In August 1664, the WIC ship Gideon arrived in New Amsterdam with 290 enslaved Africans, doubling the colony’s enslaved population. Though the voyage was momentous, almost nothing is known about those forced aboard or the ordeal they endured to reach the city.
In 1684 Schenectady, constable and enslaver Jacob Sanders sued Frenchman Matthys Boffie for threatening to poison and kill Pey, an enslaved woman. Boffie claimed a relationship and children with her, offered to buy her, was refused, and allegedly threatened murder-suicide.
Privateers, naval warfare, and Atlantic rivalry shaped the world of New Netherland. The Dutch West India Company’s raids on Iberian ships—and the spoils they brought—were vital to the colony’s survival and prosperity in seventeenth-century New Amsterdam.
Despite their essential role, Dutch Atlantic sailors remain largely unseen in history. Their voyages were perilous—battling enemy ships, storms, hunger, disease, and abuse aboard poorly equipped vessels. Enduring deprivation and danger, sailors sometimes resisted the harsh conditions imposed upon them.
In June 1743, three sailors aboard the schooner Rising Sun mutinied, killing captain Newark Jackson, supercargo George Ledain, and two crew members after a slave-trading voyage to Suriname. This case reveals how Dutch archives illuminate the history of British colonial America.
In 1654, Beverwijck tavernkeeper Maria Jansz was repeatedly prosecuted for selling brandy to Native customers. Despite initial denial, she confessed, reoffended, and was fined and banished for a year. Her husband then obtained a divorce rather than accompany her into exile.
In 1748, a mixed-race infant named Philip arrived in Somerset County, New Jersey. Born to a white mother and Black father, he was placed with a wet nurse through the Van Horne household—an arrangement revealing race, class, and maternal identity in colonial society.
By 1663, fears of an English invasion gripped New Netherland. Peter Stuyvesant convened rare assemblies to plan defense, but the colony remained divided—villages refused aid, officials prioritized self-protection, and colonists, frustrated by neglect, threatened allegiance to another government for safety.
In 1585, the Dutch pledged Vlissingen to England for a loan. After regaining it, residents—including English soldiers—launched a 1616 Amazon colony. They prospered briefly through Indigenous alliances and trade, but Portuguese aggression forced the settlers to abandon the venture and return home.
