De Halve Maen: Patroons

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PATROONS


We share and celebrate the historic contributions of New Netherland and connect diverse peoples to a common heritage, strengthening our communities and our futures. We encourage our communities to engage with our past and with our future. We explore the ethnically and religiously diverse inhabitants of New Netherland and their worldwide connections. We inspire appreciation for the foundational role of New Netherland in the creation of the values of American society. We provide appealing educational programs to advance understanding of the influence and importance of New Netherland. We connect the world today with the communities of New Netherland today. P.O. Box 10609 Albany, NY 12201 www.newnetherlandmuseumn.org info@newnetherlandmuseum.org ŠNew Netherland Museum


introduction New Netherland was founded by the Dutch on the Delaware, Hudson, and Connecticut rivers in the 17th century. It included parts of what are now the states of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware. New Netherland was part of a global Dutch mercantile initiative that included other Dutch settlements in South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia during the Golden Age of the Netherlands. Dutch merchants and settlers quickly followed the 1609 transatlantic voyage of the Half Moon and the New Netherland Company (NNC) was chartered as early as 1614 by merchants from Amsterdam and Hoorn. Initially fur trading, par-

ticularly beaver pelts, was the region’s main attraction. Soon the NNC was succeeded by the Dutch West Indies Company (WIC) and the great cities of the Middle Atlantic States including New Amsterdam, now New York City, were founded. Eventually New Netherland was transferred to the English as part a global settlement between The Netherlands and the English crown. The half century of New Netherland would prove to have a lasting influence on the United States. Among the better known legacies are its currency the dollar, derived from the Dutch coin the Daalder, a federal system of government, religious toleration, and commercial corporations, and even Santa Claus.

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Leo Belgicus, door Claes Jansz. Visscher 1609

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The Netherlands in Europe The cities of the 17 Provinces of the Low Lands (what are now the nations of Belgium, Luxemburg, and The Netherlands) were tied by trade with all the nations on the North and Baltic Seas and had been connected for centuries. Antwerp, now in Belgium, was a city in the Hanseatic League, as were Groningen and two trading cities in the Bishopric of Utrecht. This league, which flourished from the 13th to 16th centuries, linked the cities of the Low Countries in a web that extended from Russia to London

and beyond. With the fall of Antwerp in the south to the Spanish in 1585, thousands of talented and entrepreneurial citizens fled north to the 7 United Provinces that had continued the War of Independence from Spain. There they joined other immigrants: Poles, Lithuanians, Germans, Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, French, Scots, English, Irish, and Spanish Jews, who had come to the prosperous and free 7 United Provinces seeking economic opportunity, or fleeing war and persecution.

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Len Tantillo, Fort Orange and the Patroon’s House


The Netherlands in North America By 1624 the West Indies Company In America needed, settlers to support their claim to the region between the Delaware and Connecticut rivers. The company provided a ship, the Nieu Netherlandt, free passage and land, and a share in the fur trade. The first settlers in New Netherland included some 30 Protestant families who from what is now Belgium to the 7 United Provinces. These settlers were scattered throughout New Netherland. Following them, over the next

few decades came more settlers who reflected the ethnic diversity of The Netherlands. From the very beginning New Netherland was far more ethnically and religiously diverse than the surrounding English colonies of New England and Virginia. By the 1660s, the colony was a success. Peace had been made with the English colonies and the short-lived New Sweden initiative on the Delaware was incorporated into New Netherland.

The De Block Map

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Patroonships It should be noted that by 1629 the colony had started to falter, due to lack commitment, leadership and funds. However, new life was injected into the colony by the introduction of “patroonships� where leading individuals in The Netherlands became stewards over areas in New Netherland. The most successful patroonship was Rensselaerswijk, near the current city of Albany. It was this influx of new capital, cattle, and care that underwrote the momentum of the settlement and made for a successful colony.

Great Hall of Van Rensselaer Manor House, Albany, New York. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Gezicht op Nieuw Amsterdam, door Johannes Vingboons (Nationaal Archief, Den Haag)

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New Netherland in the World New Netherland was not isolated in the world. It was what today would be considered a subsidiary of the multinational company. This West Indies Company had subsidiaries in the Caribbean, South America, Africa and elsewhere. In Amsterdam its headquarters was located near the headquarters of other multinational companies such as the Northern Company and the Dutch East Indies Company each with their own global networks. In New Amsterdam, through trade with The Netherlands, prosperous merchants at Fort

Orange could drink out of Chinese porcelain cups and discuss the price of Chinese tea in all four corners of the globe. The global awareness of the citizens of New Netherland was further increased by trading ships that came and went directly from Mediterranean, Caribbean, South American, and African ports. The island of New Amsterdam was deeply connected to the world, a heritage that would allow it to become its center.

Castello plan

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Tolerance and Diversity Most of the world in the early 1600s was religiously intolerant and rigorously clannish. Who we now call Presbyterians and Episcopalians killed each other in the English Civil War over the differences within Protestantism. The French massacred Huguenots and expelled others. Jews lived in fear of the Inquisition. The Thirty Years War, supposedly between the Protestants and Catholics, left Germany in ruins, killing perhaps a third of the population. The Dutch were different. Although still struggling for their independence from Catholic Spain and officially Calvinist Protestant, the United Provinces of the Netherlands enacted a policy of freedom of conscience allowing all law-abiding people to believe as they will, as long as it did not subvert public order. This policy attracted immigrants from all over Europe. In 1643, Issac Jogues, a French Jesuit, described New Amsterdam as having “...4 or five hundred men of various sects and nations” speaking “... eighteen different languages” and listed the inhabitants as Catholic, Lutheran, Anabaptist, Mennonite, and “English Puritan.” He also mentions “...the English prefer to have lands among the Dutch, who require nothing from them, to depending upon English Milords, who, exact rents and like to put on airs of being absolute.” The Dutch policy of religious toleration was extended to New Netherland, even in the face of local opposition by Director-General Stuyvesant. He was instructed by the West Indies Company to allow Jewish refugees from the Inquisition in Brazil to remain in New Netherland to “...enjoy the same liberty that is granted them in this country...” When English Quakers were oppressed by Stuyvesant, the West Indies Company was quite firm and consistent in its instructions to the leader of New Netherland in 1664: “...you may therefore shut your eyes, at least not force

people’s consciences, but allow everyone to have his own belief, as long as he behaves quietly and legally, gives no offense to his neighbors and does not oppose the government.” The English Pilgrims who later founded Plymouth in New England fled persecution at home and lived in Leiden for ten years. Although they were offered a chance to go to New Netherland, they were fearful their children were becoming too “Dutch,” so they sailed to New England to set up a theocracy free from the corrupting influence of living in a diverse and tolerant society. Other people who had moved to the Netherlands and become part of the Dutch-speaking world later moved on to New Netherland seeking opportunities. Good old New Netherland names include Zabriskie from Poland, Bradt from Norway, Debevoise, from France, and Hewett from England. New Netherland also received refugees from New England. Many groups which found the English colonies too theologically strict came. Interestingly, that included two groups led by women: Anne Hutchinson and her followers in the Bronx, and Lady Deborah Moody and her group of Anabaptists at Gravesend in Brooklyn.

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How to become a Patroon Rensselaer Patroons: Minimum of $5000 per year for a period of 5 years donation, either as a one-time payment or an annual pledge for five consecutive years. As a tokens of appreciation a Rensselaer Patroon will receive a painting by James Whitbeck, a calligraphy appointment as a Patroon of New Netherland, and a fiveyear membership in the Netherland Club. Blommaert Patroons: Minimum $5000 donation. As a token of appreciation a Blommaert Patroon will receive a calligraphy appointment as a Patroon of New Netherland and a one-year membership in the Netherland Club. Van der Donck Patroons: Minimum of $1000 donation. As a token of appreciation a Van der Donck Patroon will receive a calligraphy appointment as a Patroon of New Netherland.

Why patroonships today? What binds us together in the 21st century? What do we have common with each other? What is the basis of our communities? Is it merely that we live under the same rulers or do we share common beliefs? The Dutch-speaking world of the 16th century created a new vision of how people may live together, a vision based on respect for individuals and shared liberty among different communities, each pledged to mutual support. These values were transplanted to the New World not in the theocracy of New England or the slave society of Virginia but to New Netherland, now the Middle Atlantic States of New York and, New Jersey, among others. Tolerance in a diverse community is worth celebrating and supporting!

Please note that the New Netherland Museum is 501c(3) foundation and the Friends of the New Netherland Museum enjoys a charitable 501c(3) status.

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Upcoming Programs New Netherland Festival Hudson River Marine Parade An accredited online college course on New Netherland Book publication, Spirit of the Half Moon Museum exhibit coordinated with book Mission Hoorn New Netherlands Reenactments Workshops on New Netherland curriculum and living history International student programming aboard our replica ship Half Moon Formation of United New Netherlands™

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New Netherland Museum PO Box 10609 Albany, New York 12201 +1 802-688-6887 Š New Netherland Museum 2015


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