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Friday, 04 July 2008
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Introduction
In 1608 the Dutch East India Company hired famed explorer Henry Hudson to find a northeast, all-water route to Asia. Arctic ice floes blocked his proposed route, so instead he took his ship, the HALF MOON (HALVE MAEN), to find a northwest passage.

Hudson found the mouth of the river that now bears his name. It proved to be an inland river, not a westward passage, but he sailed upriver as far as present-day Albany, claiming the region for the Dutch. The Dutch trading post, Fort Nassau, was established in 1614 at Albany. By 1624 the colonists had spread throughout the area, establishing the first European settlements in the states of Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, forming the Dutch colony of New Netherland (Nieuw Nederlandt).

In 1664 the British captured New Amsterdam and New Netherland during peacetime, sparking the second Anglo-Dutch war. The Peace of Breda, however, failed to return the colony to its motherland. The war had virtually bankrupted England, and Charles II was so thoroughly humiliated by his defeat that he secretly allied with France to crush the Dutch Republic. Unfortunately for the British, the combined fleet was stymied at sea by the Dutch naval fleet, and Charles found himself in an even worse position than before: The Dutch quashed all of England's revenue sources in the new world.

It was only by the inadvertent capture of a Dutch ship that Charles was able to negotiate a settlement with the Netherlands, 1674's Treaty of Westminster. The English support of the French disappeared, causing France to withdraw, but New Netherland again reverted to British control. Fourteen years later, when William of Orange ascended to the British throne, the Dutch again reclaimed control of New Netherland. It was short- lived: Control of the colony was return to the corrupt English governor, and the ensuing rebellion resulted in an English victory.

The Dutch love for tolerance, free enterprise, free trade, and freedom of religion soon became intertwined with the Colonial psyche, setting the foundation for the American Revolution. The "Apology" of William the Silent of Orange to Philip of Spain in 1581 was the blueprint for the Declaration of Independence, and the Dutch Republic that William headed was the only model available for the American patriots to follow. The Dutch influence continues today in place names such as Brooklyn, Hoboken, Block Island, and hundreds more.

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