CHAPTER VII THE DUTCH IN AMERICA 94. Dutch Maritime Enterprise. While Spain, England, and France were exploring and colonizing America, Holland was occupied with trade and commerce. The Dutch were the merchants for all the neighboring countries. They sent out fleets to the East Indies whence they brought back the products of the tropics. Various trading companies had been organized for this purpose, the most important of which was the Dutch East India Company (1602). This company sent its navigators not only around the Cape of Good Hope, but also along the routes of Magellan and Drake across the Pacific to Australasia. They endeavored, moreover, to shorten these routes to Asia by sailing north of Europe. Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the service of Holland (1609) was sent by the Dutch East India Company to search for a northern route around Europe. He sailed from Amsterdam in a vessel called the Half Moon. Being stopped by the ice, he turned westward and, after a voyage of four months, reached America. Sailing along the coast, he entered the present New York harbor, where he believed that he had found. the passage through America to the Pacific. He sailed up the river which now bears his name, as far as the site of Albany, and made friends with the Iroquois. At almost the same time, Champlain, not a hundred miles away, fought an eventful battle with that powerful Indian nation. 95. Results of Hudson's Voyage. Hudson's report that the new country abounded in fur-bearing animals created interest in the commercial cities of Holland. Subsequently trading posts were established at the present sites of New York (New Amsterdam) and Albany (Fort Orange) as early as 1613-1614. Later the Dutch West India Company was formed for the purpose of trade and colonization in America. Hudson, who had hoped to reach China, considered his voyage a failure and determined to attempt to go north of America to Asia. This time, in the service of England (1610), he passed through the entire length of what is now Hudson Strait and entered the broad waters of Hudson Bay, where his crew, frightened by the Arctic cold and ice, rose in mutiny. They set their great captain and his seven-year-old son adrift in an open boat on the vast waters of Hudson Bay, leaving them there to perish. 96. Dutch Motives and Claims. The Dutch were attracted to the American shores principally by the promising trade in furs with the Indians, and also by the prospects of successful colonization. The Dutch laid 'claim to the land extending between the Delaware and Connecticut rivers by right of Hudson's explorations. They called this region New Netherland. 97. Dutch Claims. The Dutch claims in the New World began with the exploration of Henry Hudson (1609). They continued with the fur trading voyages and subsequent settlements in the present state of New York, and ended when, in 1674, New Netherland was permanently surrendered to the English. Holland still holds in the New World: Dutch Guiana in South America, and some of the West Indies-Curacao and St. Eustatius. CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW 874-1492 874. Northmen discover Iceland. 984. 1002. Northmen discover Greenland. Leif Ericson discovers America and establishes a 1095. The Crusades begin. 1440. Printing is invented by Gutenberg at Strassburg. 1487. Bartholomew Diaz discovers the Cape of Good Hope. 1492-1519 Ferdinand and Isabella are king and queen of Spain. Henry VII, king of England. All civilized Europe is Catholic. 1492. (Aug. 3) Columbus sails from Spain. (Oct. 12) Columbus discovers America-explores San Salvador, Cuba, Haiti. 1493. Columbus makes a second voyage-discovers Jamaica, Porto Rico, Windward Islands, and establishes a Spanish colony at Isabella, Haiti. 1493. Father Juan Perez offers the first Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in America at Isabella, Haiti. 1493. Pope Alexander VI establishes the line of Demarca tion. 1494. The first Catholic church is founded at Isabella, Haiti. 1497. Cabot discovers North America. 1497. Vasco da Gama doubles the Cape of Good Hope and finds a new route to India. 1498. Columbus makes his third voyage-discovers Trinidad Island and the continent of South America. 1498. Cabot makes his second voyage and explores part of the North American coast. 1500. Cabral discovers Brazil and claims it for Portugal. 1500. Americus Vespucius explores the northeastern coast of South America. 1502. Columbus makes his fourth voyage-discovers Central America and the Isthmus of Panama; he seeks a passage to the Indian Ocean at the Isthmus of Panama. 1502. Las Casas comes to América. 1504. Isabella dies. (Nov. 26.) 1504. French fishermen fish for cod on the banks of Newfoundland. 1506. Columbus dies. (Ascension day, May 20). 1509. Henry VIII of England commences his reign. 1511. Ponce de Leon founds San Juan, Porto Rico. 1513. Ponce de Leon discovers and claims the peninsula of Florida for Spain. 1513. Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean and claims it and the land bordering on it for Spain. 1519-1558 Emperor Charles V, ruler of Germany, Austria, Spain, and Spanish King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, and Queen Mary reign in King Francis I and Henry II rule in France. Luther apostatizes. Henry VIII rejects the authority of the pope and establishes a state church. Calvin founds Calvinism. Many people leave the Roman Catholic Church and become Protestants. 1519. Cortez conquers Mexico. 1519-1522. Magellan circumnavigates the globe. 1524. Verrazano coasts the American shore from Cape Fear to Nova Scotia and claims it for France. 1526. D'Ayllon attempts to found a colony in Virginia. |