The people of New Netherland are often thought to be Dutch, mainly due to the colony being founded by the West India Company which was governed by the Dutch. However, this area, which became New York in 1664 after being seized by England, was home to a diverse population of European immigrants. These settlers came from Holland, Sweden, France, Germany, and other surrounding areas. I wanted to learn more about this distinct group of people than Roark mentioned in our textbook, so I visited a website found at http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/nnd.html to discover more.
Stefan Bielinski refers to the people of the region as the New Netherland Dutch on his web page. Starting with just a few thousand immigrants, they settled in a region that is now Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. He goes on to state that this population was also comprised of people originally from Norway, Denmark, England, Scotland, and Ireland in addition to the countries mentioned by Roark. This meant that nearly half of the immigrants who came to settle in New Netherland were not of Dutch descent. They were, however, transported to North America as a means of supporting the Dutch’s West India Company. Bielinski also notes that more than one-tenth of the people in what finally was renamed Albany were African slaves who were also original settlers that helped shape the New Netherland Dutch and their colonies.
New Netherland became home to mostly young men and boys who had made the trip from Europe alone. Some immigrants arrived as families comprised of husbands, wives, and children. Families grew as children were born in America and marriages were conducted between people of different ethnicities, further adding to the diversity of the colony. By 1697, ...
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...etherlanders and their ancestors who eventually lived in the colony of Albany. The only downfall to this website is that you can easily get lost in all of the information as you link around within the site making it difficult to revisit the page you first started reading. It would also be nice to have more images within the entire website to add interest and a deeper understanding of the New Netherland people and their way of life.
The website is especially useful for anyone who has a personal connection to the area or people of New Netherland. The People of Colonial Albany Live Here website has an index with every possible subject imaginable including biographies, churches, families, maps, and wills. Through Bielinski’s work and all of the external links he has provided the web-user, a person can learn a lot about New Netherland and its progressive history.
Lefler, Hugh T., and William S. Powell. Colonial North America. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973.
Some settlers came for jobs and others came because either the king was going to give them money. For example “ les Filles du Roi”. “Les files du roi” were approximately 800-900 young french single woman aged 15-30 who came by themselves or were recruited by the king because there were barely any woman and the king wanted to keep populating New France. The woman themselves would find a man and see if she would get along, if so they would get married and the king would pay them to have large families. Another example some settlers also came because of their intrests in North America such as wanting to trade for spices, skills, and jewels. Settlers that were men also came bcause they needed a job or needed to make a living off of something. In the 1400`s european contries tried to find new water routs to asia which led them to the finding of the Americans.
The 18th Century was a time where most immigrants were of Irish, British, and German descent. From the 1890’s, through the next couple decade, Italians, and Jews would be the cause a new wave of immigration. Between 1900 and 1915, 3 million immigrants would take the journey, and travel to America. They would come through the famed “Ellis
Fried, Marc, B. The Early History of Kingston and Ulster County: Marble town, New York Ulster County Society, 1975
In the years from 1860 through 1890, the prospect of a better life attracted nearly ten million immigrants who settled in cities around the United States. The growing number of industries produced demands for thousands of new workers and immigrants were seeking more economic opportunities. Most immigrants settled near each other’s own nationality and/or original village when in America.
Surviving anywhere south of New England was a major challenge for the colonists in the seventeenth century in part due to the overwhelming majority of men in society combined with a high death rate. Just to continue a family was a daunting challenge, and in many cases, this venture proved unsuccessful. Population consistency was sustained only through the immigration of people from England until the later portion of the seventeenth century when the population began to rise on its own. The New England colonies, however, were polar opposites in every sense. Be...
Jamestown, one of the first groups to set foot on this place we call, North America. Jamestown referred to North America as the New World, since they did not know what to call it. The English arrived in 1607, the English had a very difficult time in the New World. Which mainly led to death. Many Jamestown colonists died because of, sickness, water difficulties, and starvation.
When Europeans first came to the New World in the late 16th century they were entering new territory and had no idea what to expect. Their views on everything from geographic, politics, climate, to diet, etc. where about to change, and their need for survival would hopefully outweigh these challenges. Only small parts of this new world had ever been explored over the past century, and what information the new settlers had was lacking. The new settlers had assumed the climate would be like that of Europe in the New World and that the weather would be similar and their crops would grow like they did back home. But that was not the case, as they came to find out the summers were hot and the winters were harsh, and many of there crops did not grow. They also believed the New World to be largely uninhabited, as the Indians did not live like they did back home in permanent villages and towns, but rather off the land traveling, as they needed.
My focus mostly is on recruiting people of the lower class and trying to get them to come to New Amsterdam as well as the wealthier entrepreneurs. I did this first by creating a poster. The poster includes the saying, “Let the journey begin and discover what’s possible in New Amsterdam!” I chose this saying so people can realize that they can start a new journey by coming to America and seeing that anything is possible here. Some things include economic opportunities, the fur trade and patroons. People from the European countries will also have a chance to work and make money. For example, wages of workers has increased, farm handlers could earn up to 40 stivers per day while wheat harvesters could earn up to 50 stivers. Also, the farms in
Taylor, Alan American Colonies: The Settling of North America, New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2001. pg. 1685-1730
The United States as a whole is seen as the land of opportunity. New York is a major central for diversity and because of that many people from different cultural atmospheres have brought their families and dreams to New York City. Although Immigration patters throughout the last 200 years have varied, New York has consistently seen people from around the world move to the city and call it home. From the earliest points in our history as a nation, New York has been a center for trade and economic growth. New York is known world wide as a cultural melting pot. While other states have had immigration surges, none have compared to the diversity and sheer number of immigrants that have made their way to the City. This paper will focus on the Immigration patterns and the diverse, yet culturally similar communities within New York.
Often when looking at American history, people tend to lump all the characters and actors involved as similar. This is especially the case in regards to Early American Colonial history. Because the Puritan communities that grew rapidly after John Winthrop’s arrival in 1630 often overshadow the earlier colony at Plymouth, many are lead to assume that all settlers acted in similar ways with regard to land use, religion, and law. By analyzing the writings of William Bradford and John Winthrop, one begins to see differing pictures of colonization in New England.
Until the 1860s, the early immigrants not only wanted to come to America, but they also meticulously planned to come. These immigrants known as the “Old Immigrants” immigrated to America from many countries in Northern and Western Europe, known as, Sweden, Norway, Scandinavia, Wales and Ireland. Some of them traveled to Canada, but most of them came to the U.S. seeking freedom they didn’t get in their own countries. Ireland had also recently suffered through a potato famine, where the citizens were left poor and starving. Most settled in New York City and other large cities, where they worked in factories and other low-paying jobs. The immigrants caused a great increase in population in these areas. The “Old Immigrants” tried not to cluster themselves with others of their own nationality. They would mostly try to fit in with Americans as best as they could. Many of them had a plan to come to America, so they saved their money and resources before they arrived so they could have a chance at a better life. On the other hand, another group of immigrants began to arrive
Like many Norwegians in the late 1800’s my ancestors made the expedition from Norway to America in pursuit of a better life. The most common route that most Norwegian natives would voyage was from Norway to New York, and then they would colonize in the Great Plains in the upper Midwest. Which encompassed states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, or the Dakotas. Most Norwegians preferred to settle in rural a area, which was what these states offered, as well as the possibility to stay in close proximity with other Norwegian immigrants.
Immigration to America began when Christopher Columbus discovered the new land now called the American continent. Immigration increased in the 17th century when people came from Europe, Africa, and Asia to the new land. There were many colonies, such as the British and Dutch. When people came they go to their people and find jobs as farmers. The first immigrants were in the east coast around 1607 to 1775 after the number of immigrants increased. In 1790 - 1850 there were few immigrants who came to America, but in 1850 to 1930 the number of immigrations increased (Dolan 4).