American History Tellers - Dutch Manhattan - Buying Manhattan | 2

Episode Date: September 11, 2019

Twelve years after Henry Hudson's 1609 trip charting the Hudson River, the Dutch used his voyage as the basis for a new colony, which would be wedged between the English colonies in New England and Virginia. New Netherland began with tiny numbers of people from different backgrounds. They settled the entire region that Hudson had traveled, from Delaware to New York to Connecticut. But being spread out so thinly exposed them to danger. In 1626, in the area around the future Albany, New York, a small party became embroiled in a fight between two native tribes, and some settlers were killed.In the aftermath, the colonists chose a new leader. Peter Minuit's first decision was to call all the settlers together for strength. Then he selected a location for a capital city, one that was strategically located in a world-class harbor and at the mouth of the colony's central river—a wilderness island called Manhattan. Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's the spring of 1626. You're a Dutch soldier, part of an expedition in the wilderness of North America, 150 miles upriver from Manhattan Island. Your people have struck a friendship with the Mohican natives in the region. This is their ancestral homeland, but your agreement allows you and other Dutch newcomers to farm and build homes here around a small wooden fort. You are part of a military contingent attached to the settlement. You're standing just inside the fort, at the edge of the forest, along the shore of the Hudson River. There are two groups gathered here, your own men, Dutch soldiers with their flintlock muskets slung over their shoulders, and a party of

Mohican Indians dressed in deerskins with long black hair armed with bows and arrows. You're listening intently as your leader, Captain Daniel van Kriekenbeek, is locked in conversation with a Mohican leader, a man named Monamin. They speak in a mix of Mohican and Dutch. Monamin is pleading. We need your help. Our village is under attack. The Mohawks, our ancient enemy, have sworn to destroy us.

Van Kriekenbeek nods in sympathy. I understand, my friend, and we made an agreement with you. We have an alliance. our ancient enemy have sworn to destroy us. Van Kriekenbeck nods in sympathy. I understand, my friend, and we made an agreement with you. We have an alliance. But you feel the need to interrupt here. Captain, with respect, may I remind you that we have very clear orders. We are to remain neutral, to stay out of disputes between Indian tribes. Van Kriekenbeck looks troubled.

He leads you outside the fort. There are about a dozen small houses scattered about, built by your people. Each is the home of a young couple. Some of the women who are planting crops in their little patches of farmland are pregnant. It's a peaceful scene, set against the broad upward sweep of the forested hillside. But something ominous hangs in the air. The captain puts his arm around your shoulder. See, these are our people, and my job is to protect them. We can't live here alone. If we help the Mohicans, they will help us. Don't you understand? I do, sir, but I also have heard that the Mohawks are stronger than the Mohicans. But this is how you maintain strength in the wilderness. Together, we are each stronger than one alone.

It's my job to make alliances, and I'm a man of my word. Van Krikenbeek leads you back inside the fort, where Moneman is waiting. Moneman, my friend, we will fight at your side. You don't like it, but off you go, immediately plunging into thick woods with the other Dutch soldiers.

Soon you are trotting along behind your new Mohican allies. Then suddenly there's a whistle in the air, and Mohawk arrows start raining down. The attack is swift and staggeringly efficient, the hiss of arrows immediately followed by the cries of agony. Several Mohicans ahead of you are killed instantly. Captain van Krikenbeek dies in the attack, as do several of your fellow soldiers. You and the other survivors run for your lives back to the fort on the river. The settlers join you there, huddling in fear. Mohicans, it seems, are facing extinction. And so is your little community of settlers.

An urgent question rattles in your mind. What happens next? But little do you know that it's not just your own lives at stake. The course of history itself has just been altered. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly. Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. Listen to The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. From Wondery comes a new series about a lawyer who broke all the rules.

Need to launder some money? Broker a deal with a drug cartel? Take out a witness? Paul can do it. We'll be right back. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story. The violent encounter between Dutch Captain Daniel van Krikenbeek and his small party of soldiers and local Native Americans in 1626 sent shockwaves through the young colony and a warning sign back to leaders in Europe. Van Krikenbeek had gotten embroiled in a fight between the Mohawks and the Mohicans in an area that would become Albany, New York. The incident showed how risky and tentative the Dutch enterprise in the New World was. While England was establishing colonies to the north in New England and to the south in Virginia, the Dutch positioned themselves in between. They called it New Netherland.

It was based on land explored by Henry Hudson 12 years earlier. Initially, there was no central hub to the Dutch colony. It began with tiny numbers of settlers, six here, ten there, setting up communities all up and down the vast region that Hudson had traveled. Their orders were to build homes, start farms, and establish good relations with the natives. They were spread out in the belief that this would support the Dutch claim to the region. But having so few settlers in any one location exposed them to danger. With the killing of Daniel van Kriekenbeek and his soldiers,

the strategy for settlement was revealed to be flawed. A new plan was needed, and an island in the harbor at the mouth of the river, which had so far been overlooked, suddenly became of great interest. It was called Manhattan. According to legend, the Dutch bought Manhattan from the local Indian tribe for $24. It's one of the most infamous land deals in history, but what actually happened, the significance for both parties and its lasting legacy, is far more complex. This series is written by Russell Shorto and based on his best-selling book The Island at

the Center of the World. This is Episode 2, Buying Manhattan. Imagine it's January 1624, and you are an 18-year-old woman standing in a small group of people in the courtyard outside your church in Amsterdam. You are all Walloons, a French-speaking minority from a part of Europe that would later become Belgium. You're meeting in the church to discuss something important. One of your elders lifts up his hands to get the attention of the group and makes an announcement. The West India Company seeks to find willing settlers to help establish a Dutch colony in North America. Anyone willing to sign up will be given free passage across the Atlantic and all the means necessary to set up.

Settlers will be expected only to farm and trade. A middle-aged man in the crowd laughs and speaks up. Who would be crazy enough to take them up on that? Go to the middle of nowhere? Be eaten by savages? I think the Dutch view us as fools because we speak a different language. But a young man, whom you've gotten to know slightly, named Joris, challenges this. Well, what's wrong with this offer? It's the possibility of a new life. We Walloons, we have no future here. I'm thinking of taking the offer. If, he pauses and glances quickly at you.

If I had a partner to share the adventure with me. The others laugh. They know the two of you have been flirting. But you don't hear the laughter. You only hear the loud beating of your heart. You speak up with more force than you intended. I agree. Not only that, the reports about the new land are very promising.

They say the natives are peaceable and good to trade with, and the land is beautiful and very fruitful. It sounds like a paradise. You and Yoris trade glances. Once the crowd has dispersed, and it's just the two of you, he can't hold himself back. Will you go to the new colony? Will you marry me there? Suddenly, the dangers and uncertainties of such a move come flooding into your mind. An ocean passage, you know, is a perilous thing. Ships are hit by storms and are swallowed up. America is an alien continent. The very name evokes a black hole of wild terrors. But what's your situation here? You're an 18-year-old peasant

girl. Amsterdam is a big, bustling place, but it's not your home. You came from a tiny village in the Walloon countryside, and you're an orphan. You don't belong here. You don't belong anywhere, or to anyone. You have no definite future. So you answer quickly and with conviction. Yes and no. I will go with you. But no, I will not marry you there, in the middle of some wild forest. We will do that right here, before we leave. Once the young couple, Joris Rapalje and Catalina Trico, made up their minds, everything happened very quickly. They were married in the Walloon Church in Amsterdam on January 21, 1624. Four days later, their ship departed for America.

As they sailed away from Amsterdam, they were leaving behind one of history's most remarkable events, the Dutch Golden Age. The young Dutch nation was in the midst of an unprecedented boom. Wealth was flooding into the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, and new advances were taking place in every conceivable endeavor. Rembrandt and his fellow painters were revolutionizing art, taking it away from the traditional religious subject matter and instead painting pictures of ordinary life. And scientists, the so-called natural philosophers, were looking through telescopes and microscopes and penetrating the secrets of the world around them. Dutch control over faraway territories, such as the rich Spice Islands in Asia, was fueling this growth, and the small European nation was on

the verge of even greater wealth. And as part of its outward push, the Dutch nation aimed to launch a new world colony. But with so much opportunity at home, the Dutch West India Company could only attract settlers from the bottom rungs of society, recent immigrants and minorities that were struggling to get a foothold. People like Catalina and Joris. They had little stake in the Golden Age. For them, the wilderness of America beckoned. The Atlantic crossing was unlike anything Catalina and Joris had ever experienced. About 30 couples and families, most of them Walloons, boarded the ship New Netherland in early March of 1624. The captain, Cornelius May, steered straight south, passing the coasts of

France and Spain, then headed into the rougher waters of the North Atlantic, passing Morocco, en route toward the Canary Islands. Finally, he turned his sails westward and beat a course across the Atlantic. Leaving all sign of land must have been a terrifying experience. While the Dutch were born seamen, the Walloons were mere farmers, many of whom had never even seen the ocean before. Fortunately, the wind was with them, which made it a relatively short passage, only two months in total. In early May, they steered into the great harbor that formed the heart of the Dutch colony, the same harbor that had first drawn the attention of Henry Hudson years earlier. But no sooner had they done so than they spotted a ship flying the French colors.

Captain May announced to his passengers that there would be a delay, possibly a violent one. He was under orders from the States General, the Dutch governing body, to defend the Dutch claim to the territory. Captain May communicated his orders to the French ship, which replied that it was here to claim the territory for France. Catalina must have had a few hours of mounting anxiety as the messages went back and forth. She couldn't have helped but consider the possibility that her dream of a new life in America would end before she even set foot on the continent. After a while, and once Captain May showed he was prepared to use his cannons, the French ship backed down. As the Dutch escorted the French vessel out of the harbor, Catalina and Jorah saw firsthand the uncertainty of New World politics. This might look

like a wilderness, but European powers were already thinking ahead, maneuvering to control pieces of it. The Dutch ship continued its voyage and sailed past the thickly wooded island of Manhattan and continued 150 miles up the Hudson River to a spot near the Cohoes Falls. There they disembarked and rejoiced at the feel of firm earth beneath their feet. And then they got to work on their first two tasks, building a fort and getting a crop in the ground. After the fort's four bastions were up, they busied themselves with constructing individual houses,

and by midsummer, the settlers had simple but serviceable homes, and the grain they had planted was rising high from the fields. The first year or so of the settlement was peaceful, serene even. There was the richness of the land to marvel at, and the wide, muscular rises of the mountains. Their reason for being in this location was trade. The Hudson River, which ran north-south, intersected with the Mohawk River, which went east-west. The West India Company had founded the colony of New Netherland as a for-profit enterprise,

and its directors placed their hopes on the fur trade. Yoris and Catalina helped establish that trade with Native Americans who trapped beavers and other animals along the Mohawk River. The Indians brought their pelts downriver to the fort. The settlers traded for them, packed them onto ships, and then sent them down to the southern reaches of the Hudson River.

Then their fellow colonists transferred them to larger vessels to make the transatlantic voyage back home. In Amsterdam, the beaver pelts were processed into felt, which was highly prized in Europe because it was both lightweight and warm. The Dutch trading expedition got off to an excellent start. In their first full year, Joris and Catalina and the other Fort Orange settlers obtained close to 500 otter pelts and more than 5,000 beavers from the natives, for which they traded guns, pots, knives, and other items of value to the local people. At the same time, they were busy

building homes and planting crops. They were delighted that first autumn that their grain, wheat, rye, barley, and oats had grown as high as a man, one settler noted. And after that, three ships arrived from the home country, whose names, the cow, the horse, and the sheep, announced the precious cargo that each carried. The animals grew strong, and the fertile land was abounding with grass and pasture. Slowly, through grinding effort, Joris and Catalina and a handful of other settlers were making a home out of this rich, wild land.

And then, the year after they arrived, Catalina and Joris gave birth to their daughter, Sarah, which was the first child of the new colony. Relations with the local tribes were good, too. Catalina said they were all quiet as lambs in those years, ready and willing to trade. The settlers learned enough of their languages to compile rough dictionaries.

And as they visited the native villages, the Dutch reported home what they were like. The dwellings are circular, with a vent hole above to let out the smoke, and mostly made of the bark of trees. They sleep on the ground, covered with leaves and skins. The women sew skins into clothing, prepare bread, cook the meat, while the men hunt with arrows. The Dutch settlers became fascinated by the ways of the surrounding tribes, including the organization of their society. There is little authority among these nations, one report said. They live all equally free. In each village there is one who commands in war, but once the fight has ended, his authority ceases. They are very much afraid of death,

but when they are faced with it, they are very brave. The peaceful life of the first year of the settlement ended when they are faced with it, they are very brave. The peaceful life of the first year of the settlement ended when Captain van Kriekenbeek got his Dutch soldiers entangled in the dispute between the Mohawks and the Mohicans. Suddenly, the paradise that Catalina had dreamed of while still on the canal side in Amsterdam vanished, and two years of hard work looked to be erased. Instead of farm animals and crops, she was faced with corpses riddled with arrows and felt a crippling fear. Now she and her fellow settlers were digging not to plant crops, but to bury the dead. As they dug the graves, the settlers discussed what to do. Could they flee

back to Europe? Were the Native Americans, who had been so open and friendly before, about to turn on them and slaughter them. Before long, though, a ship arrived from the southern part of the river with news and new orders. The leader of the colony had been ousted and was being sent back to the home country. Yoris, Catalina, and the others at Fort Orange were to board the ship and head south. There was a new leader. He'd traveled throughout the colony. He understood the flaws with the initial settlement strategy, and he had an ambitious plan. How did Birkenstocks go from a German cobbler's passion project 250 years ago to the Barbie movie today? Who created that bottle of red sriracha with a green top

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Are we excited for this moment? Ah! I cannot believe it. Woo! Buy it now. Stream free on Freeview and Prime Video. If yours and Catalina had been too busy establishing their settlement to pay much attention to events further south in the colony, they had time to get caught up as they sailed down the river. The first director of New Netherland was a man named Willem Verhulst,

and he was unpopular from the start. He cheated the Indians in the area around the harbor. The colonists were outraged at this because they were outnumbered by the native peoples, and they depended on them. The whole reason the Dutch settlers were there was to trade with the Indians. The men who were running the colony from across the ocean understood this as well. They had given Verhulst clear instructions saying that he shall see that no one do the Indians any harm or violence, deceive, mock, or scorn them in any way, but that in addition to good treatment they be shown honesty, faithfulness, and sincerity in all contracts. The settlers knew if the native peoples of the region came to distrust the Dutch, they were all doomed. So they set up a committee to decide what

to do about their unscrupulous leader. And just as they were meeting, the news of the violence in the north reached them. Van Krikenbeek had in effect done the same thing as Verhulst, gotten the tribes of that upriver region angry with the Dutch settlers, and people had died. That news seemed to push the settlers in the south over the edge. They dismissed Verhulst and looked about for a new leader. As it happened, one of the first people to come to New Netherland, whom the directors of the colony had assigned to Verhulst as his assistant, had just returned from a trip to the home company. His name was Peter Minuit, and everyone felt he was smart and capable, and at 46 years old, a man of solid experience and a universal choice to lead them. Minuit had traveled up and down the East Coast and had developed a keen understanding of the geography of New Netherland. The problem with the colony from the outset, he determined, was its settlement

pattern. Because they were so concerned about the English taking over, the Dutch had tried to protect their claim to the territory by putting a token outpost in every part of it. But that meant that no part of the Dutch colony had enough people to truly defend it. Making matters worse, Verhulst had done a bad job of selecting a base for the colony. It was clear that the great harbor at the mouth of the Hudson River was the natural heart of the colony, but Verhulst had decided that a small island in it should be the capital. The Dutch called it Nut Island, now known as Governor's Island. It guarded the entrance to the harbor, so might have seemed a suitable choice, but it was too small to sustain a large population. Everything, therefore, needed to be rethought, starting with the capital. But if Nut Island was not the ideal location for a capital,

Minuit reasoned, right across from the harbor lay the southern tip of another island, Manhattan. Maybe Verhalst had thought it was too big to defend. For Minuit, though, it had all the necessary features. At 12 miles long, it was big enough to sustain a large population. Its southern tip, which jutted into the harbor, could be defended against attack from the sea. And it protected passage up the river and into the heart of the colony. It had forests, streams, wild game, land that could be farmed. To the new Dutch leader, Manhattan was the key to his colony's future. Imagine it's late summer, 1626, and you are a Native American, a village leader of the Munsee-speaking tribe called the Wicaskick.

You and your people used this land, Manahatta, as a seasonal hunting ground. Right now, you're on the southern tip of the island, with the soft lapping of the water at the harbor's edge behind you. Before you is a large circle comprised of two groups, your fellow Wicaskic and the Dutch, who came to your area two years ago. The man directly opposite you, Minwe, is making gestures to his people and then to yours, extending his arms wide, showing that he is a man of honor, that he can be trusted. He addresses you in a formal tone. By this agreement, we enter into alliance with your people. We will aid you if you are attacked. And if we are attacked, you will come to our

assistance. We will be as family. We will share this island of Manahatta. You then repeat the terms. By this agreement, we enter into alliance with your people. We will aid one another. We will share this island, Manahatta. We offer these things as tokens of our understanding. You hand over a mound of blankets and furs. Minhui speaks again. And we give you these as tokens of our understanding. Minhui's men come forth and begin laying items on the ground before you. Copper kettles, knives, muskets, gunpowder, silk. Minhui speaks again.

All of this is a value of 60 guilders in our money. But that is of no consequence because these items, while they are good and strong, are only as good and strong as our word. We will keep our word. Minwe's men and your Wacaskic people celebrated and danced long into the night. You and Minwe shared a pipe together, underscoring the bond the two of you and your two peoples have forged. Then, at some point near dawn, one of the white men, a soldier, approaches you with a question.

So, where will you go now? You don't understand. Go? We remain here. But now that you've sold the island, surely you will go elsewhere to live and hunt. Just as the Europeans have some understanding of your traditions, you do as well of theirs. You decide to address this directly. We will remain here. Sold is one of your words, not ours. Ask Minui. He understands. It will be as he said. We will share Manhattan.

Nevertheless, something enters your mind along with the man's words. A deep foreboding. The Dutch were the most literate people in Europe in the 17th century. They were also a highly legalistic people. All transactions had to be in writing. But that doesn't mean they believed that with a few pen strokes and an exchange of goods, they would become owners of the island of Manhattan. They were great travelers, worldwide traders who took pains to understand the ways of local peoples. Most of them knew that for the Native Americans, there was no such thing as a real estate

transaction in the European sense. They knew that for the people of the region, an arrangement for land was more of a defensive alliance. Minuit especially would have understood that the Waukesha people were allowing the Dutch to use the island along with them, and that they were promising to help each other. And yet, once such an agreement went beyond those two parties and was discussed among Dutchmen in Europe, it lost all subtlety and took on a life of its own. The exact details of the so-called sale of Manhattan aren't preserved in history, nor is the deed, which was certainly written and signed by both sides. Instead, what has survived is a letter written by an official of the Dutch government to his colleagues. Peter Skagen was on the dock in Amsterdam some months after the agreement was made,

when a ship arrived from Manhattan. He wrote a letter to the directors of the West India Company, in which he summarized the contents of the ship, as well as the news it brought. High and mighty lords! Yesterday the ship the Arms of Amsterdam arrived here. Our people are in good spirit and live in peace. The women have also borne some children there. They have purchased the island Manhattas from the Indians for the value of sixty guilders. They have had all their grain sowed by the middle of May and reaped by the middle of August. They send samples

of these summer grains, wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, canary seed, beans, and flax. He went on to report the cargo of the ship, containing thousands of animal hides, beaver, otter, mink, lynx, and muskrat, as well as a great deal of timber. In his report, Peter Scoggin reduced the complex arrangement that Minuit had made with the Wicascic people to a simple sale of land. He valued the pots and knives the Dutch had given to seal the deal at 60 guilders. A little later on in the 19th century,

a translator reckoned that amount at $24. And so was born a myth, a legend of a fabulous swindle, in which worldly Europeans hoodwinked the simple natives. But those who executed the treaty did not see it as a simple transaction. They were all, Europeans and Native Americans, trying to negotiate a way forward in a world that, for as anyone could imagine, would continue as it had been for millennia, just sea, sky, and unending forest. And that way forward, both parties basically understood, would have to be undertaken together. The natives who sold the island surely didn't feel it was theirs to sell anyway. Two years later, Minoui's second-in-command wrote a letter to one of the directors of the company in Amsterdam,

and rather casually mentioned that the island is inhabited by the old Manhattans, documenting that the natives didn't go anywhere after the sale. In fact, he noted where the local Indians planted corn, and that they live in a constant state of enmity with the Native American tribes on the mainland so that they prefer to stay on the island. This little tribe shared the island peaceably with the Dutch, according to another report back to the home country. And yet, there were signs of future trouble. Some Dutch settlers viewed their Native American neighbors with suspicion and repulsion. The natives are always seeking some advantage by thieving, said another report. And a minister who was sent to the colony was blunt in his feelings. As to the natives of this country, I find them extremely savage and wild.

Strangers to all decency, uncivil and stupid as garden poles. Proficient in all wickedness and godlessness, devilish men who serve nobody but the devil. They are altogether inhuman. While there were those in the colony who had befriended Indians, gotten to know them intimately, others had the lowest possible views of them, and this minister's report didn't bode well. The Dutch had ambitions for their colony

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Wondery has made it ad-free for a limited time only on Apple Podcasts. If you haven't listened yet, head over to Apple Podcasts to hear for yourself. As the new leader of the Dutch settlement, Pietermann Wee decided that the southern tip of Manhattan Island would become the capital of the colony, the new city of New Amsterdam. The central structure was to be a fort. It wasn't very impressive. Four outer walls built of mounted dirt that people routinely complained pigs would root into and destroy. But slowly it

went up. Inside were barracks for soldiers, and just beyond the fort, the first row of houses went up, looking out onto the harbor. There was a warehouse where the furs were kept while they were waiting to be sent to Europe. There was even a canal, just like in Amsterdam. The town was laid out in a regular pattern, 16 streets in all. The new homes had gardens behind them. One of the first was built by Catalina and Joris. They purchased land on Pearl Street, around the corner from the fort. The records of the colony show them growing in their lives along with the colony, buying a milk cow, borrowing money, buying farmland across the river in the village of Brokolin. In time, they had 11 children.

Sarah, their first, who had been born upriver, would marry a tobacco planter who tended his crop in an area of Manhattan that would later be called Greenwich Village. Sarah and her husband would have eight children, and in fact, Joris and Catalina would eventually become a kind of Adam and Eve of Dutch Manhattan. Their offspring's offspring would continue to multiply until over a million people could trace their roots to this couple who tied the knot at the Walloon Church in Amsterdam and hopped a ship to America.

Settlers like Catalina and Joris came to know Manhattan intimately. Heading northward, they followed the Indian Trail, leaving the city and plunging immediately into wilderness. Areas that would later become the most urban anywhere on earth were for the settlers at the time places to hunt or to stop and gather fruit. The ground near the river is covered with strawberries, one settler noted, which grow so plentifully in the fields that one can lie down and eat them. Near the exact center of the island was a little stream where they could stop to fish, and the settlers named the Indian trail that ran the length of the island the Heron Bag, or the Gentleman's Way, later to be called Broadway.

As those first years flew by, more and more settlers arrived. Because life was still good in the home country, many of the arrivals were from ethnic minorities, people who, like Catalina and Joris, were left out of the economic boom at home. Poles, Danes, Scandinavians, a Turk, an Italian, Manhattan was becoming a place unlike any other, a multi-ethnic port where all sorts of languages could be heard and religions practiced. Religion, and attitudes toward it, was becoming a defining feature of the colonization of America. In Europe, it was a great age of religious warfare, when religious intolerance was official policy in most places. As nations competed to get ahead, aligning people around a shared religion was often an essential strategy.

Religion was such an incendiary force, it stood to reason that a society comprised of a mix of different faiths could only dissolve into chaos. In France and Spain, for example, religious intolerance was considered good policy. The same was true in England, which was why Christian sects that wanted to break from the Church of England went elsewhere in search of new homes. While the Dutch were settling Manhattan, the English Puritans chose their own colony in America, in New England, as their shining city on a hill, their New Jerusalem. There they would have the freedom to follow their stricter form of Protestantism. Alongside them in England were another religious sect. The Pilgrims were in fact a breakaway from the breakaway. They thought

the Puritans didn't go far enough in their reforms, and they too left England. But they went first to the Dutch provinces, which everyone knew was tolerant of different faiths. These Pilgrims spent 12 years in the Dutch city of Leiden, but a group of them left for America because, ironically, of the very tolerance that had initially attracted them. In Leiden, their children mingled with people of other faiths, and the pilgrim parents didn't like that. The Dutch policy of tolerance had come about in part

because the Dutch provinces are flat and thus easy to invade or flee to, giving Dutch cities large immigrant populations. Secondly, the Dutch found that tolerance was actually good for business. It helped fuel the Golden Age. In North America, New Amsterdam also enjoyed the fruits of this liberal attitude toward religion. There was always an element of chaos about the place, but it was functioning with its mix of peoples. Peter Minuit felt good about his city

and his colony and its success, and he wanted to reach out. All of the Dutch in New Amsterdam knew that the English pilgrims had sailed from Leiden to the Plymouth colony just a few hundred miles to the north, and so Minuit decided it was time for them to visit. Imagine it's March of 1627.

You're an ambassador from New Netherland, sailing into the port of New Plymouth, the home of the pilgrims, your English neighbors to the north. You want to make an impression, so you order a flourish of trumpets to announce your arrival. The pilgrim leaders, in their somber black dress, are gathered at the dock to welcome you. Their leader, William Bradford, steps forth as you disembark. Sir, we offer you greetings, and wish you prosperity in this life and eventual eternal rest with Jesus Christ our Lord in the world to come.

You bow in greeting. I thank you, Governor Bradford, and extend greetings to you from Peter Minuit, eternal rest with Jesus Christ our Lord in the world to come. You bow in greeting. I thank you, Governor Bradford, and extend greetings to you from Peter Minuit, Director of the Colony of New Netherland on Manhattan Island. The pilgrims lead you to their settlement. You're not terribly impressed. The homes are crude, and there are signs of suffering. You order your men to bring forward the barrels and crates that you've carried on the ship.

Governor Bradford, may we present some humble offerings in neighborly friendship. A rondelette of sugar and wheels of Holland cheese. We hope you will accept these tokens. Bradford is visibly moved, as are the other pilgrims. The children in particular look delighted. But then Bradford puts on a proud face. Sir, we have no need of charity. Our little colony prospers.

Thanks be to God. And yet, we humbly accept your gifts in the spirit of friendship. But we must remain your debtors till another time, as we have nothing to offer you in return. Oh, we expect nothing in return, Governor Bradford. But in the future, when you are better established, you might see fit to trade with us. Director Minwe feels that such trade will be to our mutual benefit. The Pilgrim Fathers look furtively at one another. You wonder what's going on. Bradford then delivers a bewildering message. It is possible that we may look forward

to doing business with you in the future, if your rates are reasonable. However, it is my duty to inform you that 40 years ago, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth began the navigation of North America on behalf of England and conferred patents upon her subjects. In short, sir, while you and I may enjoy Christian friendship, I fear your Dutch colony may not last long enough for the trade you wish for to come about. Any consequence of the Pilgrim's threat from the Dutch Republic's arch-enemy England was likely far in the future. England may someday try to enforce its own claim to Manhattan and the rest of the Dutch colony.

But Peter Menwee had other problems just now. More immediate troubles were right in front of the Manhattan settlers. The most basic one of all, how to maintain an existence on the edge of a continent that was imponderably vast, unknown, and fierce. Next, on American History Tellers, an exuberant mix of people arrive on Manhattan. Prostitutes, pirates, priests, and profiteers all land on the island. It's a group made possible by the Dutch policy of tolerance. But the West India Company, desperate for a new revenue stream, soon turns to slavery, beginning a dark chapter in the island's history.

From Wondery, this is American History Tellers. If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship. Sound design by Derek Behrens. This episode is written by Russell Shorto, based on his best-selling book, The Island at the Center of the World. This episode was edited by Doreen Marina.

Edited and produced by Jenny Lauer Beckman. Our executive producer is Marsha Louis. Created by Hernán López for Wondery. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still avert it. It just happens to all of them.

I'm journalist Luke Jones Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.