Europeans Come to New
York
Mrs. Martin
Grade 4
Do you know where Asia and
Europe are?

Let’s Look….
Europeans wanted to get to Asia

European countries wanted to get to Asia.
Asia had goods that countries in Europe
wanted.
 Trade between Europe and Asia was a
growing business.

How to get there?
Getting to Asia from Europe was hard.
 The trip by land or sea was long and difficult.

Christopher
Columbus said


“I can go East by
sailing West”
However he bumped into a whole new continent
that the Europeans didn’t know was there!
NORTH AMERICA
Let’s find a way through

More kings from more European countries
started to hire explorers to sail West to try
and find a way through North America so
they could get to Asia.

This “way through North America” was
known as the North West Passage.
Finding the Northwest Passage

Many European countries wanted to be
find the Northwest Passage.
Explorers started making voyages to North
America to look for the Northwest
Passage.
 Some of these explorations happened in
and around New York.

Explorers
 1497 - John Cabot – sailed for England – thought he had
reached Asia when he had reached Canada.
 1524 – Verrazano – sailed for France – first European to see
New York Bay – knew he was not in Asia
 1534 – Cartier – sailed for France – sailed up the St. Lawrence
River trying to find Northwest Passage.
 1608 – Champlain- sailed for France – reached Lake
Champlain in 1609 established a friendly relationship with
Algonquians.
 1609 – Hudson – sailed for the Netherlands (Dutch) –traveled
up Hudson River to what is now Albany.
John Cabot

1497 - John Cabot – sailed for England –
thought he had reached Asia when he had
reached Canada.

Giovanni da Verrazano

1524 – Verrazano – sailed for France –
first European to see New York Bay –
knew he was not in Asia
Jacques Cartier

1534 – Cartier – sailed for France – sailed
up the St. Lawrence River trying to find
Northwest Passage.
Samuel de Champlain

1608 – Champlain- sailed for France –
reached Lake Champlain in 1609
established a friendly relationship with
Algonquians.
Henry Hudson

1609 – Hudson – sailed for the
Netherlands (Dutch) –traveled up Hudson
River to what is now Albany.
Netherlands
As Henry Hudson was
exploring the lands of
New York he noted that it
was a beautiful area and
that the land was rich in natural resources.


Since Henry Hudson sailed for the Netherlands
he claimed land in New York for the
Netherlands.
Fort Orange (Albany)

18 families headed up the Hudson River
and set up a fur trading post on the Hudson
River called Fort Orange.
Dutch West India Company
The Dutch people formed a
company to trade with Native
Americans for fur and timber.
The company was called the
Dutch West India Company.

The company set up a Dutch colony in North
America in what is now New York.
 They named their colony “New Netherland” after
their own country.

New Amsterdam (Manhattan)

Other families stayed on Manhattan. This
island had been the home of the
Algonquian Indians the Lenni Lanape.
Colonists built homes on the southern tip
of the island anyway and called it New
Amsterdam.
Peter Minuit

Peter Minuit arrived to be the leader of New
Amsterdam. He bought the island of
Manhattan from the Lenni Lenape.

The Lenni Lenape did understand that
they were selling the land they lived on.
They didn’t believe the humans could own
land. They thought that by trading with
Peter Minuit they were allowing the Dutch
to used the resources of the land.
Native Americans and
Europeans





Native Americans had been living in what is now
New York for years
European countries claimed the land for
themselves and sent colonists to settle there
In 1626 Peter Minuit “bought” Manhattan from
the Lenni Lenape for some tools, pots, and bead
The Native Americans did not understand that
they were selling their land. They did not really
believe in owning land.
They thought they were giving the Europeans
permission to use the land’s natural resources.
Life in the Dutch Colony

The Dutch West India Company wanted people
from many different cultures to settle in New
Netherland.

Living in the colony there were: Dutch, French,
English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish.

People practiced many different religions living in
the colony some of these were French Protestant,
German Lutheran, Presbyterian, Quaker, and
Roman Catholic.
African-Americans

The first African-Americans living in the
colony were brought here as slaves.
Colonists wanted slaves to work in the fields,
load ships, and build homes and other
buildings.
 Some African Americans came as free
people and others who had been slaves
earned their freedom.

Fur Trade

The fur trade was a very important
business in New Netherland and New
Amsterdam.

Native Americans brought beaver and other
animals skins to Fort Orange. They traded
the with the Dutch for goods like tools,
knives, axes, metal goods, and cloth. From
New Netherland the furs were shipped
down the Hudson River.
More Settlers….
To make a profit…or more money, the Dutch
West India company wanted more settlers.
The settlers could grow crops and make goods
that could be traded for furs.
 To attract more settlers the company gave
large pieces of land to patroons. Patroons
were people who would pay to bring 50
settlers to the colony. These settlers would
work the land and pay rent with part of their
crops and livestock.

Dutch West India Company
wants the colony to grow
Company offered a “deal” any person who
would pay for 50 settlers to sail to New
Netherland would be given large areas of land in
what is now New York
 This land owner was a called a patroon.
 Patroons owned that land and the settlers he
paid to bring to the colony would work on his
land giving him some of their crops to pay
“rent”.

A new governor…
After a while the Dutch West India
company started to lose money. Too many
animals had been hunted and there was
fighting between the colonists and the
Lenni Lenape. Conditions in the colony
were not good.
 The Dutch West India Company wanted an
governor who could improve the colony.

Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant – known as old
silver leg – because he had lost his leg in
navy battle.


Stuyvesant was not popular with the
colonists. He had a bad temper, and he
tried to make the Jewish colonists leave the
colony but the Dutch West India Company
would not allow it. People called him
“Stubborn Pete”.
Stubborn Pete does good?

Even though Peter Stuyvesant was not
popular he did accomplish some good
things.

Stuyvesant got the streets paved, and had
run down buildings repaired. He made
peace with the Native Americans and
started a police force. This made the
colony a safer place.
A new governor for the colony





Dutch West India Company wanted to send a leader to
the colony
The sent Peter Stuyvesant
Stuyvesant did a lot to improve life in the colony. He
made peace with Native Americans the colonists had
been fighting with, he ordered buildings and streets be
repaired and he started a police force
He was still unpopular because his loud angry ways, he
also tried to make some groups like the Jewish colonists
leave.
Behind his back the colonists called him “stubborn Pete”