| Bio notes |
The Dutch territory of New Netherland was mostly centered in what are now the Mid-Atlantic States, as well as parts of Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. As the colony was originally a business venture focused on the fur trade, significant settlement did not occur and relations with the nearby Algonquian peoples were generally friendly. In 1624 the colony officially became a Dutch province, and 30 families were landed there to maintain the international (European) land claim. The colony began to flourish in 1647 under the leadership of Petrus Stuyvesant and his relaxed trading and land ownership policies, but in 1664 New Amsterdam was forced to surrender to an English fleet because its citizens did not feel adequately protected by the Dutch government. Stuyvesant, however, negotiated for the inhabitants’ continued right to religious freedom. English occupation was finalized by the 1667 Treaty of Breda. The Dutch later recaptured New Amsterdam in 1673 and renamed the city “New Orange,” but were subsequently bankrupted and forced conclude the war by ceding their territory through the Treaty of Westminster. The colony was known for its traditions of relative religious tolerance and economic pragmatism, which informed the policies of later local governments. |