Why Doesn't the U.S. Know About its Own Dutch Origins?

a couple months ago i made a video on why i thought the dutch had an underestimated impact on american history and the defining characteristics and values of the country today this was done primarily through the dutch colony of new netherland and its settlement of new amsterdam that served as the seat of the colonial government this video is kind of part two to that one so if you haven't watched that video yet i've left a link in the description below most americans know little more about their dutch past other than that the dutch once occupied manhattan and the legend that peterman we bought manhattan from the natives for 24 worth of household goods or seashells but even that story has its issues the details surrounding the story suggest inaccuracies questionable sources and at a minimum a misunderstanding between the parties involved so that's the theme of this video why is the u.s left with this one story and a sketchy one at that why doesn't the united states know about its own dutch origins but before i get too far into it first i want to share a little part of my life outside of youtube one of my hobbies before youtube was creating decorative maps of my favorite places so back in the summer of 2018 i started an online map shop called zach's map shop like my videos they can be a bit random a large portion of the maps are american national parks but i'm slowly widening the range of maps available i also sell historical prints now not just my original designs most of my products are maps printed on high quality poster paper but i also sell other items such as stickers notebooks and coffee cups with christmas just months away if you're looking for something unique for a family member or friend or you're like me and just like to decorate your own home with maps come check out my shop i deeply appreciate any purchases as it helps support me and this channel you can check me out on etsy or my website at zaksmapshop.com now back to this video's topic the united states isn't ignorant of its dutch past because it chose to be but its main former colonizer the british probably were the united states just inherited the ignorance the netherlands and britain had a long-lasting rivalry over dominance of global trade four wars occurred between england and later great britain in the 17th and 18th centuries with the last coinciding with the american revolution in 1664 new netherland and its seat of government new amsterdam was taken from the dutch by the english and though the dutch are generally considered to have won the war that immediately followed the second anglo-dutch war the dutch didn't push for new amsterdam's return they were satisfied with keeping what was thought to be a more valuable and formerly british colony the newly seized suriname new netherland and its seat of government new amsterdam were changed to the province of new york and new york city by the british and it would stay in their hands for over a century the region's history was essentially reset an excerpt from a journal belonging to an 18th century virginia gentleman named william byrd ii i believe displays this english attitude and bias against the dutch he wrote this in 1728 as he and a party of surveyors drew the border between the colonies of virginia and north carolina another limb locked off from virginia was new york which the dutch seized very unfairly on pretense of having purchased it from captain hudson the first discover nor was their way of taking possession of it a whit more justifiable than their pretended title their west india company tampered with some worthy english skippers who had contracted with a swarm of english dissenters to transport them to hudson river by no means to land them there but to carry them some leagues more northerly this dutch finesse took exactly and gave the company time soon after to seize hudson river for themselves but sir samuel argall then governor of virginia understanding how the king's subjects had been abused by these republicans marched thither with a good force and obliged them to renounce all pretensions to that country the worst of it was the knight depended on their parole to ship themselves for brazil but took no measures to make this slippery people as good as their word no sooner was the good governor retired but the honest dutch began to build forts and strengthen themselves in their ill-gotten possessions nor did any of the king's liege people take the trouble to drive these intruders thence the civil war in england and the confusions it brought forth allowed no leisure for such distant considerations though it is strange that the protector who neglected no occasion to mortify the dutch did not afterwards call them to account for this breach of faith however after the restoration the king sent a squadron of his ships of war under the command of sir robert carr and reduced that province to his obedience some time after his majesty was pleased to grant that country to his royal highness the duke of york by letter's patent dated march the 12th 1664 but to show the modesty of the dutch to the life though they had no shadow of right to new york yet they demanded suriname a more valuable country as an equivalent for it and are able ministers at the time had the generosity to give it them looking at this excerpt it appears not just new netherland but really anything considered a dutch success was probably suppressed this includes the second and third anglo-dutch wars which played significant roles in american history but are rarely talked about in 1667 the netherlands attacked my home state of virginia at the mouth of the james river as part of the second anglo-dutch war i've lived in virginia my entire life and didn't know this until a few weeks ago when a friend of mine told me that while doing some genealogical research discovered that one of his ancestors had been killed by a cannonball during the conflict the fleet that attacked virginia was led by abraham cranston the same admiral who just months earlier had taken the british colony of suriname the dutch returned to attack at hampton roads in the third anglo-dutch war as well but colin has slowly stopped identifying as englishmen and resentment towards the british eventually grew independence was declared in 1776 and officially achieved in 1783 which the dutch actually helped the u.s achieve i made a video about this as well at this point americans having a shared resentment of the british would have probably been more open to accepting their dutch history but after over a century of being a british colony the americans naturally inherited the history that was taught and the most commonly spoken and written language was english making it difficult to read anything from a dutch perspective and english remained by far the most common language in the following two centuries after gaining independence even though today citizens with the majority english ancestry may make up as little as 7.8 percent of the u.s population on top of this the dutch language had evolved over those two centuries of english rule adding another barrier to reading historic documents left by new netherland new netherland left behind 12 000 pages of letters deeds wills journal entries council minutes and court proceedings but no one knew what they said in 1801 a committee headed by who would later be u.s vice president to thomas jefferson aaron burr declared that measures ought to be taken to procure a translation but none were in the 1820s a half-blind dutchman who was not very proficient in english translated the documents though it was poorly done nevertheless a 1911 fire destroyed the new york state library along with his translation in the early 20th century a highly skilled translator undertook the task but after two years of dedication his translation also burned up in the same fire after which he abandoned the task finally in 1974 a man named charles gehring began translating the documents later a woman named yanni fenima joined him and together have translated over 7000 of the 12 000 original documents revealing the lives of new netherlands inhabitants and the impact they had on what would become new york and the united states on a side note i think this highlights how difficult it can be to be unbiased when you are limited to sources in one language and it's something i struggle with on this channel essays journals and books have been written in the last few decades based on these translations several of my videos including this one took a lot of information from russell shorto's the island at the center of the world which i highly recommend but this is still relatively new information so it hasn't quite made it into many states school curriculum take a look at my home state of virginia this is from a high school class called us history to 1865. only the english colonies are mentioned leaving an entire geographic gap as if new york didn't exist and only the spanish french and english are mentioned as exploring north america the dutch are mentioned once in the virginia u.s history class but it just vaguely states that dutch-speaking immigrants came to the area above that it falsely states that the puritans were seeking freedom from religious persecution in europe though they already had religious freedom in the netherlands before coming to the colonies it then goes on to state that the middle colonies were home to multiple religious groups who generally believed in religious tolerance including quakers in pennsylvania huguenots and jews in new york yes there were jews that came to new york but only because of new amsterdam and the tolerance that came with being a dutch colony though peter streivasson wasn't a fan the one state that does appear to recognize the role that the dutch have played in american history is of course new york especially in more recent times in 1915 new york city adopted a flag influenced by the flag of the dutch republic and used in new amsterdam the seal at its center has an image of a windmill three windmills had been built in new amsterdam there is also a beaver the trait of which was one of the main reasons for the dutch colonization of the region in 1977 new york city changed the year on its seal from 1664 the year the english took new amsterdam to 1625 the year that new amsterdam was designated the seat of government for new netherland new york state has a 7th grade class called new york u.s history that emphasizes the influence that dutch had on new york and the united states as a whole and maybe just like culture always has in the u.s this will eventually spread outward from new york across the entire united states if you enjoyed this video please hit the like button and subscribe for more geography videos thank you for watching [Music] you

Channel: Geography Geek

Views: 365,640

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Id: MY5QSb35Muo

Length: 11min 0sec (660 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 09 2021