Editing Albany, New York (section)

===Mohican, Mohawk, and Dutch before 1660===
[[File:North Pearl Street Albany 1800s.png|thumb|''North Pearl Street from Maiden Lane North'' a {{Circa|1805}} portrait by [[James Eights]]|alt=A watercolor painting of brown and yellow row houses in front of a dirt road, two of which have classic Dutch stepped gables; a white church spire is seen in the background.]]
The [[Hudson River]] area was originally inhabited by [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking [[Mohican]] (Mahican), who called it ''Pempotowwuthut-Muhhcanneuw'', meaning "the fireplace of the Mohican nation".<ref name=mceneny6>McEneny (2006), p. 6</ref> Based to the west along the [[Mohawk River]], the Iroquoian-speaking [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]] called it ''[[Schenectady|Sche-negh-ta-da]]'', "through the pine woods", referring to the path they took there.<ref name=howell460>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bicentennialhis00howegoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/bicentennialhis00howegoog/page/n298 460]|title=Bi-centennial History of Albany|publisher=W. W. Munsell & Company|last1=Howell|first1=George Rogers|year=1886}}</ref>{{efn|This name would later be adopted by the city of [[Schenectady]], to the west.<ref>{{cite book |title=Notes on the Iroquois; Or, Contributions to American History, Antiquities, and General Ethnology |last=Schoolcraft |first=Henry Rowe |publisher=Erastus H. Pease & Co |year=1847 |location=Albany, New York |page=345 |isbn=9780608402543 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5YGFDGAQ48AC&q=schenectady%20name%20iroquois&pg=PA345}}</ref>|group=Note}}

According to [[Hendrick Aupaumut]], the Mohicans came to the area from the north and the west. They settled along the Mahicannituck, which is now called the Hudson River, and called themselves the ''Muh-he-con-neok'', the "People of the Waters That Are Never Still".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Origin and Early History|url=https://www.mohican.com/origin-early-history/|access-date=September 13, 2021|website=mohican.com|language=en|archive-date=September 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911195350/https://www.mohican.com/origin-early-history/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Mohawks, one of the [[Iroquois Confederacy|Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy]], were based in the Mohawk valley and noted for their fur trading and their access to trade between the Iroquois and other nations.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Culture and History|url=https://www.srmt-nsn.gov/culture_and_history|url-status=live|access-date=|website=Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe|date=October 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028212721/https://www.srmt-nsn.gov/culture_and_history |archive-date=October 28, 2018 }}</ref> The Mohawk became strong trading partners with the Dutch and English. It is likely that the area was visited by European fur traders perhaps as early as 1540, but the extent and duration of those visits are unclear.<ref>{{cite book |first=Cuyler |last=Reynolds |title=Albany Chronicles |publisher=J. B. Lyon Company |location=Albany, New York |date=1906 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XNU0AAAAIAAJ&pg=GBS.PA2.w.5.0.0}}</ref>

Permanent European claims began when Englishman [[Henry Hudson]], exploring for the [[Dutch East India Company]] on the ''[[Half Moon (ship)|Half Moon]]'' ({{Langx|nl|Halve Maen}}), reached the area in 1609, claiming it for the [[Dutch Republic|United Netherlands]].<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/274681/Henry-Hudson Henry Hudson]". (2010). ''Britannica''. Retrieved June 27, 2010.</ref> In 1614, [[Hendrick Christiaensen]] built [[Fort Nassau (North River)|Fort Nassau]] on Castle Island (now called [[Port of Albany–Rensselaer|Port of Albany]]), in the Hudson River. The fort acted as a [[Fur trade|fur-trading]] post and was the first documented European structure in present-day Albany. Commencement of the fur trade provoked hostility from the [[Canada, New France|French colony in Canada]] and among the natives, all of whom vied to control the trade. In 1618, a flood ruined Fort Nassau, but the Dutch replaced it with [[Fort Orange (New Netherland)|Fort Orange]] on the mainland in 1624.<ref name="howell775">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWkJAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA775|title=Bi-centennial History of Albany|last1=Howell|first1=George Rogers|year=1886|page=775}}</ref> Both forts were named in honor of the leading family of the Dutch Revolt, members of the [[House of Orange-Nassau]].<ref name="venema13">Venema (2003), p. 13</ref> Fort Orange and the surrounding area were incorporated as the village of [[Beverwijck]] ({{Langx|en|Beaverwick or Beaver District}}) in 1652,<ref name="rittner7">Rittner (2002), p. 7</ref><ref name="venema12">Venema (2003), p. 12</ref> and the city of Albany in 1686. In these early decades of trade, the Dutch, Mohican, and Mohawk developed relations that reflected differences among their three cultures.<ref>[http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/staffpubs/docs/20360.pdf James Wesley Bradley, ''Before Albany: An Archaeology of Native-Dutch Relations in the Capital Region 1660–1664''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223203201/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/staffpubs/docs/20360.pdf |date=December 23, 2014 }}, Albany: University of the State of New York, 2007, pp. 2–6</ref>{{clarification needed|reason=It is unclear what "developed relations that reflected differences among their three cultures" means.|date=March 2025}}