In exchange for 60 guilders of brass buttons, scarlet cloth and trade goods, Manhattan Island was purchased from the Manhattan Indian tribe on MAY 6, 1626, by Peter Minuit, Dutch Governor of the New Netherlands Province.
The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, during its Golden Age from 1568 till Napoleon, was one of the few nations not to have a king.
The Dutch city of Amsterdam, where Rembrandt painted masterpieces, was where the first stock exchange and the first multinational corporations were invented.
It became Europe’s leader in shipping, banking, insurance and commerce.
The Pilgrims stayed in the Netherlands before sailing to Massachusetts.
The Dutch opened trade with Japan, Jakarta, Mauritius and the Indonesian Spice Island of Maluku.
The Dutch sighted Fiji and Australia, and colonized the Pacific islands of Tasmania and New Zealand; the Caribbean Islands of Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Sint Maarten; the South American settlements of Guyana, Recife and Suriname; South Africa; and the North American colony of New Netherlands, which included parts of present day Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York.
The Articles for the New Netherlands’ Colony, issued by the Chamber of Amsterdam, 1624, stated:
“They shall within their territory practice no other form of divine worship than that of the Reformed religion…and thus by their Christian life and conduct seek to draw the Indians and other blind people to the knowledge of God and His word, without, however, persecuting any on account of his faith, but leaving each one the use of his conscience.”
New Netherlands’ original Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions, June 1, 1629, stated:
“Patroons and colonists shall in particular, and in the speediest manner, endeavor to find out ways and means whereby they may support a Minister and Schoolmaster, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool and be neglected among them, and they shall, for the first, procure a Comforter of the sick there.”
After a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars, the city of New Amsterdam was taken over by the British and renamed New York City.
In 1665, New York’s Colonial Legislature stated:
“Whereas, The public worship of God is much discredited for want of…able ministers to instruct the people in the true religion, it is ordered that a church shall be built in each parish capable of holding 200 persons; that ministers of every church shall preach every Sunday, and pray for the king, queen, the Duke of York, and the royal family…
Sunday is not to be profaned.”
William J. Federer is a nationally known speaker, best-selling author, and president of Amerisearch, Inc., a publishing company dedicated to researching America’s noble heritage.
To learn more visit William Federer
Featured image: New Amsterdam, courtesy of New Amsterdam History Center.
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