These historic maps trace the exploration, settlement, and development of New Netherland, the seventeenth-century Dutch colony that became New York, as European knowledge of North America’s northeastern coast steadily expanded. Together, they document the colony’s rivers, settlements, trade routes, Indigenous homelands, and contested boundaries, revealing how mapmakers recorded a rapidly changing landscape.

Charting New Netherland, 1597–1682 follows the evolution of Dutch cartography during the Age of Discovery through a remarkable collection of historic maps. More than works of art, these maps are primary historical sources that reveal the ambitions of explorers, merchants, colonial governments, and competing European empires. They show the growth of New Amsterdam, the Hudson River Valley, Long Island, the Delaware River, and the wider region that formed New Netherland.

This digital exhibition features maps from the renowned Bert Twaalfhoven Collection, donated to Fordham University, alongside a guided journey through the lost world of New Netherland—from the House of Hope on the Fresh River, today’s Connecticut, to Fort Casimir on the South River, now the Delaware. Whether you are a historian, educator, genealogist, student, or history enthusiast, these collections provide a unique window into the geography, history, and legacy of Dutch colonial America.