New Netherland () was the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to southern Cape Cod. Settled areas are now part of the northeastern states of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and southwestern Connecticut. There were small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Its capital, New Amsterdam, was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan on the Upper New York Bay. The most developed part of the province roughly corresponds to today's Tri-State area (New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut).
Overview
Placenames in most cases had their roots in Dutch and the Algonquian languages, and occasionally the Iroquoian Mohawk. At the time of European settlement it was the territory of the various Native American groups. In many cases the names of the Natives Americans used today were taken from the word for the place they made their villages, or their sagamore. Both the Americans and the New Netherlanders often gave names inspired by the geography or geology of the natural environment and described a shape, location, feature, quality, or phenomenon.
The Lenape population, who had the most frequent contact with the New Netherlanders, were seasonally migrational groups around the New York Bay and along the Lower Hudson who became known collectively as the River Indians.Ruttenber, E.M.,Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, (Hope Farm Press, 3rd ed, 2001) Among them were the Wecquaesgeek and Siwanoy (to the north on the east side of the Hudson River); the Hackensack, Raritan, the Ramapough,Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution Volume I, chapter XXXII, Harper Brothers, New York, 1859 and Tappan (to the west); and the Canarsee and Rockaway (on western Long Island).
The Munsee inhabited the Highlands and western Hudson Valley. The Susquehannock, who lived along the Zuyd Rivier, were called the Minquas. The Mohawk, an Iroquois people, inhabited the Albany region, and the valley that now bears the name. The Mahicans, defeated by the Mohawks, retreated to the Housatonic River region soon after the arrival of the Dutch.
The Native Americans used wampum for transcription.William James Sidis, 'The Tribes And The States: 100,000-Year History of North America' (via sidis.net) The Swannekins, or Salt Water People (as the Europeans were called), used the Latin alphabet to write down the words they heard from the Wilden (Dutch for wild people), as the Lenape were called. These approximations were no doubt greatly influenced by Dutch, which was the lingua franca of the multilingual province. Some names still exist in their altered form, their current spelling (and presumably pronunciation) having evolved over the last four centuries into American vernacular.
Early settlers and their descendants often "Batavianized" names for geographical locations, the exonyms, rather than by their autonym, subsequently becoming the name of the Native Americans used today. In some cases it cannot be confirmed, or there is contention, as to whether the roots are in the Dutch or native tongue as sources do not always concur. Some can have several interpretations, while locative suffixes vary depending on the Algonquian language dialect that prevailed. Kill, meaning stream or channel, wyck meaning district,Kramers Vertaalwoordenboek: Nederlands-Engels (or its English equivalents wick and wich), and hook meaning point are often seen.
Dutch surnames abound throughout the region as avenues, lakes, parks. Orange and Nassau come from the "first family" of the Dutch Republic, a dynasty of nobles traditionally elected "Stadtholder." William III of England was also prince of Orange, succeeding to the English throne through the conquest known as the Glorious Revolution, so the appellation Orange, though sometimes named for the English king in this period, reflects his Dutch birth and dynasty.
A
Acquackanonk The name of a Unami group who lived along and between the banks of the Passaic Neck and the name of one of the state's first townships, established in 1683. Meaning "a place in a rapid stream where fishing is done with a net," alternatively, "at the lamprey stream" from the contemporary axkwaakahnung. Spellings include Achquakanonk, Acquackanonk, Auchaquackanock, and Ackquekenon.James, B.B. & James, J.F., ed., Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679–1680, New York, 1913, pages 176–7
Achter Col Called Meghgectecock by the Lenape, this described the area around Newark Bay and the rivers that flowed into it. Neither are any longer in use. Achter, meaning "behind," and kol, meaning "neck," can be translated as the back (of the) peninsula,Online Nederlands Woordenboek (Online Dutch Dictionary) in this case Bergen Neck. Variations include Achter Kol, Achter Kull, Archer Col, Achter Kull. A col is a gap or pass between mountains, in this case Bergen Hill and the Watchung Mountains, the flood-plain of Hackensack River and Passaic River providing a passage between them, thus, rear pass or rear passage.
Amsterdam After the Dutch capital, originally a dam on the Amstel River founded in 1275.
Arresick A tidal island, site of the first ferry landing for the patroonship Pavonia, which became Paulus Hook. Spellings include Arresick,Arresickhttp://www.cityofjerseycity.org/oldberg/chapter7.shtml Arressechhonk,New Jersey Colonial Records, East Jersey Records: Part 1-Volume 21, Calendar of Records 1664–1702 and Aresick, meaning "burial ground."On 12 July 1630, Mr. Michael Pauw, Burgomaster of Amsterdam and Lord of Achtienhover, near Utrecht, obtained through the Directors and Councillors of New Netherlands, a deed from the Indians to the land called Hopoghan Hackingh, this being the first deed recorded in New Netherlands. On 22 November, of the same year, the same parties procured from the Indians a deed to Mr. Pauw of Ahasimus and Aresick (burying-ground), the peninsula later called Paulus Hook.
Arthur Kill Tidal strait separating Staten Island from the mainland. From kille, meaning "water channel," such as a riverbed, rivulet, or stream. Likely to have evolved from Achter Col, the name given by the New Netherlanders for the area surrounding Newark Bay and the waters that flowed into it, as English-speakers immigrated to the region radiating from the Elizabethtown Tract and Perth Amboy.
B
Barnegat Originally Barendegat or "Inlet of the Breakers" for the waterway's turbulent channel.Lloyd, John Bailey. "Eighteen Miles of History on Long Beach Island." p. 42. 1994 Down The Shore Publishing and The SandPaper, Inc.
Bedloe's Island Now known as Liberty Island, under Dutch sovereignty the island became the property of Isaack Bedloo, merchant and "select burgher" of New Amsterdam, and one of 94 signers of the "Remonstrance of the People of New Netherlands to the Director-General and Council".
Bergen
Bergen Square The forerunner of Hudson and Bergen counties. Believed to come from the word bergen, which in Dutch and other Germanic languages of northern Europe means "mountains" or "hills", and could describe a most distinct geological feature of the region, the Palisades."Indigenous Population ". Bergencountyhistory.org. Another interpretation is that it comes from the Dutch verb bergen as meaning "to save or recover" or the noun "place of safety", inspired by the settlers' return after they had fled attacks by the native population during the Peach War. Some say that it is named for Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands or the city in Norway.
Bergen Street In the contemporary borough of Brooklyn, Bergen Street was named for the family of one of the earliest settlers of Nieuw Amsterdam, Hans Hansen Bergen, who arrived in the province of New Netherland in 1633 as a ship's carpenter. He came from Bergen, Norway, and was one of the few Scandinavian settlers of Nieuw Amsterdam (New York City). Bergen initially settled on Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan and later owned extensive plantations elsewhere on the island. Bergen later married Sarah Rapelje, the first child born in New York state of European parents.In his definitive book on the early history of Manhattan, New York City: The Island at the City of the World, author Russell Shorto acknowledges that Rapelje was the first child born of European parents in New Netherlands, which embraces what it now New York State. Sarah Rapelje's chair, now in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York, is also identified as belonging to the first child born in the state of European parentage. Recent scholarship in the Dutch archives of New York backs up Shorto's assertions. 14 Generations: New Yorkers Since 1624, the Rapaljes Are On a Mission to Keep Their History Alive, Steve Wick, Newsday, 28 March 2009
Beversreede The fort on the Schuylkill River. A possible translation could be "Beavers Gap," from bever ("beaver") and reet (opening / cleft), which would speak to its location where it enters the Delaware. More probably reede meant a "quai" in the harbor (cf. today's Dutch rede). Alternatively, adjacent to (or opposite) the fort was the terminus of the Great Minquas Path, an 80-mile (130 km) trail from the Susquehanna River to the Schuylkill River. This was the primary trade route for furs from the Susquehannock people, and the Dutch named the trail Beversreede, "Beaver Road."The Great Trail Pennsylvania historical marker. However, 'rede' is Dutch for roadstead (anchorage) so the explanation 'quai' makes the most sense.
Beverwyck Loosely, "Beavertown," to refer a fur-trading community north of Fort Orange. It is unlikely to be named after Beverwijk in the Netherlands, whose name comes from Bedevaartswijk, "pilgrimage neighbourhood." (Agatha of Sicily allegedly appeared there in the 9th century to a virgin from nearby Velsen.)
Blauvelt From a Dutch family name. The first Blauvelt in America was a peasant farmer who worked on Kiliaen van Rensselaer's estate cultivating tobacco in 1638. The same Dutch family name lies at the origin of Bluefields Bay in Jamaica and Bluefields in Nicaragua – after Abraham Blauvelt, Dutch trader, explorer, pirate and privateer. He operated from New Amsterdam from 1644.
Block Island Named after the explorer Adriaen Block who used the island as a base from which to survey the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound.
Bloomingdale The "valley of flowers," it is likely named for a village in the Netherlands, the Upper West Side in general (its northern reaches now as known as the Bloomingdale District) may have had some characteristics that would have reminded the Netherlanders of their home: close to the shore with a sandy bluff, with many small valleys or (dells).Eric W. Sanderson, Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City, 2009, map "Habitat Suitability for People" p. 111 In analogy to the Dutch village of Bloemendaal lying next to the town of Haarlem, so the Dutch settlers seemed to have named the small settlement next to the village of Harlem on Manhattan.
Bowery Bouwerij was the old Dutch word for farm (contemporary: boerderij). The Dutch West India Company mapped out land for farms on Manhattan north of New Amsterdam, the first of which, "Bouerij 1" (later known as Stuyvesant Farm) was reserved for the support of the colony's director-general. It became the personal property of Petrus Stuyvesant, the person to hold the position.
Broadway Breede weg was used throughout English-speaking areas to refer to a wide (broad) path (way).
Breuckelen The first of the six Dutch towns of Brooklyn settled in 1646, generally believed to be after the town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht, now spelled Breukelen.
The Bronx