Puzzle
New Netherland Settlers
This project works with the family histories of the people of New Netherland. New Netherland was a Dutch colony on the east coast of North America during the 1600s. Dutch colonial settlements extended from Connecticut to Delaware, but were concentrated primarily in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, including the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area, the Hudson Valley, New York City, western Long Island, and northern New Jersey. The population of New Netherland was not just Dutch, but also included people from all over Europe (Germans, Flemish, Scandinavians, French, Walloons, Scots, English, Irish, Jews, Italians, Croats, etc.), enslaved Africans, and Native Americans who were indigenous to the region. All lived under Dutch rule, and Dutch was the principal language of the colony.
The history of New Netherland starts in 1609, the year of Henry Hudson's voyage of exploration. Dutch rule ended in 1664 when the English took the colony from the Dutch by force, and Dutch claims were extinguished on 24 October 1674, when the Treaty of Westminster stipulated that all Anglo-Dutch hostilities were to end. Life in the former colony was, however, slow to change. Decades after England took control, many settlers continued to speak the Dutch language and to live as they had in the past. As described on Wikipedia, "New Netherland culture characterized the region for two centuries."
The mission of the New Netherland Settlers Project is to identify and improve the profiles of the New Netherland settlers during the period of Dutch control, the descendants of the settlers, and the New Netherland community, from the earliest settlement until the start of the American Revolutionary War.
G2G Tag: NEW_NETHERLAND https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:New_Netherland_Settlers
Leader: Ellen Smith
Project Coordinators: Steven Mix and James Applegate
March 13, 1653: New Amsterdam had finally been granted a charter as a city in February 1653, nearly thirty years after the first European settlers arrived there. The city's first municipal governing body, the burgomasters and schepens, sat for the first time that February. A few weeks later, on March 13, Pieter Stuyvesant, Director-General of the New Netherland colony, called an extraordinary meeting of his own council as well as the burgomasters and schepens to address concerns about a possible military threat from the English. England and the Netherlands were at war, and England had colonies in nearby New England. To protect the city in the event of an invasion, the assembly directed Stuyvesant to repair and expand the defense works for the city. The fortification that was built as a result included a wall across Manhattan Island that became what is today known as Wall Street.
The New Netherland Settlers Project recognizes three categories of New Netherland people:
* New Netherland Settlers are people who were born or resided in the New Netherland area prior to 24 October 1674.
* New Netherland Descendants 1674-1776 are direct descendants of the Settlers who born after 24 October 1674 and before 1776 in community settings in which New Netherland cultural practices predominated.
* New Netherland Community 1619-1700 includes (1) people who figure in the history of New Netherland but did not settle there and (2) people who settled in the New Netherland region between 1674 and 1700 (such as Huguenots who arrived after 1674) and were absorbed into New Netherland culture.
Rearrange the boxes to form a message that is very important to this project:
![](https://www.wikitree.com/photo.php/f/fb/Photos_for_Puzzles-15.jpg)
A docx and pdf version can be found at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rqo8mt2eobujwgd/AAAzB3IGNHqNKXBfdE985NBZa?dl=0