Discovery, commerce, and patriotism were the fundamental driving forces that committed the Netherlands, along with other European powers, to sending fleet after fleet of ships into the many hazards of the scarcely charted maritime world of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These forces had to be undeniably powerful to convince so many men so many times to risk their fortunes and their very lives to sail the world for years on end, in extreme danger and discomfort, to bring back home the strange seeds, fruits, roots, and bark of exotic plants that grow only in hot climates. In a word: spices.
In recent years, the enslavement of Indigenous people by Europeans across the Americas has received renewed attention from scholars. However, when it comes to the Dutch colonies, only in studies of the Guiana region does Dutch Indigenous slavery appear as a significant factor.
With the New Netherland Institute’s dedication to Dutch matters, you may wonder what the English Captain James Cook is doing here. In many of the other Totidem Verbis articles you can witness the courage of Dutch navigators whose place in global exploration and discovery deserves attention and fair consideration.
In October 1657 a meeting of specially-appointed commissioners was held in New Amsterdam, likely in the City Hall. The commissioners were appointed by Director-General Peter Stuyvesant to hear a complaint by a Spanish merchant against Stuyvesant and the council of New Netherland.
Have you ever wondered about the name of the New Netherland Institute's newsletter, or its curious spelling? Dr. Charles Gehring explained it in the first issue in February 1985. The New Netherland Project, as the Dutch translation mission was called back then, had received many "imaginative suggestions" for the name of its newly minted newsletter, but none was chosen.
Peter “Pat” Zondervan (1909–1993) was an American publisher who co-founded Zondervan Corporation with his brother Bernard in 1931, helping build one of the largest Christian publishing houses and producing the influential New International Version Bible.
Bernard “Bernie” Zondervan (1910–1966) was an American religious book publisher who co-founded Zondervan Corporation with his brother Peter in 1931, building one of the largest Christian publishing houses in the United States.
Richard D. Zanuck (1934–2012) was an American film producer and studio executive who led production at Twentieth Century Fox and later produced major films including Jaws, Driving Miss Daisy, Big Fish, and Road to Perdition.
Royal River: Power, Pageantry, and the Thames by David Starkey is a richly illustrated companion to the 2012 National Maritime Museum exhibition of the same name. It explores the central role of the River Thames in the history of British monarchy, politics, and ceremony.
Dean Zanuck (born 1972) is an American film producer and studio executive who continued the Zanuck family’s Hollywood legacy, producing films including Road to Perdition, Get Low, and The Zero Theorem.
