (print) | LCCN 2020048643 (ebook) | ISBN 9781438483177 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438483184 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: New Netherland—History. | Indians of North America—Northeastern States—History—17th century. | Indians of North America—Northeastern States—Government relations. | Dutch—New York (State)—History—17th century. | Dutch—New England—History—17th century. | Excavations (Archaeology)—Northeastern States. | Ethnohistory—Northeastern States.
Classification: LCC F122.1 .D87 2021 (print) | LCC F122.1 (ebook) | DDC 974/.02—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020048642
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020048643
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to the Institute for American Indian Studies Museum and Research Center (Washington, Connecticut) and its staff, whose strong ethic of research and public education initiated, encouraged, and affected its production.
Contents
L IST OF A BBREVIATIONS
I NTRODUCTION
Lucianne Lavin
C HAPTER 1 Henry Hudson Goes Ashore on Castle Hill
Shirley W. Dunn
C HAPTER 2 Sources Relating to Dutch-Indian Relations
Charles T. Gehring
C HAPTER 3 Declarations of Interdependence: The Nature of Native–Dutch Relations in New Netherland, 1624–1664
Stephen T. Staggs
C HAPTER 4 Building Forts and Alliances: Archaeology at Freeman and Massapeag, Two Native American Sites
Anne-Marie Cantwell and Diana diZerega Wall
C HAPTER 5 Mohawk and Dutch Relations in the Mohawk Valley: Alliance, Diplomacy, and Families from 1600 to the Two Row Treaty Renewal Campaign
Paul Gorgen
C HAPTER 6 The Dutch and the Wiechquaeskeck: Shifting Alliances in the Seventeenth Century
Marshall Joseph Becker
C HAPTER 7 Early Seventeenth-Century Trade in Southern New England
Kevin A. McBride
C HAPTER 8 Roduins: A Dutch Fort in Branford, Connecticut
John Pfeiffer
C HAPTER 9 The Fresh River and the New Netherland Settlement: “House of Good Hope”
Richard Manack
C HAPTER 10 Dutch–Native American Relationships in Eastern New Netherland (That’s Connecticut, Folks!)
Lucianne Lavin
B IBLIOGRAPHY
C ONTRIBUTORS
I NDEX
Abbreviations
ASG Archive of the States-General (in NA ).
DRCHNY John Brodhead, Edmund O’Callaghan, and Berthold Fernow, ed., Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York , 15 vols. Albany: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1853–83.
FOCM Charles T. Gehring, trans. and ed., Fort Orange Court Minutes, 1652–1660. Syracuse, NY: New Netherland Document Series, vol. 16, part 2, 1990.
HNAI Bruce Trigger, ed., Handbook of North American Indians , vol. 15, Northeast. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978.
JMOC Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna, trans. and ed., A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634–1635: The Journal of Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1988.
NNN John Franklin Jameson, ed., Narratives of New Netherland, 1609–1664. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909.
NYCM New York Colonial Manuscripts (in NYSA).
NYHM Arnold J. F. van Laer, trans. and ed., Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1638–1642. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vol. 1. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1974.
Arnold J. F. van Laer, trans. and ed., Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1642–1647. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vol. 2. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1974.
Arnold J. F. van Laer, trans. and ed., Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1648–1660. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vol. 3. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1974.
Arnold J. F. van Laer, trans. and ed., Council Minutes, 1638–1649. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vol. 4. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1974.
Charles T. Gehring, trans. and ed., Council Minutes, 1652–1654. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vol. 5. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1983.
Charles T. Gehring, trans. and ed., Council Minutes, 1655–1656 . New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vol. 6. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1995.
Charles T. Gehring, trans. and ed., Correspondence, 1647–1653 . New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vol. 11. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University, Press, 2000.
Charles T. Gehring, trans. and ed., Correspondence, 1654–1658 . New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vol. 12. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University, Press, 2003.
NYHS New York Historical Society, New York.
NYSA New York State Archives, Albany.
NYSL New York State Library, Albany.
ORA Oudrechterlijke archieven van het Kwartier van Veluwe, deel II Het platteland in het Gelders Archief.
VWIS Verspreide West-indische Stukken.
VOC Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or the Dutch East India Company.
WIC West India Company.
Introduction
T he purpose of this book is to introduce its readers to the significant impact of Dutch traders and settlers on the early history of Northeastern North America, and their extensive and intensive relationships with its Indigenous peoples. Few people know that New Netherland extended well beyond the Hudson River Valley, westward into present-day New Jersey and Delaware and eastward to Cape Cod. Even fewer realize that Dutch settlers accompanied the Dutch traders. New Netherland was not just a loose linking of Dutch trading posts. Dutch colonists founded villages and towns along Long Island Sound, the mid-Atlantic coast, and up the valleys of the Connecticut, Housatonic, Hudson, and Delaware Rivers. Their daily routines brought them into frequent contact with their Native American neighbors. Although altercations and violence did occur, in general the relationships resulted in Dutch-Indigenous interdependence that enhanced living standards and promoted goodwill within both communities.
Unfortunately, little of this substantial history has found its way into local history books and the public school systems, especially in what was once eastern and western New Netherland (i.e., southern New England and the Delaware River Valley, respectively). Consequently, in 2016 I decided to organize a public conference on this theme. The result was the 11th Annual Native American-Archaeology Round Table, held on October 29, 2016 and hosted by the Institute for American Indian Studies Museum and Research Center in Washington, Connecticut (IAIS). 1
Entitled “Early Encounters: Dutch-Indigenous Relations in Seventeenth-Century Northeastern North America,” it included nine presentations on various aspects of New Netherland by ten well-known experts in Dutch and Native American histories. Many of the audience were educators, who urged publication of the papers. I concurred, because the Dutch-Indigenous histories they discussed deserve a more prominent position in future history books, museum exhibits, and in school curriculum and instruction than they have previously enjoyed. The end result is this book. It consists of ten chapters, most of which are revisions of the papers presented at the 2016 IAIS Round Table conference. Chapters 1 – 6 discuss Dutch involvement in New York, specifically, the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys.
Chapter 1 , Henry Hudson Goes Ashore on Castle Hill by Shirley W. Dunn, introduces the reader to the English sea captain and explorer Henry/Hendrick Hudson, sailing for the Dutch in 1609 in search of a northwestern passage to China and the “spice islands” of the East Indies. Instead of the South Pacific, Hudson sailed into New York Bay and up the river that now bears his name. Hudson’s encounters with Native American communities along his route are the first documented Dutch-Indian relationships in what eventually becomes New Netherland. Dunn addresses the following questions: Where exactly did Hudson make this landfall? Whom did he meet, and what happened during that historic meeting?
Chapter 2 , Sources Relating to Dutch-Indian Relations by Charles T. Gehring, sets the stage for subsequent chapters by providing an overview of the founding and history of New Netherland. It introduces readers to the Dutch people and answers the foll