European Explorers

1. European Explorers Mr. Luvera Chapter 3: European Explorers Unit 2: Two Cultures Meet

2. Henry Hudson • Around 1600, European trading companies began wondering if there was a way to sail to India and Asia that might be faster than the one they already knew. The companies knew that if they could find a northeastern shortcut, they could beat the competition, and also cut out the middlemen who controlled most of the trade on the existing route. • In 1607 and 1608, British explorer Henry Hudson led voyages to find a "northeast passage" across the Arctic Ocean. Blocked by icebergs, both voyages failed. Since no English company would fund a two-time failure, Hudson persuaded the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) to back his third voyage.

3. Henry Hudson • In 1609, Hudson left Amsterdam onboard the ship Halve Maen (Half Moon) to try again to find the northeast passage. The combination of the extreme cold and other excruciating conditions were so horrible that the crew threatened mutiny unless Hudson agreed to sail southward. • The Half Moon crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Newfoundland, Canada. Hudson then sailed down the coast searching for a northwest passage across the North American continent. When he arrived in what is now New York Harbor, he sailed up the Hudson River, hoping it would lead to the Pacific Ocean. But he soon realized that, yet again, he had failed to find the northeast passage he sought, and he turned back. • In 1610, Hudson made another trans-Atlantic voyage for the British. Once again, Hudson managed to make his crew miserable. In 1611, the crew put him and his son on a small boat near Newfoundland and cast them off. They were never seen again. http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/media_players/early1.html Video clip of Henry Hudson

4. "Landing of Hendrick Hudson," print after the painting by Robert Weir, courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

5. Dutch West India Company In the pursuit of profits, the Company traded commodities such as spices, sugar, fur, and slaves. It also fought battles against Spain to gain new territory. The Dutch West India Company was an offshoot of the Dutch East India Company, which funded Henry Hudson's voyage to North America in 1609. If Hudson could find a secret shortcut to Asia, the Company thought, they would make even more profits. Although Hudson failed at this mission, his dazzling reports of fur trading opportunities inspired merchants. About fifteen years later, the Company sent over some thirty families as colonists and workers. They called the colony they founded "New Amsterdam." Later renamed New York, it would grow into one of the greatest cities in the world. Seal of New Netherlands, the Dutch territories in North America http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/media_players/early2.html Video Clip on fur trading

6. 1.  What might the Native American want to buy? 2.  What might the trader want to buy? 3.  If this trading post was in New York State, where was it most likely located?

8. New Amsterdam The Dutch West India Company was so eager to increase the population of its New Amsterdam colony that it encouraged cultural diversity. In contrast to colonial cities like Boston and Philadelphia, New Amsterdam included immigrants from many different countries, including France, Belgium, England, and Germany. In addition to these European immigrants, many African slaves were brought to the new world by force to help build houses and streets. By 1643, when the population of the colony reached about five hundred people, there were eighteen different languages spoken in the city. To accommodate the growth, colonists developed land near Manhattan, including Breuckelen (which became Brooklyn.) Primary occupations on the island included farming, fur trading, and lumbering. The local Dutch Reformed church educated the local children until 1638, when the company sent a schoolmaster named Adam Roelantsen to open the first school in New Amsterdam. This school later became Collegiate School, a private school for boys that still exists! http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/media_players/early6.html View film about New Amsterdam

9. Illustration: "Nieu Amsterdam," mid-seventeenth-century, Courtesy of the L.N. Phelps Stokes Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

10. Migration

11. Peter Stuyvesant • Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam in 1647. With a silver-tipped peg leg, a large sword, and a dark mustache -- he was an intimidating sight. Stuyvesant's right leg had to be amputated after being crushed by a cannonball during a battle with the Spanish three years earlier. • When he arrived, Stuyvesant told the colonists, "I shall govern you as a father his children." He established order through strict new laws. Taverns and brothels were all closed, and everyone had to attend church. All large animals had to be fenced in. If a pig wandered near the fort, soldiers were instructed to shoot it. Stuyvesant also tried to right some wrongs against the Indians. For instance, he insisted that Indians be paid properly for their services. http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/media_players/early7.html Film on Peter Stuyvesant

12. The New Amsterdam colony became the New York colony. The new owner of the colony is the Duke of York. Duke allowed the Dutch to continue their traditions and not change their lives. New Amsterdam surrendered to England.

14. Peaceful Surrender • When one country takes over another country's land, there's usually bloodshed. The way in which the Dutch colony "Nieu Amsterdam" became English colony "New York" is a remarkable exception. • In August 1664, four English warships arrived in New Amsterdam's harbor. The English sent a letter to Peter Stuyvesant, requesting his surrender. The letter promised that every man would be guaranteed "life and liberty." The stubborn Stuyvesant didn't reply. When he then received another letter, he tore it up.

15. Peaceful Surrender • A concerned crowd eventually forced Stuyvesant to piece the letter back together and read it aloud. The angry Stuyvesant went to Fort Amsterdam and prepared to open fire on the British. Before he could take action, Stuyvesant was handed a petition signed by New Amsterdam's prominent citizens, including his own son. The petition stated that if Stuyvesant refused to surrender, the result would be "misery, sorrow . . . and . . . the absolute ruin and destruction of about fifteen hundred innocent souls . . ." Stuyvesant had no choice; he had to surrender. • In September 1664, the British renamed New Amsterdam "New York," for the Duke of York, the king's brother, who now ran the colony. He generously allowed the Dutch colonists to stay on, with their property intact, if they took an oath to the king. http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/media_players/early11.html Film on Surrender

16. A New England Dame school in old colonial times, 1713.  Engraving. The first schools children in colonial America usually attended were Dame Schools.  Dame schools were generally taught by women (or "dames" as they were called in colonial times) in their own homes.  The teacher would often continue with her household chores while the children attended school. The young students learned to recognize and recite their letters and numbers.  They were taught to read and write simple words.  They also memorized prayers.  Dame schools rarely had desks, and there were few books for the children.  Their lessons were very simple.  This was the only schooling most girls received during the early colonial years.  Boys often went on to grammar schools where they continued their education.

17. New York Builds Trade • Merchants, or people who buy and sell goods, traded many products in New York. • Wheat, furs, meat, lumber, fish, and vegetables were exported (something sold or traded to another country. • Glassware, china, and luxury fabrics were imported (something brought into a country for sale) from England.

18. Slave Trade • Ships from the Caribbean and from Africa brought enslaved Africans to New York. • Enslaved Africans were sold and transported to other colonies. • Ships from Europe brought indentured servants. • An employer paid for the servant to come to the colonies, and the servant had to work a certain number of years.

19. In the colony of New York slaves did many different types of jobs.  They worked on farms, in homes and in factories.  Enslaved men, women, and children were considered to be the property of their owners.  They were be bought and sold in markets like animals or furniture. The food, houses, and clothing of slaves were usually of the poorest quality.  Enslaved men and women had to do whatever their owners wanted them to do. Slaves were not considered citizens of the colony.

20. Slave Trade • As New Amsterdam grew in the 1600s, so did the demand for slaves. The West India Company was committed to building up the colony -- but wanted to do so as cheaply as possible. First and foremost, the Company was motivated by economics. They realized that for the same cost as hiring a white laborer for just one year, the Company could buy an experienced slave from the West Indies. By the 1660s, slaves made up from 15 to 20 percent of the population of New Amsterdam. • Male slaves built public buildings, roads, and large walls (including the wall for which Wall Street is named). They also tended livestock, worked the farms, and helped unload cargo ships. Female slaves mostly did domestic work, such as cooking and cleaning. Slaves sometimes worked for attorneys and physicians. In pursuit of getting the cheapest labor force possible, the Company sometimes trained slaves in skilled labor such as carpentry and bricklaying. http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/media_players/early8.html Film on Slave Trade

21. Illustration: "The First Slave Auction at New Amsterdam in 1655," by Howard Pyle, courtesy of the Granger Collection, New York.

22. Advertisement Offering a Slave for SaleNew York Weekly-Journal April 15, 1734 ScrubwomanBaroness Hyde de NeuvilleNew York, 1807-1822Watercolor on paperNew-York Historical Society

23. John Peter Zenger • http://www.macmillanmh.com/ss/ny/u2ch4_bio.html • This famous trial gave Americans freedom of the press. This is the right to print or tell the news without fear of punishment.

24. John Peter Zenger Trial

25. John Peter Zenger created a newspaper called New York Weekly Journal in 1733.

26. Farmers and Townspeople • The New York area had rich farmland. Farmers were able to produce a surplus, more than they needed. • Extra crops were then sold to markets in other North American colonies. • Boys fed pigs, watered horses, and herded cows on the farm. • Girls spun linen, did laundry, made butter, and milked cows. • People used rivers to transport their wheat and corn to market. • Some farms were on manors, large pieces of land divided up into several farms and rented by landowners to farmers.

27. Waterfront of New York City • Sailors loaded and unloaded packet boats, boats that carried letters and other goods from England. • The waterfront smelled of imported coffee, spices, and sugar. • Streetsellers called out to buyers, and merchants discussed deals. • New York’s population and economy grew. Farmers came to towns to sell their goods and buy goods from Europe. • Craftworkers set up small shops to make and sell items such as iron tools and saddles.

28. Colonial Government • A government is the system which runs a country, state, or city. • A legislature is a group of citizens that make laws. New Yorkers were allowed to elect members to a legislature, called an assembly. • Taxes are money collected to pay the costs of government • Colonial New York had judges.

29. Philipsburg Manor • see text book pgs. 112 and 113 • http://www.macmillanmh.com/ss/ny/u2_vft.html • Artifacts film: http://www.macmillanmh.com/ss/ny/artifacts/Wooden_Barrels.swf • New York Colony film: http://www.macmillanmh.com/ss/ny/big_idea_video/NY_Unit_2.swf