During the early part of the seventeenth century, the English focused on developing their colonies in New England and the Chesapeake, thereby largely neglecting the land between the two settlements. So, the Dutch and the Swedes began to settle the mid-Atlantic region along the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. After the Restoration, Charles II and James II hoped to build the power of the English monarchy by expanding their overseas empire at the expense of the Dutch. By the early 1680s, the English had turned New Netherland into several proprietary colonies, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. In the years after the English takeover, the middle colonies became the most diverse and fastest-growing region in North America.
5.4.1 The Dutch in the New World
After the Dutch asserted their independence from Spain in the late sixteenth century, the Netherlands set up a republican government. Unlike other European nations at the time, the Dutch allowed both intellectual and religious freedom. Soon, dissidents from other countries flocked to the tiny nation along the North Sea. The liberal government, coupled with the immigration, made the country a powerful force in Europe as well as in the race for overseas empire. The Dutch also expanded their navy in an attempt to attack Spanish and Portuguese trade. After the founding of the Dutch East India Company (DEIC), the Dutch became the primary shippers of spices from Asia, slaves from Africa, and sugar from the Americas.
Initially, the Netherlands focused on establishing its control over the carrying trade. Like the other sea powers, it hoped to find an alternate route to Far Eastern markets. In 1609, the DEIC sent Henry Hudson to the New World to find the Northwest Passage. Hudson sailed into the Delaware Bay and the North River, known later as the Hudson River. He realized, of course, that neither inlet was the Northwest Passage, but he recorded the possibilities for fur trading and farming. Hudson also established a friendly relationship with the Iroquois Nations. Following these discoveries, the DEIC sent several expeditions to explore the land and trade with the Iroquois. Dutch merchants also persuaded the government to charter the New Netherland Company to handle the fur trade.
By 1614, the company established a trading post, Fort Nassau, near present-day Albany. From there, traders travelled by canoe westward toward the Great Lakes and northward toward the St. Lawrence River. The New Netherland Company possessed a monopoly over the trade; however, the government opted not to renew the charter in 1618. Soon, merchants formed the Dutch West India Company (DWIC). In 1621, the Dutch government granted it a broad charter. Subsequently, the company had the authority to trade and settle anywhere in America as well as to govern new territories as it saw fit. Thus, the company could appoint officials, make laws, administer justice, make war, and negotiate treaties. <span><span> <span> 151 </span> </span> (Links to an external site.)</span>
At the outset, the DWIC did not plan to colonize in the New World. Rather, it hoped to continue the lucrative fur trade. Company officials believed they could keep costs down and discourage illegal trade if they did not establish permanent settlements. For several years, their plan worked. The DWIC then decided permanent settlements would help protect the fur trade from English and French piracy. It sent the first settlers in late 1624. The company recruited Protestants from the Spanish Netherlands to populate their colony because it thought these Protestants, or Walloons, had the stamina and work ethic to survive pioneer life.
<span>Under the direction of Cornelius May, the migrants built Fort Orange on the Hudson River to replace Fort Nassau, which had been destroyed by constant flooding. They also established a new Fort Nassau on the Delaware River. Under the direction of Peter Minuet, they settled New Amsterdam at the mouth of the Hudson River. The DWIC told Minuet not to expel the Indians with violence; it did not want the fur trade interrupted. In 1626, Minuet purchased Manhattan Island for sixty guilders from the local Indians. New Amsterdam subsequently served as a major seaport and seat of government for New Netherland. The colony shared the mother country’s religious toleration, but not its liberal republican government.</span>