page_title: New Amsterdam
section_title: Fort Amsterdam (1624)
hierarchical_section_title: New Amsterdam / History / Fort Amsterdam (1624)
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Brief van Pieter Schaghen aan de Staten-Generaal. Schaghen was namens de Staten-Generaal bestuurslid van de West-Indische Compagnie. Het document bevindt zich in het Nationaal Archief te Den Haag (voorheen bekend als het Algemeen Rijksarchief) [2]. Transcriptie: Dates / recep(tis?): 7 november 1626. Hooghe moghende heeren, Hier (in Amsterdam) is ghister 't schip 't Wapen van Amsterdam / aengekome(n) ende is de(n) 23e(n) septem(ber) uyt Nieu(w) Neder-/ lant gezeylt uyt de rivier Mauritius. Rapportere(n) / dat ons volck daer kloec is en(de) vreedigh leven. / Hare vrouwe(n) hebbe(n) ooc kindere(n) aldaer gebaert. / Hebben 't eylant Manhattes van de wilde gekocht, voor / de waerde van 60 gul(den). Is groot 11.000 morge(n). / Hebbende alle kore(n) half meij gezeyt ende half / augusto gemayd. Daer van zeynde de munsterkens / van zomerkore(n), als tarues, rogge, garst, haver, / boucweijt, knarizaet, boontjens en(de) vlas. Het cargasoen van 't v(oor)s(eijde) schip is: 7246 bevers velle(n) 178½ otters velle(n) 675 otters velle(n) 48 mincke velle(n) 36 cattos velle(n) 33 mincke(n) 34 ratte vellekens Veel eycken balcke(n) en(de) noten-hout. Hier mede, hooghe moghende heere(n), zyt de(n) Almogende in genade(n) bevole(n). In Amsterdam, den 5e(n) novem(ber) a(nn)o 1626. Uwe hoo(gh) moo(ghende) dienstwillighe, P(ieter) Schaghen (handtekening) Opschrift op keerzijde: Hooge moghende heere(n), / myn heere(n) de Staten-/ G(e)n(er)aell in / 's Gravenhage. Daarnaast (diagonaal): Met / nul empechement. English: A Letter by Pieter Schaghen, board member of the Dutch West India Company, to the States General of the Netherlands. As a council member of the Amsterdam-based West India Company, Schaghen personally represented the federal legislative body of the Dutch Republic, which was seated in The Hague. Schaghen informs his superiors that a ship from New Netherland has arrived in Amsterdam the day before, the 4th of November 1626. This document is part of the collection of the Dutch National Archives in The Hague. Translation [3]: Received (in The Hague): 7th of November 1626. High and mighty lords, The ship 'The coat of arms of Amsterdam' has arrived here (in Amsterdam) yesterday and has sailed out of New Netherland on the 23rd of September through the Mauritius River. (Hereby) reporting that our people are in good spirit and are living there peacefully. The women have given birth to children there as well. (They) have bought the Island of Manhattes from the wild man, for the amount of 60 guilders. (The island) measures 11.000 morgen. (They) have sowed all grains in the middle of May and harvested (them) in the middle of August. The samples of summer grain, being wheat, rye, barley, oat, buckwheat, canary grass, beans and flax, are from this (harvest). The cargo of the aforesaid ship is: 7246 beaver skins 178½ otter skins 675 otter skins (apparently packaged separately from the first shipment of otter skins) 48 mink skins 36 cat skins 33 minks (without further specifications) 34 rat skins Many oak beams and heartwood. Herewith, high and mighty lords, be commended to the mercy of the Almighty. (Written) in Amsterdam, the 5th of November 1626. Your high and mightinesses' obedient (servant), Pieter Schaghen (signature) Description on the back: High and mighty lords, my lords (of) the States General in The Hague. Next to this diagonally: Without hinderance.
context_page_description: New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The factorij became a settlement outside Fort Amsterdam. The fort was situated on the strategic southern tip of the island of Manhattan and was meant to defend the fur trade operations of the Dutch West India Company in the North River. In 1624, it became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic and was designated as the capital of the province in 1625.
  By 1655, the population of New Netherland had grown to 2,000 people, with 1,500 living in New Amsterdam. By 1664, the population of New Netherland had skyrocketed to almost 9,000 people, 2,500 of whom lived in New Amsterdam, 1,000 lived near Fort Orange, and the remainder in other towns and villages.
  In 1664 the English took over New Amsterdam and renamed it New York City after the Duke of York. After the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665–67, England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands agreed to the status quo in the Treaty of Breda.
context_section_description: The threat of attack from other European colonial powers prompted the directors of the Dutch West India Company to formulate a plan to protect the entrance to the Hudson River. In 1624, 30 families were sponsored by Dutch West India Company moving from Nut Island to Manhattan Island, where a citadel to contain Fort Amsterdam was being laid out by Cryn Frederickz van Lobbrecht at the direction of Willem Verhulst. By the end of 1625, the site had been staked out directly south of Bowling Green on the site of the present U.S. Custom House. The Mohawk-Mahican War in the Hudson Valley led the company to relocate even more settlers to the vicinity of the new Fort Amsterdam. In the end, colonizing was a prohibitively expensive undertaking, only partly subsidized by the fur trade. This led to a scaling back of the original plans. By 1628, a smaller fort was constructed with walls containing a mixture of clay and sand.
  The fort also served as the center of trading activity. It contained a barracks, the church, a house for the West India Company director and a warehouse for the storage of company goods. Troops from the fort used the triangle between the Heerestraat and what came to be known as Whitehall Street for marching drills.
caption: 1626 letter in Dutch by Pieter Schaghen stating the purchase of Manhattan for 60 guilders.
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