History of New Netherland
This page describes the history of New Netherland in greater detail.
Pre-Independence Era (1616-1795)
Early History
The Dutch West India Company hired Henry Hudson to seek a passage to Asia in 1611. Hudson sailed to the northeast to find this passage but instead found the coasts of present-day New England and New Netherland.
After he had reported to the Dutch Republic of this fertile land with inhabitants willing to trade, merchants came settling in, and they built multiple settlements. In 1624, the Dutch WIC established the settlement of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. New Netherland was also declared a province of the Dutch Republic in the same year and was ruled by Director-Generals appointed by the Dutch WIC. To encourage settlement, the Dutch West India Company established the Patrön System in 1629. Under the system, any person who can bring in and settle at least 50 persons over the age of 15 will receive a liberal grant of land with the title of patrön (akin to "lord").
As the population of New Netherland grew, the people were becoming more disenchanted with the governance of the Dutch WIC over New Netherland. To appease the colonists, the Dutch WIC had convened multiple councils composed of colonists to advise the Director-General. However, the advice of these councils were often ignored by the Director-General. This disgruntlement was amplified when a Director-General, Willem Kieft, started a war against the natives over stolen pigs in 1643, against the wishes of the colonial council.
As a response to Kieft's war, the Board of Nine, led by colonist and lawyer Adriaen van der Donck, penned a complaint to the Dutch Republic against the unresponsiveness of the Dutch WIC to the colonists' rights and requests. This document was called the Remonstrance of New Netherland and had condemned the WIC for mismanagement and demanded full rights for the colonists as citizens of the Netherlands.
The Municipal Charter of 1656
The Dutch WIC responded to the complaints by appointing Peter Stuyvesant as the Director-General. During this time, land ownership regulations were loosened and liberalized, and the province experienced exponential growth. However, multiple complaints were still made against the WIC’s control and governance over the province.
This had led Adriaen van der Donck to return to the Dutch Republic once again and seek redress. After years of political and legal wrangling, the Dutch Republic finally came down against the Dutch WIC and decided to grant New Netherland a new municipal charter in 1652, giving them a popularly elected government to govern internal affairs. Van der Donck became the colony's first leader. This charter also barred the Dutch WIC from internal affairs and governance. The former Director General Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the Governor-General in Dutch Formosa.
English Encroachment
During the early years of New Netherland, the English colonists in the northeast have started settling on Dutch claimed territory. Numerous English settlements have been built on the west side of the Fresh River (Connecticut River), which was originally claimed by the Dutch. Having been defenseless, the few Dutch colonists in those areas were forced to abandon their settlements. Van der Donck asserted the claims of the Dutch. Additionally, by advise of his right-hand man Paulus van der Grist, Van der Donck established the NNL-Kommando system in 1659 (with the approval of the Dutch States-General). The NNL-Kommando system was a paramilitary reserve system created for the defense of the Dutch claimed areas in case of skirmishes and for settlement defense in general. The system also provided the colonists with training in weaponry and defense.
2nd Anglo-Dutch War (1664)
In our (original) timeline, this is where England had demanded New Netherland’s surrender, to which the New Netherland government (WIC) obliged because they were too weak to resist. However, in this timeline, the popular government of New Netherland refused to surrender. England then attacked the fort at New Amsterdam, and attacked the settlements near the border of New England. However, the local Kommandos and the Iroquois (Dutch allies) were able to quickly respond and repel these attacks. The Dutch West India Company’s army quickly marched towards Nieuwhaven and other settlements along the Fresh River (Connecticut River), as these settlements were on Dutch claimed land. Despite initial English naval success, the war ended in a Dutch victory. The resulting Treaty of Breda (1667) affirmed Dutch ownership of the land west of the Versche River and the land south of New Netherland up to the Zuyd River.
Prince Maurice’s War (1750-1755)
Prince Maurice's War was the colonial American theatre of a larger conflict in Europe known as the Great Silesian War. It was one of the largest colonial wars in North America, where the colonies of Britain, Spain, and the Dutch Republic were pitted against those of France and their native allies.
In the early years of the war, New France saw significant gains on the Tussenland front, occupying key areas. However, Dutch forces soon overpowered the invading French forces and marched northeast towards the Great Lakes region in 1751, capturing several key forts in the area. Meanwhile, the armies of New France had marched south from Montreal to invade the Iroquoian homeland, which was a protectorate under the Dutch colony of Tussenland. However, the local guerilla militia known as the NNL-Kommando had successfully repelled the invasion. An attempt by the NNL-Kommando to take Montreal had ended terribly, but soon, in late 1752, the city was occupied by combined Dutch and British forces. Quebec and other forts along the St. Lawrence River were occupied in 1753. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vienna on 16 February 1755. The treaty granted the Dutch possession of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Basin region, while the British were granted possession of Guadeloupe (including the islands of Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Les Saintes, Marie-Galante, and La Désirade). In Europe, Prussia's territory was divided between the allies. East Frisia becomes part of the United Provinces, and East Prussia has been granted to Russia, who then had exchanged it for the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia shortly after, which had been under the Polish Dominion.
Statute on the Rights of Patroons (1786) & The Military Assimilation Act (1792)
The 1700s in New Netherland were defined by border conflicts between the patroons, and tension between the patroon militias and the NNL-Kommando trying to contain these conflicts. Sibren van Heemskerck, a staunch anti-aristocrat, was elected by the colonial assembly as director of New Netherland in 1785. The Council of Nine, now mostly occupied by settlers and workers, had hoped that Director van Heemskerck would crack down on the abuses by the patroons in their domain, which was largely ignored by the preceding director. In 1786, van Heemskerck issued the Statute on the Rights of Patroons in 1786, which stripped the patroons of absolute power to rule over their lands. Under the statute, the director of the colony would have greater authority, and all land-owning patroons would now be subject to the director and the colonial council of Nine. The statute was part of van Heemskerck’s attempts to centralize and solidify the colony’s administration and authority.”
In 1792, the succeeding leader of NNL, Eleazar Henrÿcksz, enacted the Military Assimilation Act, which did mostly two things:
- Heavy taxation for the patroons.
- Use this new tax to buy off the militia from the patroons and increase the budget for the NNL-Kommando. So they become less powerful.
New Netherland Independence (1795-1796)
The French Revolution, and Political Turmoil in New Netherland
As part of the revolutionary campaign in the Low Countries, the French Republic invaded the Dutch Republic, and replaced it with a client state, the Batavian Republic. The Dutch stadtholder, Prince of Orange, who had fled to England, initially refused to recognize the Batavian Republic, and ordered all Dutch colonial governors to surrender to and temporarily accept British authority instead for safekeeping. As the news got to the New Netherland, many were demoralized and discouraged by the orders. It had demoralized both the private patroon militias and the NNL-Kommandos as well. Two loosely-knit factions emerged from this conflict:
- Loyalists: supporters of the Dutch republic and Dutch colonial interests, who denounced the surrender orders as treacherous
- Orangists: Supporters of William V, who warmly viewed the orders as legitimate.
Even the loyalist opinion was divided. Some viewed William V order as treacherous, while some refused to surrender and maintain the colony as it is until William V is restored to power (believing a conspiracy that William V had been forced/coerced by the British to surrender the colonies). Director-General Eleazar Henrÿcksz, a staunch Orangist, warmly received the orders and sent them to the Colonial Assembly for approval. The Assembly, which was composed of mostly Orangists, set aside their disdain for the Director for now, and approved the order quickly, in fear of a military conflict between Great Britain and New Netherland.
This move by the Director and the council left the patroons and loyalist common-folk disillusioned. The NNL-Kommando denounced the decision of Eleazar Henrÿcksz and the Colonial Assembly.
The Particularists
A new faction had emerged: the Particularists, composed of patroons, NNL-Kommandos, and common-folk who did not want to surrender to Great Britain, and a bunch of previously non-radical folk who were now disdainful of the government. Although this was a loosely knit faction, many patroons and commonfolk have identified themselves to be particularists.
But despite the protests, Director Eleazar Henryckszoon announced the colony’s surrender. He put New Netherland at the British disposal on November 1795 on paper. However, the particularists were outraged at the hasty decision-making and the lack of public involvement in the decision.
The Particularist Revolt (1795)
The Dutch Colonial Force had suffered massive defection and desertion by their troops, due to the demoralizing surrender to the British. Some particularists, however, saw this as an opportunity to remove the Orangists from power.
In 1796, Claes van der Beeke, a wealthy patroon who controlled a large militia, planned a coup d’etat in Spring 1796, using a combined force of his militia and NNL-Kommando defectors. This army was called the Vrÿheydsleger (lit. Freedom Army, although this did not imply independence, rather freedom from British occupation). Claes’ son, Marÿn van der Beeke, led this army and marched to New Amsterdam to seize control of the city.
On April 2, 1796, the Prinsenvlag was once again flown at the Unity Palace (seat of colonial government), after the Vrÿheydsleger defeated the army stationed at Fort New Amsterdam.
On 4 April 1796, Claes van Beeke declared a provisional military government. This provisional government did not aim to gain independence or secede from the Dutch Republic, but rather to briefly fill in the power void that occurred.
Director Eleazar Henrycksz and some members of the Council of Nine were arrested by Claes van der Beeke’s army a week later for treason. The townspeople of Kievitshoeck, a small village near the northern border, recognized them dressed in farmers’ grabs trying to escape to New England, and alerted the local NNL-Kommando field-captain in the area. Captured members of the colonial assembly were forced to swear their allegiance to the Dutch Republic and the provisionary colonial government. They were detained in Fort Van der Donck (named after the Father of New Netherland) in New Amsterdam.
The Autumn War (1796)
A month after the coup, New England diplomat Alexander Upperton delivered an ultimatum from the British to the provisionary colonial government of New Netherland. Claes van der Beeke was to surrender to the British within the next month or New Netherland would face grave consequences from Great Britain. During this period, Voskes would not follow through, and ordered the hasty construction of defenses near the New England border.
Realizing that his authority might be in danger, Van der Beeke sent an envoy to France to ask for recognition and support. The envoy, Gÿsje van Langedÿk, was received well in France, citing a mutual distrust towards the English and support for the French Republic. Van Langedÿk successfully negotiated a loan for the provisional government, which had a positive impact in the early years of the government.
Great Britain declared war against New Netherland in 1796 for refusing the ultimatum. But was outnumbered by the New Netherland and French forces combined. Man of the hour was Marÿn van Beeke, who led the New Netherland forces to victory in battles. He was the son of a wealthy patroon and had military experience in the NNL-Kommando and briefly the Dutch West India army.
The war continued on until 1798 (two years). The war resulted in a stalemate. Former director Eleazar Henryckszoon was exiled to Great Britain. Great Britain was forced to withdraw from the Autumn war due to the outbreak of the War of the Second Coalition back in Europe.
Treatment of the Hödenoshieöné Confederacy
After the successful independence of New Netherland in 1796, the new government started to claim lands owned by the Iroquois. Before their independence, New Netherland was already allowed by the Iroquois to build settlements inside their land, in exchange for a quarterly land due. However, with New Netherland's independence, the Iroquois confederacy was wary if the new government would continue to pay their dues. A few years later, the new government claimed a vast portion of Iroquois land as part of New Netherland, but promised that they would still pay the dues that the government owes them. Despite the promise, some nations inside the confederacy (most notably the Seneca and the Cayuga) protested the claims, pointing the violation of their sovereignty. The Grand Council of the confederacy convened multiple times with the agenda of how to resolve the conflicting claims. The Cayuga and Seneca advocated that they move south, away from New Netherland, as a means to preserve their sovereignty, while the others voted to retain in their traditional homeland. Unable to come to a conclusion, the Seneca and Cayuga led a migration down south and became protectorates of the Dutch, thus ending the confederacy.